Read to your child and surround him with books and other reading materials from day one. From infancy on, a child is developing a foundation of language and a vocabulary that will directly correlate to his reading abilities later on. The more words he hears out loud in different contexts, the better equipped he'll be to comprehend written words when he begins reading.
Help her master decoding. Before your child will have the mental energy to really comprehend what she reads, she will need to be able to decode words fluently. Use the methods her school teaches to practice sounding out words until she can read words well without assistance.
Expose him to new vocabulary words regularly. As your child reads, take note of unfamiliar words. Look up the words together in a dictionary and discuss the meaning. Make flashcards of the words and go over them daily. Once a group of words is learned, find more unfamiliar words and repeat the process.
Listen to her read and ask questions. Converse about what your child is reading and ask probing questions about ideas in the story, the setting, characters, problems and resolutions. Teach her to ask these questions on her own to fully understand what she is reading and how it relates to her life.
Provide an environment rich in diverse experiences, such as visits to museums and new activities including cooking, running errands and visiting any new locations near and far. When possible, expose your child to different cultures and events so he has a large backdrop to draw from when connecting words to meaning.