Carol Schneider-Sereda, Director of the Children's Dance Theatre at The Center for Arts in Natick, says:

• Choose stories with many characters
• Read the story to fuel creativity
• Describe new action words
• Let children act out individual words
• Reread to pick out more vocabulary

Sandra Walak, the mother of a child in the Children's Dance Theatre program, recommends you:

• Master technical terms together
• Let your child talk about what she's learning
• Read and learn together

Like the Hyde Square Task Force Teens:

• Choose “motion books” – let little kids be active
• Choose books older kids can relate to
• Read books to yourself first
• Read the title and ask what the book is about
• Show pictures, and let children predict
• Ask what children see in pictures and what they're about
• Try some exciting, comical stories
• Act stories out by changing voices

Laurie Joy Haas, Executive Producer of Words that Cook!™ and co-author of Read it Aloud! A parent's guide to sharing books with young children, and Honey the Cookie-Bookie Bear suggest you:

• Use and explain colorful expressions found in books

Caterina Del Conte, a Wellesley College Student, says,

• Try to read to your child in more than one language
• Learn about other people's cultures, stories and histories

Dr. Barbara Krol-Sinclair, Director of the Intergenerational Literacy Project, suggests:

• Make reading fun
• If your child loves singing, sing the words
• Write shopping lists together
• At stores, look at words printed on boxes
• Talk about the TV programs you watch
• Help with homework to build communication
• Find a quiet, well-lit area to study
• Provide a flat table, pencils, paper and eraser
• Be available to answer questions
• Have children ask questions in your first language
• Learn the teacher's classroom routines
• Use gestures and discuss content
• Practice reading with others and on your own

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