Your 6-Year-Old: Expanding your library

Expanding your library

You may have amassed a collection of picture books and board books from your child's earlier days. As reading skills begin to take off, it's time to think about starting a broader home library to supplement trips to the public library. Having favorite beginning-reader books at home helps your child practice and builds confidence. She's apt to read them often enough that they're worth the small investment.
Your 6-year-old now

What books should be in a good first library? Here are some guidelines:

Foremost, look for books your child can read comfortably. The general rule: Kids should be able to read a page with no more than five errors.
Simple readers that repeat words and phrases or that have lots of rhyming words and predictable plots all build confidence. (Example: Dr. Seuss's Beginner Books series.)
Consider your child's interests. Choose tales that relate to experiences in her life, like going to the dentist or making the soccer team. If she likes a certain author or illustrator, look for more titles by that person.
Aim for variety. Don't forget poetry and nonfiction titles.
Include some books with only illustrations. As your child looks at the pictures and tells the story in her own words, she builds storytelling skills. She's also learning that pictures provide clues to what the story is about, a skill that will help her figure out unfamiliar words in books with print.
Pick up a few books that are beyond her reading ability, too. These are for you to read aloud together. Her auditory comprehension (understanding what she hears) is still way ahead of her reading comprehension (understanding what she reads). Being read to expands a child's vocabulary.
Your life now

Paging the tooth fairy! While some children begin to lose teeth as early as 4 or 5, age 6 is the average age for the first tooth to come out. Think about how you will commemorate this big event. Will your child put the tooth under her pillow and hope the tooth fairy will exchange it for cash? If so, how much?

Some families wrap the tooth in tissue, while others use a fancy box. Given that your child has a mouthful to lose in the coming years, pick a routine you'll be happy to repeat. (Giving a big gift for each lost tooth, for example, can add up.)