Help your child learn basic concepts about print. Read the book title, author and illustrator's names. Let your child hold the book and turn the pages to get a feel for the book. Help your child point to the words as you read to develop a flow of moving from left to right across the page. Practice the return sweep, where you follow the sentence from the end of the line down to the beginning of the next line.
Use environmental print to reinforce letter, sound and word recognition. Take time to read the "in" and "out" signs on store entrances or the "men" and "women" signs on bathroom doors. Read the names of stores, traffic signs and numbers on mailboxes. Have your child read the letters on a cereal box or count the number of letters on a stop sign.
Before reading, take time to complete a picture walk through the book with your child. Encourage your child to look at the pictures and make predictions about the story. Note what is happening in the background of the pictures, as well as the main part of the illustrations. Then, as you read, allow your child to confirm or change predictions based on new information.
Encourage your child to summarize and retell stories she has read, movies she has seen and things she has done. Summarizing, or telling the important parts of a story, helps your child determine what is most important and analyze the overall meaning of stories. Retelling, or providing a very detailed account of what happened, helps your child work on sequencing and can improve future reading comprehension skills.
Take time to read aloud to your child so he hears the rhythm and flow of oral language. Read books that your child can't read on his own and take time to explore new vocabulary words. Read chapter books, poetry and even magazines. Allow your child to hear how you pause at the end of sentences or use character voices to let his imagination soar.
Read with your child. Focus on quick recognition of high-frequency words such as "a," "I," "the," "and," "go" and "love." Read pages together to develop a sense of how to pause for sentence breaks. Alternate reading pages so you read one page and your child reads the next. Encourage your child to read to you. Provide time for your child to sound out words or reread from the beginning of a sentence if something doesn't make sense before jumping in to help. Encourage your child to use pictures clues, make predictions and ask clarifying questions.
Value your child's desire to read the same book over and over. Repeated readings of a familiar book build reading fluency and confidence. Your child can work on pacing and intonation without needing to stop to figure out new words.