Hurray! Your child is reading! But as he is reading, how much is he connecting with the text? What did she think about the story? How did the characters make her feel? This is where you enter the picture and start a conversation with your child about what he reads. This can be challenging because kids may not always want to discuss a book after reading it, especially if there is a toy in sight. So here are 3 ideas to facilitate a conversation:

1. Pause and Talk: If you’re reading with your child, pause at places to ask questions. These questions can be geared towards building skills ranging from empathy to math skills. For example, if you’re reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears, ask “how do you think baby bear felt when he found his chair broken?” or, “How many pieces of furniture does the Bear family seem to own?” If your child reads a book on his own, talk about it right after he is done.

2. Bring Characters to Life: In difficult day to day situations, it can help to give an example from a book that your child has read. For example, “Remember what Alexander’s mother said when he thought he was having a Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day?”

3. Provoke a Discussion: Sometimes, your child may refuse to discuss a book or answer questions about it. In such events, it may help to propose a preposterous solution to the problem in the book that your child cannot help but challenge. For example, on reading Library Mouse, you could propose that maybe Tom should reveal Sam’s secret or “tell on him” to see how your child reacts.

It is never too early to encourage your child to read critically to make sense of what they read and of the world around them.

For further reading:  http://ngexplorer.cengage.com/explorer/pdf/effectivepractices.pdf