You Read To Me, I

When my daughter was four years old we had the board book, Go Dog Go (Eastman, 1961).  It was one of her favorite books that we must have read it  a million times!  The book was tiny and fitted perfectly in her little hands.  One day, my daughter came up to me and said, “I can read this book.  Want to hear?” and of course I said that I most certainly would love for her to read to me! We snuggled together on the couch as she read each page with excitement and perfect intonation!  It was hands down the best story I had ever heard!  Was my child really reading?  Well, she had accomplished one of the most important skills of a future reader.  She had memorized the story and knew the complete sequence of the story from beginning to middle to end.  It was a delight to hear her read and she was so proud of herself!  I praised her and like the proud Mama I was I had her read the book to everyone we came across with!

Think about books your child likes and books you have read over and over again.  Your child can use the picture clues to help retell the story.  Choose books with simple texts and a meaningful storyline that he can relate to it.  See if he can tell the story to another person or read the story to a favorite stuffed animal friend.

You can help advance your child’s literacy throughout the day by making your child’s environment conducive to literacy.  When your child is playing with a toy kitchen, you can add a notepad or a menu so he can play restaurant.  If your child enjoys building with blocks, give him some books on buildings or a sketchpad for him to draw out his creations like an architect.  When you are shopping for groceries make a list and have your child help read the list and cross off each item as you add them to your shopping cart.  Each time you interact with your child in a literate way he is hastening his language development.  Literacy is community wide, it’s all over; it is much more than just drill and practice.  It’s the human contact that is important.  Hearing an older relative retell a story from the past, looking at picture of past events, communicating about where you will go next are all crucial for emergent literacy.  Make every moment count with your child.  Don’t let a day go by without reading, speaking, writing and listening!