Pre Reading
Pre-Reading Communication and Literacy Standard 1: Uses language in many different ways.
Benchmark 1.1: Uses gestures, movements, or vocalizations to initiate interactions or to get needs met.
Age 1: If your child enjoys pulling things around, then create a container to pull stuffed animals around in. Perhaps an old shoe box or a laundry basket with a rope tied to it could be your “cart.” Show how they can put some of their special stuffed animals in it and pull them around the living room. Perhaps eventually the child can get in the laundry basket and you could push or pull them around as well. : ) Use new terms like “you”, “he”, “she”, and “I”. Play some simple finger plays and nursery rhymes with your child. Help them to memorize the words.
Age 2: Watch today for opportunities to increase their vocabulary with some new words. At one year old they can say around 20+ words. By the age of 3 your child can use 300+ words including some descriptive words. Look for opportunities to “label” their environment and introduce them to the wonderful world around them.
Age 3: Out of construction paper, make enough hearts for each letter of their name. Print one letter on each of the hearts with the first letter a capital and the others lower case. Hide the hearts around the room and have fun looking for them together. Once they are all found, place them in order and show them the letters in their name. You could even put a line of elmers glue on each letter and shake some glitter onto the glue. Let dry before playing the game again.
Age 4: Check out from the library some books on Valentines Day and have fun reading them together. Have your finger move occasionally under the words that you are reading and modeling the reading movement from top to bottom and left to right. After the book is read, point out some “valentine words” in the story. Provide materials to create your own valentines. Encourage them to use some of the words from the story. Perhaps rewrite the words onto a recipe card for them to copy off. Send to a loved one.
Age 5: Take the 4 year old activity one step further by creating valentines for people you see during the week in the life of your child. Have your child deliver the valentines to the people they see each week for example the check out person at the grocery store, meat department, grocery store, library, Sunday school teacher, or whoever you happen to see on a regular basis.
Remember reading is not just “taught”; the love of reading can also be “caught” by your showing them how much fun reading can be and the wonderful world that is opened up in their mind as stories are read to them.
There are many good resources where we can glean information to guide children during the early years so they can build a strong foundation for learning. Most of the time we look to the State of Kansas Early Learning Guide lines; but for this month, we will take a look at Developmental Milestones from the group called “Reach Out and Read” from the Boston University School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics.
Before a child “learns to read,” he can be taught the art of “loving to read.” A well-loved book, like a well-loved blanket, can bring routine and stability to a child. Some books explain new adventures that they might be trying, like "Ezra sleeps over." It is a book about what happens when one spends the night at a friend’s. Other books may be like a friend that they want to visit every night for 2 weeks by having it read and reread to them. They may even role play the story during the day. For small babies, books provide a photograph that the parent can point to and say the name of the picture. This is what I call “labeling” the child’s environment by putting a name to a picture or object. No matter what the age, books can become a great tool in the life of the child, especially when books are read on a daily basis. Try to include a couple of books each day in your child’s bedtime routine, no matter what their age.
Visit your local library or children’s book store for a book your children would enjoy concerning the first Thanksgiving. If possible, have your child help to choose the book. Be sure and date the front inside cover.
Here are some simple guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics about selecting books for different ages.
Infants usually like books
• With photos of other babies
• That are brightly colored to touch and taste
• With photos of familiar objects like balls and bottles
Toddlers usually like books
• That are sturdy to carry
• With photos of children doing familiar things like sleeping or playing
• About going to sleep for bedtime
• About saying hello and good-bye
• With only a few words on each page
• With simple rhymes or predictable text
• About animals
Preschoolers usually like books
• That tell stories
• About kids their age
• About making friends
• About going to school or to the doctor
• About having brothers or sisters
• That have simple texts they can memorize
**Resource from the Literacy Toolkit, American Academy of Pediatrics, 6/16/2009.
There are many good resources where we can glean information to guide children during the early years so they can build a strong foundation for learning. Most of the time we look to the State of Kansas Early Learning Guide lines; but for this month, we will take a look at Developmental Milestones from the group called “Reach Out and Read” from the Boston University School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics.
Before a child “learns to read,” he can be taught the art of “loving to read.” A well-loved book, like a well-loved blanket, can bring routine and stability to a child. Some books explain new adventures that they might be trying, like "Ezra sleeps over." It is a book about what happens when one spends the night at a friend’s. Other books may be like a friend that they want to visit every night for 2 weeks by having it read and reread to them. They may even role play the story during the day. For small babies, books provide a photograph that the parent can point to and say the name of the picture. This is what I call “labeling” the child’s environment by putting a name to a picture or object. No matter what the age, books can become a great tool in the life of the child, especially when books are read on a daily basis. Try to include a couple of books each day in your child’s bedtime routine, no matter what their age.
Visit your local library or children’s book store for a book your children would enjoy concerning the first Thanksgiving. If possible, have your child help to choose the book. Be sure and date the front inside cover.
Here are some simple guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics about selecting books for different ages.
