When reading to or with your child, there are several things you can do to help build good literacy skills. The amount and types of questions you ask will depend upon your child’s age and attention span. Some children enjoy questions and become more engaged in the story when asked about it whereas, other children may find too many questions distracting from the story. I find it helps to ask some questions before and then ask other questions after reading the story. Of course, you know your child best so use the suggestions below accordingly.

Developing knowledge of text structure and story components

Before reading the story, point to where the title of the book is located. Say, “Let’s find out the name or title of this book.” Then read or help your child read the title.

You can also ask what s/he thinks the book might be about or what s/he thinks might happen in the story. This helps children learn to use prediction skills. You can even give your child a “sneak peek” of the story by showing him/her a few pictures before making a prediction about the story. When you finish reading the story, you can discuss if your child’s prediction was correct or if something unexpected happened.

Additionally before reading, you can help your child find the author and illustrator of the book and talk about what those terms mean. For example, you can say, “the author writes the words of the story” or “the illustrator draws the pictures.” Then, point to where the author’s name or illustrator’s name is and read it or have your child help you read it.

After reading the story, you can discuss or ask questions about the setting. You can ask, “Where does this story take place?” “When does this story take place (now, a long time ago, in the future)?”

You can discuss or ask questions about the characters in the story. Who were some of the characters (people or animals) in the story? Which character did you like the best?  Why?

If there is a problem in the story that the character or characters must overcome, then you can ask, “What was the problem in this story?” “How did the character(s) solve the problem?” If there is not a problem in the story, you can ask, “What is the main thing this story was about?” “What happened at the beginning of the story?” What happened in the middle part of the story?” “What happened at the end of the story?” Asking these types of questions will help your child learn how some stories are organized by the author.

Developing phonological awareness, reading comprehension, and vocabulary

Use your finger to point at the words as you read or have your child point at the words as you help him/her read. This helps children learn there is a one to one correspondence between written and spoken (or read) words. This also helps build an awareness of and ability to work with sounds in words and spoken language (phonological awareness).

Ask questions about the pictures and/or story. This helps with reading comprehension and vocabulary development. Many of the questions mentioned previously in this article will also help with reading comprehension. In order to learn from a text or other written material, children must be able not only to read but also to understand what they read.

When you come across a new word or concept that your child doesn’t know or understand, explain it to your child. This will help with vocabulary development. For example, once I was reading a book about fruit with my child and we came to the word “mango.” My child had never eaten or heard of a mango so I had him look at the picture and I explained a little bit about mangoes (they are kind of sweet, kind of like a peach but not as soft). Later, we went to the grocery store and I bought a mango for him to try.

The more you read to or with your child, the more vocabulary your child will be exposed to and learn.

Reading to or with your child is immensely beneficial for nurturing their literacy skills, which can help them succeed now and later in life.