How to Build Better Readers

Reading for Meaning
To boast your child's comprehension, ask a few simple questions before and after
reading.

What do you know?
Before you begin reading, look at the cover of the book.
Read the title and talk about the cover's pictures.
This gets your child thinking about the book before
they start to read the story.

What do you want to know?
Have your child think about questions about the story.
By deciding what they want to know, they have set a
goal to reach by reading.

What did you learn?
Ask your child questions about the story after you have
finished reading it together. This will reinforce what
they have learned.

Tip: To practice reading, you don’t have to announce, “It’s reading time!” You can also
fit it in naturally. For example, “What is the next step in the cookie recipe?” “Let’s read
the directions for building this toy.” “Matthew lives on Pine Street. Can you help me look for
it?”

If your child has an interest or you would like your child to develop
an interest in a particular author, www.kidsreads.com is
a wonderful web site that will give your child information such as where
the author gets his ideas and when they started to write. The web site
also contains many interviews. Click on “authors” to see an alphabetical
list of authors.