Skills to Practice this Month
- Make book sharing time a special time for you and your child.
- Children who enjoy reading will want to learn how to read. The single most important activity for building knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children. This is especially true during the preschool years.
- C. Chomsky, Harvard Educational Review
Activities
Let your child see you reading often and enjoying books and other print. She will follow your good example and will be more likely to pick up a book for enjoyment, too.
Visit the public library, your local bookstore, and other places where books and reading are the focus. Find out about what programs are available at the library and the bookstores and attend these special events and programs with your child. Children who see that books are everywhere and that there are books for every reader will value books and reading themselves.
Explore web sites with your child where reading and books are the focus. Children are very interested in technology, and exploring books through technology is a great way to expose them to a variety of books and authors.
Choose a time each day to share a book with your child: At bedtime, in the morning before school, or another time when you and your child can enjoy closeness and one-on-one time. Choose a certain spot on the couch or in your child's room to serve as the "reading spot."
Make sure that your and your child's focus during reading time is on reading and the books you are sharing. Turn off the TV, the radio and anything else that might be a distraction to you or your child.
Have your child choose a stuffed animal or other object of significance to be part of your special daily reading time. Always start or end with a song, rhyme, or favorite poem. Anything that you can do to make this experience special and enjoyable for you and your child will help her to value reading and books.
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