We all learn best by doing things ourselves. Encouraging children to figure out words independently helps them to become independent readers. What parents can do 1. Surround children with language through books, rhymes, stories, and conversations about books. Talking about books in ways that include conversations about particular words and sounds in books.
Children are curious about how language works.
Capitalize on what interests them and let stories and words become a part of your daily lives. Provide your children with opportunities to play with the alphabet and experiment with sounds using magnetic letters, paper, and crayons for writing, and alphabet books and CD-ROM reading programs for reading. Read books together and talk about how letters represent sounds and combine to form words. As you read with your children, point to the words on the page and stretch out the sounds of the letters in some words. That way children can see and hear how language is put together.