R is for raising readers…

I never grow tired of watching a child learn to read. It is an amazing process that has determined the course of my  life. There’s so much we can do to help raise readers. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Read to your children. This is simple advice but the most important.

2. Let your children see you read. What is important to you will be important to them.

3. Create a print-rich environment – magnet letters on the fridge, alphabet puzzles and stamps, book making supplies

4. Show your children that reading is everywhere – signs, lists, letters, magazines, puzzles, maps, comics, etc.

5. Go to the library and let your children choose books that interest them.

6. Let your children play with words. Reading should be fun for children.

7. Read to them some more.

p.s. this picture was painted by Leo Politi in 1957 as a prototype for a mural in the South Pasadena Library. The actual mural is different because he went in and redid it when the library was renovated in 1982. http://www.leopoliti2008centennial.org/Sopas%20Library%20mural.htm