Remember when...

Talking with (not at) your child is so important. But did you know that talking with your child is also teaching them reading strategies as well. How's that? Well, remember that reading is not only about decoding, c-a-t.

Reading is gaining meaning from the text. Reading involves having experiences, or schema, to connect with what is being read. Reading means actively creating mental images of what is happening in the text.
Reading is inferring what is, will, may, or can, happen next.
Reading means synthesizing information to check for understanding and think beyond what has happened in the text.
Whoa, that's a lot to digest? Are you synthesizing the meaning of reading?

When you ask your child to remember an activity or event that happened in the past, you are helping them to develop the language skills to make connections. Talking about activities you have done, whether vacations, trips to the library, or shopping builds schema as well as helps your child learn the language of narrative. You are helping to describe what happened, first, next, and last. You are expressing how you felt about the activity. You are teaching them the flow of language, vocabulary and concepts, as well as the importance of appreciating the time you have together. In addition, its always amazing what things your child remembers. It's almost always something you don't expect.