Did you know that what you do with your
children before they begin school helps them get ready to read?
According to research, there are six pre-reading skills that children
must learn in order to learn to read. You are your child's first
teacher and your child can start learning these six skills from birth.
The six pre-reading skills are listed and explained in the chart below.
Brochures are available in the library that list things you can do to
help your child be ready to learn to read when they enter kindergarten.
| Narrative Skills Being able to describe things and events and tell stories. |
Print Motivation Being interested in and enjoying books. |
Vocabulary Knowing the names of things. |
| Phonological Awareness Being able to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words. |
Letter Knowledge Knowing letters are different from each other, knowing their names and sounds and recognizing letters everywhere. |
Print Awareness Noticing print, knowing how to handle a book and knowing how to follow the words on a page. |
Three stories a day - one favorite, one
familiar,
one new ... "
Mem Fox
"A room without
books
in it is like a body without a soul."
Cicero
"A terrific
book
matters to us as human beings. ... It is terrific if we've had to shift
around the furniture in our heads as we've listened, if it has affected
us profoundly, one way or another - to laughter or tears, horror or
delight,
disgust or dismay, fascination or fright. If a book makes children
laugh,
cry, squeal, shiver, or wriggle and jiggle in some way, it takes up
residence
in their hearts and stays there."
Mem Fox
Reading Magic