Young children need a variety of skills to become successful readers. Research shows that six specific early literacy skills become the building blocks for later reading and writing. Children who enter school with more of these skills are better able to benefit from the reading instruction they receive when they arrive at school. In order to improve these skills, we have provided your child with a menu of literacy activities. There will be opportunities built into your child's daily schedule to use this menu to choose activities to help develop their skills. The most important early literacy skills children need to develop include the following:
Please remember that these activities are meant for a broad range of skills and abilities. This means that your child will likely find some of these activities to be easy, some that are a challenge and some that are just right. We encourage you to have your child try each of these activities. Remind your child that once upon a time the easy ones were once hard too! The more they practice these skills, the easier they will become. Remember - have fun!
Read a book- choose a favorite story or something brand new, snuggle in close and read together. Ask your child questions as you read together ("what color was the bunny's carrot?" "How did the bunny feel when it rained?", "How would you feel if it rained and you were planning to go outside?")
Shape letters out of play dough- Get those fine motor skills in too! Use play dough to shape letters. Have your child start with the letters in their name and then add in other letters too. Ask your child to say the name of each letter and practice the sounds.
Connect the dot using letters- choose a letter connect the dot here. Practice saying the letter names as you connect the dots to each other.
Tell a story by looking at a picture- choose a picture from a book, magazine or a family photo. Tell the story of what is happening in the picture. Encourage your child to add details to their story that make sense with what they see in the picture.
Write a story or dictate a story- Have your child tell you a story. Write it down and share it with someone! Encourage children to practice writing by having them sign their story by writing their name on it. Children may also try to write a few letters or words by sounding them out and using the letters that make those sounds.
Name practice- Have your child practice identifying their name. You can write your child's name on pieces of paper and hide them around the house, unscramble the letters in their name written on pieces of paper, look for objects that start with the same letter as their name, write their name in chalk on the sidewalk, or simply practice tracing the first letter or their full name.
- Vocabulary: knowing the names of things, is an extremely important skill for children to have when they are learning to read. Most children enter school knowing between 3,000 and 5,000 words. Help develop your child's vocabulary by reading a variety of books with him, both fiction and nonfiction, and by naming all the objects in your child's world.
- Print Motivation: is a child's interest in and enjoyment of books. A child with print motivation enjoys being read to, plays with books, pretends to write, asks to be read to and likes trips to the library.Encourage print motivation in your child by making shared book reading a special time, keeping books acces- sible, and letting your child see that you enjoy reading. Explain how you use reading and writing in everyday life.
- Print Awareness: includes learning that writing in English follows basic rules such as flowing from top-to- bottom and left-to-right, and that the print on the page is what is being read by someone who knows how to read. An example of print awareness is a child's ability to point to the words on the page of a book. Your child's print awareness can be encouraged by pointing out and reading words everywhere you see them - on signs, labels, at the grocery store and post office.
- Narrative Skills: being able to understand and tell stories, and describe things, are important for children be- ing able to understand what they are learning to read. An example of a narrative skill is a child's ability to tell what happens at a birthday party or on a trip to the zoo. Help your child strengthen her narrative skills by asking her to tell you about the book, instead of just listen- ing to you read the story. Encourage your child to tell you about things he has done that have a regular se- quence to them.
- Letter Knowledge includes learning that letters have names and are different from each other, and that spe- cific sounds go with specific letters. An example of letter knowledge is a child's ability to tell the name of the letter B and what sound it makes. Letter knowledge can be developed by using a variety of fun reading or writing activities, like pointing out and naming letters in alphabet books, picture books, or on signs and labels. For babies, talk about the shape of things, and for preschoolers, try drawing letters and pictures in the sand.
- Phonological Awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate the smaller sounds in words. Phonological awareness includes the ability to hear and create rhymes, to say words with sounds or chunks left out and the ability to put two word chunks together to make a word. Most children who have difficulty in reading have trouble in phonological awareness. Strengthen phonological awareness by playing fun word games with your child:
- Make up silly words by changing the first sound in a word: milk, nilk, pilk, rilk, filk.
- Say words with a pause between the syllables ("rab"and "it") and have your child guess what word you are saying.
- Read stories of poems with rhymes or different sounds to your child.
Please remember that these activities are meant for a broad range of skills and abilities. This means that your child will likely find some of these activities to be easy, some that are a challenge and some that are just right. We encourage you to have your child try each of these activities. Remind your child that once upon a time the easy ones were once hard too! The more they practice these skills, the easier they will become. Remember - have fun!
Read a book- choose a favorite story or something brand new, snuggle in close and read together. Ask your child questions as you read together ("what color was the bunny's carrot?" "How did the bunny feel when it rained?", "How would you feel if it rained and you were planning to go outside?")
Shape letters out of play dough- Get those fine motor skills in too! Use play dough to shape letters. Have your child start with the letters in their name and then add in other letters too. Ask your child to say the name of each letter and practice the sounds.
Connect the dot using letters- choose a letter connect the dot here. Practice saying the letter names as you connect the dots to each other.
Tell a story by looking at a picture- choose a picture from a book, magazine or a family photo. Tell the story of what is happening in the picture. Encourage your child to add details to their story that make sense with what they see in the picture.
Write a story or dictate a story- Have your child tell you a story. Write it down and share it with someone! Encourage children to practice writing by having them sign their story by writing their name on it. Children may also try to write a few letters or words by sounding them out and using the letters that make those sounds.
Name practice- Have your child practice identifying their name. You can write your child's name on pieces of paper and hide them around the house, unscramble the letters in their name written on pieces of paper, look for objects that start with the same letter as their name, write their name in chalk on the sidewalk, or simply practice tracing the first letter or their full name.