Rapt in reading books

THE more young children are read to, the greater their interest in mastering reading. Reading out loud exposes children to correct pronunciation of words, to proper grammar and phrasing and to a new vocabulary. It enhances the development of their spoken language skills and their ability to express themselves verbally.

One of the most important things you can do is to read with your young child for at least 15 minutes each day. Not only is it fun and entertaining, this reading time enables the chance to build your child's literacy skills.

Comprehension is the understanding and interpretation of what is read.

To understand written material, children need to be able to decode what they read; make connections between what they read and what they already know; and think deeply about what they have read.

When reading with children, model different comprehension strategies, showing your child some tricks to better understand what is read.

Predict - think about the cover, the illustrations and the title of the book. What do you think the book will be about and what may happen next and why?

Question - ask yourself questions about important ideas in the story.

Monitor – to help make sense reread, look at illustrations and read ahead.

Summarize –what are the important ideas in the story.

Evaluate - Did you like the story? How well did you understand it?