It is important to start to nurture the passion for reading at an early age. Young children respond to the colors contained in the pictures, get pleasure from turning the pages and develop vocabulary, based on the words they hear from the pages of a book. As your child gets older, you can help further their passion for reading. They look forward to the entertainment and socialization gained from listening to a story, either one-on-one or at a story time session in a library.
Practice reading aloud. Reading out loud will force your child to recite each word. Furthermore, your child is not only seeing the words, he's hearing them as well. Take turns reading aloud; many standardized tests require a student to listen to a passage and answer a series of questions.
Reread old favorites: Create a nook in your home with a variety of books that you read to your children when they were younger. Allow them to reread the selections. Rereading old favorites allows your child to concentrate on decoding words quickly. Since they have already heard the word before, they can process the contents and become more fluent in interpreting the meaning of the story.
Discuss what they read in school: Use carpool and dinner times to discuss the selections they read in school. Ask them to summarize a poem or book they heard in class. Question your child about the author and content of the book. Even if he or she can't remember all the details the first time, if your child knows you will ask, he or she will pay attention more closely the next time.
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teachers, and collected at child care centers and schools across the state. The hands hang in the Capitol Rotunda as a reminder to legislators and advocates that we must take care of our most precious commodity - our children.
