READING TIPS AND NOTES / HOME PROJECTS

Your house and your daily life are full of opportunities to engage children in reading.

You can create scrapbooks or alphabet posters with your kids. You can write to-do lists together. You can even create mini-libraries in your house and encourage your children to arrange their books by subjects.

The U.S. Department of Education has plenty of other suggestions. Here are three of them:

Turn your children’s writing into a book

What you need:

Construction paper, yarn or ribbon, cardboard, colorful cloth or wrapping paper, paste, scissors.

Follow these easy steps:

* Paste pages of your child’s writing onto pieces of construction paper.

* Discuss the order of the writing. Should all the stories about animals go in one section and the tales about holidays in another?

* Number the pages.

* Create a table of contents.

* Make covers for the book with cardboard or heavy paper. You might want to paste colorful cloth or wrapping paper onto the covers.

* Punch holes in the pages and covers.

* Bind the book together by lacing the yarn or ribbon through the holes. Tie the loose ends in bows.

* Add pages to the book as more writing is completed. Or start a new book.

Practice names together

* Print the letters of your child’s name on paper.

* Say each letter as you write it: “K-A-T-I-E” or “M-I-K-E.”

* When you finish, say, “That’s your name.”

* Have your child draw a picture.

* When finished, say, “I have an idea. Let’s put your name on your picture.” As you write the letters, say them out loud.

* If you have magnet letters, spell out your child’s name on the refrigerator door.

* Print your child’s name on a card and put it on the bedroom door or some other special place.

Prepare a meal together

* Ask your children to help you write a grocery list.

* Take them to the market and have them find items on the list.

* Encourage them to read the labels and box tops.

* Have them read the ingredients for the recipe as you prepare a meal together.

* Talk about each of the steps.

BOOK EVENTS

* Wednesday, Woodland Hills: Sign-language teacher Kris Vreeland will use American Sign Language to tell stories and fables. Los Angeles Public Library, Woodland Hills Branch, 22200 Ventura Blvd., 3:30 p.m., (818) 887-0160.

* Wednesday, Glendale: The Glendale Public Library, 222 E. Harvard St., offers “Toddlertime,” featuring stories for children 18 months to 3 years, at 10:30 a.m. Wednesdays. The library also has a family story time at 2 p.m. Saturdays for youngsters 4 and older. (818) 548-2030. Free.

* Wednesday, Montrose: The Montrose-Crescenta branch of the Glendale Library, 2465 Honolulu Ave., will have a story time for preschoolers at 10:30 a.m. (818) 548-2048. Free.