If your child comes to a word he can't figure out, here is one approach you can try. It's called Skip and Return. Skip the unknown word and continue reading. Go back to the word after finishing the sentence. If it's the last word in the sentence, read one more sentence. The sentence/sentences can give you clues to help you figure out the unknown word. Think about a word that would make sense. Then ask these questions: Does it make sense? Does my guess look like the word I'm trying to figure out? Chances are you will figure out the correct word. Stay tuned for more strategies to figure out unknown words.
Text to Text Connections: Ask your child if the book he is reading reminds him of another book he has read. If so, discuss the similarities and differences between the books.
Text to Self Connections: Ask your child if the book he is reading reminds him of something that has happened to him or your family. Discuss what happened in the story that made him think about something that happened in his personal life.
Mind Pictures: Ask your child to visualize the characters in their setting doing things in the story. This is effective to do when the students are reading books with few or no pictures to support the text.
Asking Questions: Read the story with your child. Then take a few minutes to separately go through the story and come up with 3-5 questions to ask each other about the story. Include questions like: Is this a fiction or nonfiction story? How do you know? What was a problem in the story? How was the problem solved? What did the main character do in the story? What kind of person was the character? What was the story mostly about? How do you think the characters felt in the story? Where did the story take place?