The early years are a critical time in language and literacy development. 90% of a child’s brain is developed before the age of five. Early literacy activities create more brain connections in the area of cognitive development and language. The reading network in the child’s brain doesn’t naturally exist; it must be built.
During the early years, we work on these areas:
Vocabulary – the size of a preschooler’s vocabulary is linked to later skills in reading. We want to make sure that young children hear lots of words through back -and- forth conversations.
Narrative – a child’s ability to describe real or fictional events. They learn to share their thoughts, ideas, listen to a story and predict what will happen. They can describe what happened in real life or in a book.
Phonological Awareness – This is how sounds are structured. Preschoolers learn how to blend and segment words to make sounds. They can identify letters and the sounds a letter makes.
Print Knowledge – A child’s interest in print (books, abc letters, words and how print is used all around them at home and school).
HOW CAN YOU HELP YOUR CHILD BUILD THESE SKILLS?
- Build their vocabulary – use lots of words around them, talk, ask them questions, describe objects and the things you do.
- Read books aloud and tell stories – identify and describe the setting and characters in a book, predict what will happen next and talk about the events in a story in their own words.
- Phonological Awareness – identify letters and the sounds they make (the letter Ss makes a ssss sound), show how those sounds fit together to make a word (sad), identify rhyming patterns (sad and mad) and build words together.
- Print – put print all around them, show them that we read from left -to- right and top-to-bottom, play games with letters to help them recognize lower and uppercase alphabet letters, play games with words, let them see you read, make lists together, show them their name in print and how you use reading and writing every day.
Here are a few of our favorite books for summer reading…
Even Superheroes Have Bad Days by Shelly Becker
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin
Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees
How Do Dinosaurs Go to School? Jane Yolen and Mark Teague
Ice Cream Face by Heidi Woodward Sheffield
Don’t forget to visit your local library, find a quiet area to read, get a library card and take a few books home with you.