5 Tips to Rev Up Reading Skills

Skill: Understand that words are made of small parts called phonemes.

Teach: Encourage your child to hear and recognize individual sounds in words. Ask your child to pronounce each sound in a word and say the number of sounds. For example, cat has 3 sounds, /c/ /a/ /t/.

Skill: Understand the relationship between written letters and spoken sounds.

Teach: Show your child that each letter, or group of letters, is associated with a sound. Have your child read letter sounds, like B says "b" and M says "m." Incorporate letters and sounds into games like "The Name Game" and "I Spy.

Skill: Know how to read correctly and automatically.

Teach: Ask your child to smoothly read a sentence, one word after another, without stopping until the period. Encourage children to read words in order rapidly and accurately, both silently and aloud.

Skill: Know many spoken and written words.

Teach: Explore new and unfamiliar words when reading books together. Tell children how to pronounce words, what words mean and how words are used. Encourage your child to use at least one new word a day in conversation.

Skill: Understand, remember, and communicate what is read.

Teach: Show children strategies for understanding and making meaning of what they read. When you finish a story, ask your child, "What was your favorite part?"