I've always just read with my kids (or in the case of my younger ones, my oldest has read with them), pointing to each word as I read it. I make a point to read clearly, not too quickly, and with marked expression. As they've shown facility with letter sounds, I have had them sound out the occasional cvc word, or read familiar sight words. As their decoding ability and reading vocabulary increases, I read less and less of it (just inserting the more challenging words necessary to maintain the flow of the narrative), until they reach a level of proficiency that allows them to read it all independently.
With my first, we started off with old favorites like Dr. Seuss and P.D. Eastman. The younger children have shifted to add Mo Willems and BOB books. I also do the above strategy with books well above their independent reading level, which gives access to a much wider range of topics and vocabulary. And because I predominantly have them read aloud the words that they don't have to puzzle over for too long, we can maintain prosody, and build fluency.
