Teaching kids to read and helping those who struggle

Reading Rockets offers a wealth of reading strategies, lessons, and activities designed to help young children learn how to read and read better. Our reading resources assist parents, teachers, and other educators in helping struggling readers build fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension skills.

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Our weekly picks

Top 10 Resources on Reading Together

Find tips on how to read with your child from the time he is born, learn how to build comprehension and critical thinking skills during read alouds, browse our book-centered activity packs, and discover links to dozens of themed book lists.

1. Family Literacy Bags: Adventures in Reading
   Reading Rockets has developed a set of family literacy bags to encourage hands-on fun and learning centered around paired fiction and nonfiction books.
2. Reading Tips for Parents
   A child's success as a reader begins much earlier than the first day of school. Reading, and a love for reading, begins at home. Our one-page Parent Tips offer easy ways for parents to help kids become successful readers. In English and 10 other languages, for babies to grade 3.
3. Themed Book Lists
   Sometimes it just takes one wonderful book to turn a kid into a reader. Tap into what interests your child. Browse these themed booklists selected by Maria Salvadore, our children's literature expert. Everything from graphic novels to poetry to modern folktales.
4. Print Awareness During Read Alouds
   How can you help kids develop print awareness? Here are some sample questions and prompts you can use before, during, and after a read aloud activity to help children activate basic knowledge about print and books.
5. Mission Critical: Reading Together to Build Critical Thinking Skills
   Critical thinking, the ability to think deeply about a topic or a book, is an essential skill for children to develop. Critical thinking doesn't develop overnight. It's something that develops and builds through conversations and experiences. It's also something parents can nurture by sharing quality books with their children.
6. The Importance of Reading Widely
   Sharing lots of different kinds, or genres, of books with your young reader exposes them to different words, different pictures, and whole new worlds. Below are some genres to try with your reader that complement 'traditional' fiction. Some are suggestions that can be used as read alouds, other may be ones your child can read.
7. Use a PEER When You Read Aloud
   The best story times are very interactive: You are talking about and reading the story, your child is talking, and there is conversation taking place between the two of you. Because of all the talking, this type of shared reading is often called dialogic reading.
8. I Love Storytime: The Best Way to Read to Your Toddler
   Reading to your toddler is one of the best ways to boost language skills. Here are 12 tips to help make sure your toddler gets a head start on reading.
9. The Role of Fathers in Their Child's Literacy Development
   Dads play a critical role in their children's literacy development — by modeling reading, sharing stories, exploring the world together, and engaging in meaningful conversations that build critical thinking skills.
10. Reading Together: Tips for Parents of Children with ADHD
    If your child has ADHD, paying attention for long periods of time can be a challenge. So, meet the challenge head-on — make reading time fun time for you and your child.
11. Reading Together: Tips for Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
    Whether your child has mild or severe Autism Spectrum Disorder, making reading a fun activity can help your child's learning and social skills. You'll find sharing books together can be a good way to connect with your son or daughter. Reading also helps your child's language development and listening skills.

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