Reading is not automatic and , regardless of family background, children require support in learning to read and developing strong reading skills. As adults, most of us have forgotten how much work and skill goes in to learning to read.

Learning to read starts with building a language-rich environment for your child. This forms a solid foundation on which reading skills including decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension are based Things such as practicing nursery rhymes, and playing letter and word games and later letting your child read aloud help develop phonemic awareness and letter-sound knowledge early on. Tutoring or structured computer programs can also effectively reinforce these skills. Based on an understanding of phonemic (or phonological) awareness and basic print concepts, children are ready to learn phonics and to start decoding words. Learning to read is like climbing up a ladder. Each step forward is based on the previous step. The Reading Comprehension pyramid shows the steps in this progress.

The Reading Skills Pyramid illustrates that there are many steps to becoming a proficient reader. There are five key areas in learning to read: phonemic awareness, phonics, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and reading fluency.

Teaching reading comprehension and systematic mastering of reading skills will help parents and educators gets students focused for later standardized high-stakes NCLB tests, such as the Florida FCAT, the Texas TAKS, the Ohio OGT, and the California Stanford 9 and SABE/2, to name a few.

Teaching reading comprehension skills and reinforcing them can be done in a number of ways. Time4Learning offers exercises which helps students understand how the strategy that skilled readers approach, read, and interpret text. Interactive exercise teaching the vocabulary and subject are used and then comprehension software will present a story. The story based on the students age and ability will either be read to them so they can follow along or have the student actually read the story.

Time4learning teaches reading comprehension systematically, following the steps in the reading pyramid. For pre-readers, their listening comprehension skills are built by having them prepare to hear a story, reading them the story, and then following up with questions to strengthen their reading comprehension skill. Most importantly, hints about listening strategy are given so they improve. These stories also have printable worksheets for parents who wish to print out lessons to help reinforce skills.

As students progress the activities climb higher on the Reading Comprehension pyramid by adding interactive activities to teach segmenting syllables, advanced phonics such as blending, rhyming, and prewriting skills through the Story Creator exercise.

Writing is a vitally important life skill. Todays-Learner.com reminds us that, "The link between (reading and) writing skills and academic success is clear and most standardized tests assess writing. Employers care more about writing skills today, as most jobs now require some writing. There's no doubt--writing is a skill your children must master."

Using Reading and Writing comprehension strategies can help your child's writing ability and strengthen reading skills. According to Todays-Learner.com, " Encourage your children to write regularly as a form of self-expression, whether it's writing poems or keeping a journal. When you review your child's creative writing, be entirely positive and focus on the elements that were the most effective."