As you share a book with your child, point to each word on the page as you read.

That’s it! That is all you need to do to help your child’s reading development, and it is super easy to incorporate into your family’s routine.

Reading is one of the five early literacy practices supported by Every Child Ready to Read®. Just by reading out loud to your child, you are helping to build the six important skills: print awareness, letter knowledge, phonological awareness, vocabulary, narrative skills, and print motivation. Reading alone will help your child build the skills that literacy is framed upon. However, pointing to words gives reading books makes the shared reading time even more valuable.

Pointing to words as you read them will assist children with making print/story/illustration connections. It will also help build a child’s visual tracking skills so that their eyes can follow one line of text to the next one.

Every Child Ready to Read® is a project of the Association for Library Service to Children and the Public Library Association, divisions of the American Library Association.