Early Reading Tips......
If your child is just beginning to read....
by Kathleen Janke
At School the Teacher is:
• Teaching the sounds of language. The teacher provides opportunities for children to practice with the sounds that make up words. Children learn to put sounds together to make words and to break words into their separate sounds.
• Teaching the letters of the alphabet. Teachers help children learn to recognize letter names and shapes.
• Helping children learn to use words.
• Reading to children everyday. Teachers read with expression and talk with children about what they are reading.
At home you can help by:
• Practicing the sounds of language. Read books with rhymes. Teach your child rhymes, short poems, and songs. Play simple word games: “How many words can you make up that sound like the word ‘bat’?”
• Helping your child take spoken words apart and put them together. Help your child separate the sounds in words, listen for beginning and ending sounds, and put separate sounds together.
• Practice the alphabet by pointing out letters wherever you see them and reading alphabet books.
• Read to your child everyday! Read with expression. Model the structure of language, and the joy of reading.
