Is Your Home Literacy Friendly?

According to Get Ready to Read!, learning to read begins way before a child enters school.  As a child's first teacher, parents can ensure that children are exposed to things that promote strong pre-reading skills.  Wondering what you can do to establish a supportive environment for your child's reading at  home? 

This checklist provided by Get Ready to Read! helps you to identify what supportive strategies and what you can improve upon.   The checklist has you answer "true" or "false" to items such as:

• I or another adult in the house read a picture book with my child at least once a week.
• I or another adult in the house help my child learn to write letters of the alphabet.
• My child has at least one alphabet book (e.g., Dr. Seuss's ABC book).
• My child sees me or another adult in the house reading books, magazines or the newspaper at least once a week.

After completing the survey, count up the number of items marked as "true."  The scoring guide gives you an idea of how you are doing:

30 - 37 Home literacy environment has most of the necessary supportive elements

20 - 29 Home literacy environment has many supportive elements

11 - 19 Home literacy environment has some supportive elements

0 - 10 Home literacy environment needs improvement

Online Games for Early Literacy Skills

Online games can be a fun, interactive way for young children to learn the skills they will need in order to begin reading.  Get Ready to Read! has games that address three levels of early literacy skills.  

Gus and Inky’s Underwater Adventure This game is a great way for young children to be introduced to rhyming words, practice word recognition, and learn letter names and sounds.

Rhyme Time  Kids can develop their rhyming skills by helping Gus write his first hip-hop song.

Wild Word Round Up  In this game, children learn to listen for the sounds in words.  The game provides practice in skills like sound blending and identifying beginning and ending sounds

Raising Readers Video

    

I recently came acoss a video called "Raising Readers" at GetReadytoRead.org. 

According to the website, the Get Ready to Read! program works to build the early-literacy skills of pre-school age children.

The video shows some fun activites that parents can do with their young children who are getting ready to read.  Activities include playing listening games, reading before bedtime, and making your own books.  Practicing these skills at home will give children a jump-start in thier literacy skills and will help to instill a love of reading in these future students.

Reading Rockets Tip Sheets

Looking for a way to build your child's literacy skills at home?  Reading Rockets (www.readingrockets.org) is a wonderful website that provides reading tip sheets for parents based on the age of their child. 

Here are examples of some reading strategies parents can use for their kindergarteners:

Talk to your child

Ask your child to talk about his day at school. Encourage him to explain something they did, or a game he played during recess.

Say silly tongue twisters

Sing songs, read rhyming books, and say silly tongue twisters. These help kids become sensitive to the sounds in words.

Read it and experience it

Connect what your child reads with what happens in life. If reading a book about
animals, relate it to your last trip to the zoo.

Use your child's name

Point out the link between letters and sounds. Say, "John, the word jump begins with the same sound as your name. John, jump. And they both begin with the same letter, J."

Play with puppets

Play language games with puppets. Have the puppet say, "My name is Mark. I like words that rhyme with my name. Does park rhyme with Mark? Does ball rhyme with Mark?"

Trace and say letters

Have your child use a finger to trace a letter while saying the letter's sound. Do this on paper, in sand, or on a plate of sugar.

Write it down

Have paper and pencils available for your child to use for writing. Working together, write a sentence or two about something special. Encourage her to use the letters and sounds she's learning about in school.

Play sound games

Practice blending sounds into words. Ask "Can you guess what this word is? m - o - p." Hold each sound longer than normal.

Read it again and again

Go ahead and read your child's favorite book for the 100th time! As you read, pause and ask your child about what is going on in the book.

Talk about letters and sounds

Help your child learn the names of the letters and the sounds the letters make. Turn it into a game! "I'm thinking of a letter and it makes the sound mmmmmm."

Reading tips are available for children from the infant years through the third grade.

                Reading Tips for Parents of Babies

                Reading Tips for Parents of Toddlers

                Reading Tips for Parents of Preschoolers

                Reading Tips for Parents of First Graders

                Reading Tips for Parents of Second Graders

                Reading Tips for Parents of Third Graders