Parents

Raise a Reader: Six Pre-literacy Skills

You can invest in your child’s future as a successful reader and writer by building these six skills.

Vocabulary

Talk about objects in your child’s everyday world; play guessing games; read books that repeat words as well as books that stretch your child’s existing vocabulary. 

Print Motivation

Build your child’s interest in print by modeling reading as both enjoyable and useful (such as labels and instructions). Make daily shared reading a special time, and be sure books are available throughout the house and in the car. Encourage play with print: a child who ‘pretends’ to read and to write before she has those skills is displaying print motivation.

Print Awareness

Applaud your child’s recognition of logos and brand names because making meaning of symbols is a reading skill. Occasionally point to the flow of print from left to right, and top to bottom, and your child will make the connection that the symbols on the page, sign, screen, etc., represent the words he hears you say aloud.

Narration

Talk about the sequence of the day or an event. When your child draws a picture, ask for the story behind it. In addition to asking your child questions about books you read together, build narration skills by asking ask her to tell it back to you in her own words.

Letter Knowledge

Letter knowledge is the understanding that each letter has its own shape, and that shape represents a sound or sounds. Point out all kinds of shapes, and play with alphabet puzzles, magnetic letters on the refrigerator, and play clay letter shapes. Trace and say letter shapes in sand, steam on the mirror – anywhere!

Phonological Awareness

Children need to be able to hear, distinguish, and manipulate the smaller sounds in words. Play with rhyming words: songs, traditional nursery rhymes, and Dr. Seuss books are perfect! Clap or stomp out the syllables in words. Make a game of separating and combining the chunks of words like ‘toothbrush’ and ‘toothpaste’.