Ten Ways to Make Reading Part of Every Day

1. Keep Books in Reach
Make sure there are plenty of books where your child can easily see and reach them so he can pick one up whenever he wants. Include catalogs and magazines too!

2. Drawing Time
Build up your child's ability to hold writing implements and control her use of line just by letting her draw and color.

3. Write a Story Together
Have your child draw a picture and ask her what's happening within it or what she would title her drawing. Write down the story or title at the bottom. Encourage her to draw a series of pictures and develop her sense of story. You'll also empower her with the idea she can create stories herself.

4. Meet and Greet the Library
Bring your child along on trips to the library. Make it a familiar and friendly experience and show him that there is a place where he can freely access tons of books.

5. Stop, Look, and Ask While Your Child Listens
Make sure to pause and point things out to your child while you're reading. Ask questions about stories as you read them and discuss plots and characters after you're done to develop reading comprehension skills.

6. Make Your Own Books on Tape
Tired of reading the same books again and again? Record you or your child reading those books so she can listen to them whenever she wants -- at bedtime, while playing, or in the car.

7. Label Everything
Putting signs or stickers on things around the house is a great way to connect language with concrete objects. It lets your child know that everything has a name and a word attached to it.

8. How Was Your Day?
Expand your child's sense of narrative by giving simple explanations of what happened to you during an ordinary day. Tell him of happenings and how they affected later events. Ask him to tell you about his day, too.

9. Create an Alphabet Book
Take 26 pieces of heavy paper and write one letter from the alphabet on each. Challenge your child to draw pictures of things beginning with each letter. When she's finished at least one drawing per letter, bind it together, and present her with her novel work.

10. Rhyme Time
Challenge your child to come up with simple rhymes for words like "cat" and "ball." It's a fun game you can play anywhere and builds phonemic awareness.

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Read 20 Minutes Every Day With Your Child!

Learning to read is hard work for children (especially age 5 and older). Fortunately, there are things we can do to help raise good readers. Reading with a child for 20 minutes every day dramatically improves their ability to read. (Most parents do not ever read to their children!) AND the best part is you can begin from BIRTH -- never consider a child too young to begin, nor too old. Some of the greatest family bonding times can come from family read-alouds too.

Here are some simple things you can do to help create a strong reader.

• Be fun and creative, animate the story by using character voices and dramatics
  
• Ask questions as you read, so they can think beyond just the words they hear
  
• Relate stories to your child's life, are they the same or different, what would they do, etc.
  
• Re-read your child's favorite books, they're learning from them again and again!
  
• Run your finger along the words as you read, this shows we read from left to right.
  
• Let your children turn the pages, involve them in the process
  
• Select stories that use repeated phrases. Rhymes help teach word endings and build confidence, let them finish the phrases.
  
• Subscribe to a children's magazine and enjoy it together
• Get a library card for your child. They love to check out their own books.
• Ask your librarian for a recommended (age appropriate) book list.
• Fill your home with books (studies have shown there is a direct correlation to adult illiteracy was connected to the number of books in their homes as children)
• Be a reading role model. Why should they read, if they don't ever see you enjoying books. Share your excitement of a story you're reading.
  
• Tell stories to your child, allow their minds to imagine the people, places, times and circumstances.
  
• Ask them to review (narrate) the story back to you. Helps with building memory, sequencing and other valuable learning skills.
• When planning a family vacation. Read books that describe the history of the destination, or stories of the different modes of travel you will take to get there. Get stories that are set in those places and then while there have the children see if they can locate any landmarks that were read about before the trip. Historical fiction is also a fun way to learn too!
  

adapted from a bookmark put out by the sponsors of "Read With A Child": Zion's Bank, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Bonneville International, and Governor's Literacy Commission (Utah)