1. Concentrate!

    Skill: Decoding

    Kids love to play Concentration — perhaps because their young brains are so sharp that they can vanquish the pants off the adults in the room. Try playing Concentration with your child using sight words at her reading level. (Note: if these words are too easy for your child, try 2d grade sight words.)

    Using index cards, make 2 copies of each word, then shuffle the cards and lay them downwardly. Take turns finding matches; the player with the nearly pairs wins. (In the beginning, you lot'll likely take to assist your child recognize many words, merely give her the chance to try.) Equally your child becomes familiar with the words in your deck, add more challenging ones.

  2. Word scramble

    Skill: Decoding

    Option a sight word at your child's level (note: if these words are too easy for your child, effort second grade sight words) and make it the "word of the twenty-four hour period." Have your child form the discussion from letters on the fridge. Mix the messages of that discussion up with other, random messages, and have your child find the letters to make the give-and-take again. Have your child repeat the game a few times, until she can easily make the discussion. See how many times your child can find the discussion in books, on street signs, and at the store, and keep a list of "sightings."

  3. All together at present

    Skill: Fluency

    Notice a book your kid is familiar with and read a page or passage together in unison. Y'all may have to irksome your reading down a little to keep pace, but don't ho-hum down besides much. Encourage your child to copy your pace and expression. Dizzy faces definitely allowed!

  4. Practice, practice, do!

    Skill: Fluency

    Encourage your child to reread a favorite book until she tin can read it smoothly and easily. This volition build her conviction forth with her fluency. For variety (and to give yourself a break) encourage her to read the book to pets, blimp animals, visiting friends, and relatives.

  5. Exist Oprah

    Skill: Comprehension

    Pretend your son is a guest on your talk show, there to discuss the latest book he'southward read. Ask him specific questions nearly the plot, characters, and illustrations, for example:

    • What kind of apparel does Pippi habiliment?
    • What happened to Pippi'due south parents?
    • What do you call up is going on in this picture?
    • What happened after the robbers left Pippi'due south house?
    • How did the story end?

    Exist sure to ask questions that encourage your child to read between the lines, and also make connections with his ain experience:

    • Why do you think the teacher was mad at Pippi?
    • Does Pippi's friend remind you of anyone you know?
    • Did anything like that ever happen to yous? How did you feel when it happened?

  6. Make your own comic

    Skill: Comprehension

    Help your child make a comic based on a book he just read. First, talk almost what happened in the story, and help your kid chose events from the story that he wants to draw (encourage him to follow the chronology of the book and to include a beginning and ending in his comic). Using a ruler and marker, divide the paper into squares. So permit him loose to create his own comic strip by drawing one scene per foursquare, and writing captions beneath each drawing.

  7. Make a poster

    Skill: Knowledge

    Help your child brand a simple poster about whatsoever she's interested in — robots, snakes, zombies, or airplanes. Go to the library and notice books on the subject area, and have your child notice five interesting facts about her topic (for instance, "scientists believe that black holes are created when massive stars dice and collapse in on themselves.") She tin include these facts on the poster, along with her own illustrations and pictures she finds online.

  8. Know where yous're at

    Skill: Cognition

    Have a world globe, atlas or estimator on manus and evidence your kid where a detail story takes place. Make a point of reading stories from different countries and far off places, and locate them on the map. Let your child endeavor to find China on the map, or Paris, or the Nile river and help him discover where yous live, too.

Updated: September 1, 2016