Summer Reading for Children: Birth – Kindergarten

Family Literacy Ideas: Birth - Kindergarten
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Young children love to listen. They love to hear their favorite books read aloud over and over. They ask “Why?” just so they can listen to you talk.

Young children love to talk. Once they discover that sounds have meaning, they learn new words very quickly and start to use them to interact with adults.

Young children love to read. They love to handle books, and gradually they learn to read from front to back and left to right. Preschool children can begin to learn the alphabet, to recognize letters, and to associate them with their sounds.

Young children love to write. They imitate what they see adults doing and learn to express their thoughts by scribbling and drawing.

You can support literacy at home by:
Speaking and Listening

Talk about signs and labels, pointing out the words.
Tell stories about your family, favorite memories, and past experiences.
Teach nursery rhymes.
Teach the alphabet song.
Listen to your child.
Ask about things your child is seeing, doing, scribbling, and drawing.
Encourage your child to tell you stories.
Listen patiently to questions and give answers.

Reading

Schedule a regular time and place to read to your child daily.
Use library books. Let your child choose some of them.
Read and re-read favorite books in whatever languages you speak.
Make books to read together by cutting pictures out of magazines or catalogs.

Drawing and Writing

Provide drawing materials and display the pictures.
Ask your child to draw something from a favorite story.
Have your child tell you a story, write it down, and read it back.
Let your child see you reading and writing, too. He/she will understand that these are important “grown-up” skills we all use every day.

For more ideas, check out www.summerreading.org.

Excerpt from: Opening the Door to Learning: Literacy is a Family Affair, published by New Visions for Public Schools.

Summer Reading for Children: Birth – Kindergarten

Recommended Reading: Birth – Kindergarten