March is Reading Month

At ages 3 and 4, children are growing quickly in their vocabulary and speaking skills and in what they know about reading and writing. Here are some things you can do at home to build their skills:

• Whatever you do together, talk about it---eating, shopping, taking a walk, visiting a relative. Every event offers a chance to build language skills.
• Take your child to new places and have new experiences...and talk about them.
• Teach the meaning of new words. Say the names of things everywhere you go.  Read street signs, billboards, store signs, grocery store signs. Explain things in simple language. Label things in pictures and talk about them.
• Help your child to follow directions. Use short, clear sentences.
• Play with letters. Put magnetic letters on the refrigerator. Ask her to find letters in books, magazines, newspapers.
• Play with words. Have fun with rhymes and tongue twisters.
• Keep reading aloud to your child! Read favorite books. Read a lot of different books. Read alphabet books. Read poetry and rhyming books.
• Talk about what you read. Ask your child what he thinks will happen next in the story. Ask about favorite parts. Ask about how the story relates to his own life. Answer his questions about the story.
• Build a 'home library' for your child. Buy books at garage sales and used bookstores and library sales. Give books for birthday gifts and other special days.
• Help your child learn to recognize her name in print. Display her name in special places. Encourage her to spell and write her name.

posted 03/05/2007 [Early Childhood]