Encourage your child to read what they enjoy and do so everyday! Books, magazines, news articles, sports stories, blogs, comics, graphic novels, audiobooks...it all counts!
Share what you like to read (magazines, news articles, blogs, etc). Talk about why you enjoy these forms of reading (information, entertainment, connections).
Engage your child in discussion:
If they are reading Fiction ask:
- What do they think the story is about? What predictions can they make?
- Ask questions that get them “reading between the lines” and make inferences?
- Why do you think the character did that in the story? Why do you think they made the decision they did or act the way they did? Could they have done something differently? What might that be?
- What would you have done? Why?
- What connections are you making when reading - to yourself, other texts (books and/or movies, games) and the world?
- What do you think was the big idea or main point of the story? Why?
If they are reading Non-Fiction ask:
- Talk to your child about the clues that signal something is important. In their Science or Social Studies textbooks, for example, important features to consider include: titles, table of contents, heading/subheadings, pictures, captions, diagrams, labels, tables, maps, bold print or italics and glossaries.
- Talk about why these are included in the reading?
- What additional information do these provide? How do they help you understand the topic better?
- What connections are you making when reading - to yourself, other texts (books and/or movies, games) and the world?
