How To Help Your Intermediate Reader Become A Fluent Reader (grade 1 to 2)

As your child masters the mechanics of reading at school, you can help him grow as a reader at home. Here are 13 things you can do to keep him turning pages:

Let your child pick out books. Don't worry if your child isn't interested in the classics. Indulge his taste for books about planes or trucks — comic books are okay, too. Your responsibility is to instill a love of reading.

Model good behavior. Your child wants to be just like you, so read around him whenever you can. Don't wait until after bedtime to dive into your novel. When you're reading mail, shopping lists, notes, even catalogs, share what you're reading with your child.

Get to know the librarian. Go to the library as often as you can or as often as your child wants to go. Have your child get to know the librarian so she can help pick out interesting books that relate to your child's interests.

Encourage your child to read alone. Not all the time, of course, but developing readers can master some books on their own and need to do so to become fluent readers. Mix it up: Read a few difficult books to your child, and then let your child read an old favorite by himself.

Read aloud with expression. You'll not only make reading more fun but also teach your child about punctuation, sentence structure, and the flow of a story. Get silly. Make animal noises. Be loud and soft and everything in between. Sing part of the book if you're in the mood. Ask your child to do the same when reading books to you.

Set aside quiet time for reading. Thirty minutes of quiet time for reading before or after dinner, for example, reinforces the idea that reading is part of the daily routine. Have everyone in the family participate; this is an activity for all ages. If possible, after reading time discuss everyone's books for a few minutes.

Write notes to your child. You'll teach your child to appreciate reading and writing as a form of communication with a note as simple as "I love you." Put a note in a school lunch, for example. Use words your child has seen or words you've read in favorite books.

Introduce chapter books. Developing readers are ready for longer books that feature multiple characters and events. Have your child read a chapter or part of a chapter each night. Recapping previous chapters will train him to recall past events.

Talk about a book as you read it. Help build comprehension skills by asking questions beforehand: "What do you think this book is about?" Discuss the title, the cover, and the author. As you read the book, stop once in a while to talk about the story. "What do you think will happen next?" "Do you like the character?" "What do you think he should do?" When the book is over, ask your child what he liked or didn't like about it.

Read everywhere you go. Your child is probably beyond reading simple stop signs, but there are plenty of other things to read from a car window. Ask your child to try to read street signs, movie posters, billboards — they're all fair game.

Keep the flow going. Don't labor over mistakes and difficult words. "Let it go," says reading specialist and first-grade teacher Cindy Pfost. "Don't correct every mistake. If they say, 'The bear went to his house' and the page says, 'The bear went to his home,' that's okay. They're getting the meaning, and that's what's important."

Lighten up. Don't make reading an assignment or require an hour of read-aloud time a night. "Reading time should last as long as the child is interested," Pfost says. "Don't overdo it."

source from http://parentcenter.babycenter.com