To help you use the video: Introduction Look at the script from the video   (requires Adobe's Reader) Meet the families in the video Things to do before watching As you watch the video Things to do after watching Using the video in school with family groups
		A special note to teachers: Looking for a way to encourage families to support their children in reading? A Bridge to Reading: What Families Need to Know can help. Use it as part of a lending library for your students to use at home—or as the core of a PTA or Back-to-School event.

This video combines the stories of families who have made reading a priority with the thoughts of reading experts about why this is such important work.

In this half-hour, you will meet Zulma Sum, Margaret Walker, and Dia Michels — all of whom are finding unique ways to help the children in their families become readers.

The reading experts — Maria Salvadore and Carol Rasco — talk about this important work, explaining what parents can do to help their children as they become readers.

These are some of the key points the families and experts make together:

• All families know how important it is for the children to be able to read.
• In order for children to learn to read, they need the support of their families and the school community.
• All parents have the tools they need to help their children learn how to read.
• Children have a critical window for learning how to read. It opens when they are born and closes after third grade. It is much harder for them to master reading after the window closes.
• Being able to read is a key skill. Students who don't read well often drop out of school. Three out of four children in the juvenile justice system cannot read.
• Children who learn language and reading before they come to school have a better chance of succeeding as students.
• Families can help their children read by :
  • reading themselves
  • talking to their children
  • telling stories
  • reading to them
  • going to the library
  • watching educational television programs together
  • using everyday events as a chance to explore language and reading.
• Enriching experiences, such as field trips, can also help children learn about the world around them and the varieties of language they can incorporate in their own vocabularies.
• Children need to hear and practice language when they are first born.
• Families can begin reading to their children from the time they are babies. Even though their children may not understand the words, they are learning and hearing how language works.
• When families read to their children, they should put emotions into the reading, stop and ask questions about what they are reading, point out the words as they read, and talk about the pictures and the words in the book with their children. All of this makes reading fun for everyone.
• Families should read with their children from the time the children are very young, and continue throughout their lives together, even after the children have learned to read on their own.
• If parents feel they are not strong readers themselves, they can still tell stories and talk together with their children. These activities all stimulate children and get them ready to learn more about reading.
• In order to motivate children to read, families can plan activities related to the books they read. They can also pick books related to topics that interest their children.