Infants usually like books
• With photos of other babies
• That are brightly colored to touch and taste
• With photos of familiar objects like balls and bottles
Toddlers usually like books
• That are sturdy to carry
• With photos of children doing familiar things like sleeping or playing
• About going to sleep for bedtime
• About saying hello and good-bye
• With only a few words on each page
• With simple rhymes or predictable text
• About animals
Preschoolers usually like books
• That tell stories
• About kids their age
• About making friends
• About going to school or to the doctor
• About having brothers or sisters
• That have simple texts they can memorize
**Resource from the Literacy Toolkit, American Academy of Pediatrics, 6/16/2009.
TOOLS FOR MOTHERHOOD GRADUATES share the activities they are doing at home.
Zoe’s been really curious lately about rhyming and even spelling and reading. It’s been fun. She’ll ask me in the car just out of the blue… “does T start with Tree mom?”… meaning does tree start with T? But she’s learning the sounds and she can easily spell 3 letter words just sounding them out and even can read some of the words.
3 Year Old-- Read a book & bring to life By Kahle, Graduate of TFM 7-week workshop
We read a book about different, shapes, sizes and colors of beads and then we made a bracelet out of beads and a pipecleaner. Kaihtlyn was so proud of herself for making the bracelet on her own.
To bring the "book alive" by creating a fun activity around what we had read, we created a bracelet like what we had read. We had tried putting tap onto the end of yarn at first, but the beads would not go over the tape. A pipe clearner worked well for her to thread the beads onto. With all the beads on the pipe cleaner, I dont have to worry about it breaking. : )
Recommendations: Yes, helps small motor skills. : )
1 1/2 Years Old & 4 Years Old This is an activity that I got from a friend that encourage "reading" in very young ones. Since little ones love to see pictures of babies then this is perfect. So I had Zoe collect things around the house that were certain colors each day for a week then I dressed Lexi (baby sister) in that color and took her picture. Then I put them online at shutterfly.com and ordered a color book of Lexi. I also labeled the different pages/colors in both upper and lowercase letters so Zoe can "read" the letters in the colors and she quite often reads this book to Lexi and spells the words for her. Looking back, I think I would have liked to have done it when Lexi was younger and maybe do two or one page/color for a month so at age 1, she would have the book and we would see her grow. This is a great activity to teach and watch growth in our little ones. -- Heather
3 Years Old I made a worksheet to have Kaihtlyn trace the dots and work on Left to Right concepts. She still hasnt mastered the tracing concept yet without my assistance. She still wants to draw everywhere. This will help strengthen bounderies when working with paper and drawing. This activity helps to teach the child control when drawing. I like the fact that it teaches fine motor skills and teaches L to R. --Kayle
4 1/2 Years Old So we have this old rocking re-cliner chair that no longer has legs. So we put it in the playroom for the girls. I added some throw pillows and a blanket to cuddle with and added a basket next to it on the floor filled with books. Zoe now gets to go upstairs to the playroom to go to her book nook whenever she needs some space and uiet from little sis. Its been a lot of fun and she's using it a lot now. It's been a great retreat for her and less refereeing needed between the girls for me. : )--Heather
Zoe’s been really curious lately about rhyming and even spelling and reading. It’s been fun. She’ll ask me in the car just out of the blue… “does T start with Tree mom?”… meaning does tree start with T? But she’s learning the sounds and she can easily spell 3 letter words just sounding them out and even can read some of the words.
3 Year Old-- Read a book & bring to life By Kahle, Graduate of TFM 7-week workshop
We read a book about different, shapes, sizes and colors of beads and then we made a bracelet out of beads and a pipecleaner. Kaihtlyn was so proud of herself for making the bracelet on her own.
To bring the "book alive" by creating a fun activity around what we had read, we created a bracelet like what we had read. We had tried putting tap onto the end of yarn at first, but the beads would not go over the tape. A pipe clearner worked well for her to thread the beads onto. With all the beads on the pipe cleaner, I dont have to worry about it breaking. : )
Recommendations: Yes, helps small motor skills. : )
1 1/2 Years Old & 4 Years Old This is an activity that I got from a friend that encourage "reading" in very young ones. Since little ones love to see pictures of babies then this is perfect. So I had Zoe collect things around the house that were certain colors each day for a week then I dressed Lexi (baby sister) in that color and took her picture. Then I put them online at shutterfly.com and ordered a color book of Lexi. I also labeled the different pages/colors in both upper and lowercase letters so Zoe can "read" the letters in the colors and she quite often reads this book to Lexi and spells the words for her. Looking back, I think I would have liked to have done it when Lexi was younger and maybe do two or one page/color for a month so at age 1, she would have the book and we would see her grow. This is a great activity to teach and watch growth in our little ones. -- Heather
3 Years Old I made a worksheet to have Kaihtlyn trace the dots and work on Left to Right concepts. She still hasnt mastered the tracing concept yet without my assistance. She still wants to draw everywhere. This will help strengthen bounderies when working with paper and drawing. This activity helps to teach the child control when drawing. I like the fact that it teaches fine motor skills and teaches L to R. --Kayle
4 1/2 Years Old So we have this old rocking re-cliner chair that no longer has legs. So we put it in the playroom for the girls. I added some throw pillows and a blanket to cuddle with and added a basket next to it on the floor filled with books. Zoe now gets to go upstairs to the playroom to go to her book nook whenever she needs some space and uiet from little sis. Its been a lot of fun and she's using it a lot now. It's been a great retreat for her and less refereeing needed between the girls for me. : )--Heather