We always had reading time in our home. That was an ever-changing situation. Sometimes we would read as a family. Sometimes we just read individually (night time stories always factored in!).

We read in shopping malls (names of stores, signs etc), we read bus signs ... any opportunity we had, we opened up for reading.

Later, when our children were stumped by a by a big word I'd ask what parts of the word they could read, and then we dealt with the difficult parts.

Literacy was intentionally alive and well and very much part of our lives.

Lots of praise for a job well done. ALL jobs were well done!!!

The children who come from homes where reading is not valued, are the ones who need explicit and diligent teaching in the early years.

Often they catch up. Sometimes they don't.