As parents, we all want our kids to be successful in school. It's no surprise that the key to this success is being a good reader. As an elementary school teacher, I can say firsthand that reading skills are integral in everything that happens in a classroom...writing, math, science, social studies...everything revolves around being a strong reader.

There are a lot of things we can do from the time our kids are babies to help them prepare for reading success. The first thing we need to do is expand our concept of reading. Many times we think of reading as being able to look at series of words on a page and saying what they are. This is just one aspect of reading.

Reading is comprised of four areas. Let's take a quick look at each, and later in this series we'll delve deeper into ways to develop these skills in your child.

Comprehension: The main goal of reading is gaining understanding from the words printed on a page. A child may be able to read every single word in a book, but if they get to the end and have no idea what the story was about, have they truly read it? I would say no. Comprehension is the key to reading.

Decoding: If we think about the alphabet as a code, then decoding is breaking that code so that we can form words from the letters. It's seeing the letters C-A-T and figuring out that it says "cat". Decoding is often what parents consider "learning to read", and while it is a vital component, it is just one aspect.

Vocabulary: Understanding the meaning of words allows you to understand the meaning of the text as a whole. Likewise, the more words that are familiar to you, the easier it is to decode those words. Having a strong vocabulary is a building block to all other aspects of reading.

Fluency: Have you ever listened to a beginning reader read aloud. It can be painful. The...d..d..dog...r.r.r.an..ran..up..the..hi..hi..hill. Fluency is the rate and accuracy the words are read. Better decoding skills leads to increased fluency. Higher fluency equals better comprehension.

As you can see, these four areas are very much connected. Each is vitally important to successful reading. While we are not necessarily trying to teach our kids to read at this age, we can start laying the foundation for reading success. Tomorrow we'll take a look at the #1 most important thing you can do to help your child prepare to read. Can you guess what it is?