There are five basic components to literacy as defined by the National Reading Panel: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. A deficit in any one of these areas will make reading very difficult for children. As a parent there are several things that you can do to strengthen these components while reading with your child. The links to the left include specific tips and strategies that can be used for each pillar of literacy, but first it is important to understand what each really is.
Phonemic awareness has to do with the sounds of words. It is usually the first element mastered by a child because there are no letters attached to the words. A child will demonstrate phonemic awareness by breaking words into individual sounds (cat to c-a-t) or blending sounds together to make a word (c-a-t to cat.) Another part of phonemic awareness is substituting one sound for another sound in a word.
Phonics is similar to phonemic awareness, but does include letters with the sounds. This is the area of literacy that focuses on the specific sounds that letters or combinations of letters produce. This is the skill that needs to be used to "sound out" the word in print or to "spell" a word that is needed.
Comprehension includes all aspects of understanding what has been read. The most basic form of comprehension is retelling the story sequentially with specific information about the main characters; however, there is much more to it than just that. Also involved are predictions, inferences, and personal connections. The goal is to go deeply into the text to discover everything embedded there.
Fluency refers to how reading sounds, usually while reading aloud. One aspect of fluency is the speed of text reading, but simply reading fast doesn't mean that one is reading well. Fluency includes the use of inflection and voice to help tell the story that is being read, and attention to punctuation. To illustrate the need to attend to punctuation consider these examples: "John," said Mom, "come here!" versus John said, "Mom, come here!" This is important because it effects comprehension.
Vocabulary refers to developing an understanding of what specific words mean. It utilizes many components of literacy including context clues and grammatical analysis. The best way to develop a good vocabulary is to hear many good stories, which means having someone read to you.