Early Literacy
The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children. - US Department of Education
At the library, we offer several program series to help children learn pre-literacy skills. Our activities start at birth and include Little Wonders for babies younger than 1 year, Tickle Tales for 1-year-olds, Tot Tales for 2-and-3-year-olds, and Story Stars for 4-and-5-year-olds. Don't teach your child to read - get your child ready to learn to read!
About Early Childhood Literacy
Early childhood literacy is the skills necessary for a child to have before learning to read. Research indicates that there are six components of these skills. They are:
Vocabulary; knowing the names of things
Print motivation; a child’s interest in and enjoyment of books. (wanting to learn to read)
Phonological Sensitivity; ability to hear and manipulate the smaller sounds in words. (rhyming, hearing syllables)
Print Awareness; learning that writing in English follows basic rules such as moving from top to bottom, left to right, and knowing that each printed word has a meaning.
Letter knowledge; learning that letters are different from each other, that each letter has a name, and that specific sounds go with specific letters.
Narrative skills; being able to understand and tell stories, being able to describe things, and the basic structure of stories.
Reading Readiness = Reading Success
Reading Success = Overall School Success
Developing these skills shouldn’t feel like work to you or your child!
- Be playful and silly together.
- Share a book every day, but stop when your child's mind wanders. Keep it fun.
- Read out loud from picture or chapter books. With babies, point to things and name them, too.
- Say nursery rhymes, make animal sounds, and sing songs together.
- Talk together about the story and pictures, explain the concepts.
- Ask your child to name and describe things.
- Get refrigerator magnets to help your child learn the alphabet, the sounds, and a few short words.
- Talk with your child as you spend time together. Your child will soak up vocabulary like a sponge, so don’t limit yourself to simple words. Provide a language-rich environment!
- Let your child see you reading, and he will want to learn how.
- Buy your child some books of her own, especially the ones she wants to hear over and over.
- Play rhyming and matching games, and make up more games together. If your child is named Jackie, call her “Jackie-zo-zackie” or “Jumping Jackie”, etc. Play "I Spy" by saying, "I spy, with my little eye, something in the room that rhymes with Mabel. What is it?"
Learn More – Books & Web Sites
Books
Related books are available at the Plainfield | Guilford Township Public Library.
Web Sites
The adults page her articles and information about leading kids to reading. The baby/toddler and preschooler pages have stories, songs, and games.
- Zero to Three's Brain Wonders
- In question and answer format, presents recent research on brain development and early childhood literacy of newborns to age 3. Separates information for parents, child care providers and health clinicians.
- Ready At Five
- A huge collection of tip sheets and activity calendar for parents, supporting early literacy.
- A Child Becomes a Reader: Birth Through Preschool
- A 32-page printable booklet of skills for newborn to age 6 by The Partnership for Reading, administered by the National Institute for Literacy in cooperation with National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, and US Department of Education and US Department of Health and Human Services.
- Grow Up Reading @ The West Bloomfield Township Public Library
- A good basic explanation of early literacy skills and reading with your children from The West Bloomfield Tpw. Public Library.
- Ten Tips to Raise a Book Lover
- From the National Center for Family Literacy.
- Parents Page
- Parent Page Handouts on a variety of topics including choosing books for young children and reading with your child. In English and Spanish. It includes Reading Together to Build Early Literacy and On the Road to Reading as well as an eNewsletter you can subscribe to. Sponsored by Parents As Teachers, an early childhood parent education and family support program.
- Your Baby, Toddler and Preschooler
- Ways for parent to build a child's early literacy skills. Good section on choosing books, reading aloud, and language-rich homes. From Reading Is Fundamental.
- Helping Kids Learn to Read . . . and Succeed!
- A large site with information, activities, and advice. Click on English or Spanish.
For more websites with related information see literacy expert Saroj Ghoting's site (from which many of these references were drawn).