Reading Tips for Home

What can I do at home to help my child become a more fluent reader?

• Be sure your child is reading materials that are easy for him/her to read.
• Have your child re-read a book several times. Tell them to try to read it faster and with better accuracy each time they read it.
• Make it a game and time your child as they read. Have them re-read the story and see if they can beat their time. *Remember that accuracy is important too.

How can I help my child increase his/her comprehension?

• Have your child use graphic organizers to record information from the story.
• Encourage your child to make predictions about what he/she thinks will happen next in the story while he/she is reading. It's fun for them to se if their predictions were correct. Discuss why they were correct and how they knew that was going to happen or discuss why they were wrong and what clues in the story might have helped them make an accurate prediction.
• Ask him/her questions about the story after he/she is finished reading. If he/she does not know the answer, have him/her go back and re-read it.
• Before reading, have your child take a picture walk through the story. Have them look at all the pictures and predict what the story will be about based on the pictures. This gets their mind ready for reading and helps them make accurate predictions while reading.

Here are some general questions that you can ask your child about their story:

• What was your story about?
• What was the setting of the story?
• Who were the main characters in the story?
• What was the problem in the story?
• How was the problem resolved?
• Tell me what happened in the beginning, middle, and end of your story.
• Why do you think the author wrote this story?
• What was your favorite/least favorite part of the stroy?
• How were the characters similar and different?
• Did you enjoy the story? Why or why not?