by Lori Lawless and Karen Burns, Support Teachers

It’s never too early to start reading to your child. Modeling a love of reading and spending time reading with your child are important in developing key pre-reading skills needed for later reading success. With so many books to choose from, and so little time, here are some ideas for building those readiness skills.

First, think about the types of books you choose. Considerations in selecting books for young children include:
• choosing books for the enjoyment you can share with your child;
• choosing books for the pre-reading skills they teach; and
• using and displaying books/resources as a way to gain information.

Reading for enjoyment
Ask any group of adult readers and they will be able to rattle off a few favorite books. However, those books will always differ based on individual interests and personalities. The same is true for young children. Young children will have favorite books and will relish hearing those books read over and over, and over again! Indulge your child in expressing his/her love of literature as the repetition of favorite books teaches your child how stories are organized as well as reinforces the patterns in letters and words that lead to reading. Expand on your child’s enjoyment of reading by building her/his repertoire of favorites. Find books in the library about your child’s passions, whether they be vehicles, pirates, families, or animals. Use books to prepare your child for an event or process it afterward (e.g. a trip to the zoo or the beach, the birth of a new baby, the loss of a grandparent). Bev Bos, a leading expert in early childhood education, describes the following guidelines:

After reading books to young children for more than thirty years, a good book has to meet a certain criteria for me:
Is it meaningful to the children, something they can make sense of their world without being condescending?
Does it encourage conversations connected to their lives or imagination?
Is it humorous? Does it promote gales of laughter of heighten a child’s sense of fun? Is it, in other words, irresistible?
Are the illustrations visually pleasing and not overwhelming?
Does the book encourage children to interact positively?
Does the story help children toward self-identification or reinforce their self-concept positively?
Are there opportunities to create, to expand on the story?
Is it “preachy”, “teachy” or “cutesy”? If so, you are better off without it.
(www.turnthepage.com/articles; page 1)

Another way to think about expanding your child’s loved books is through making your own. Use family photos, children’s own drawings or pictures of favorite items cut from catalogs; you and your child can create a story line together. Document family events, make a cookbook of home recipes (in the words of the child), and write your child’s own story, using his/her words. Simple text, hand printed, is fine. The pages can be stapled or punch holes in each page and tie them together with ribbon or the metal rings found in office supply stores. Covering pages with clear contact paper or laminating them will help the books survive longer with lots of handling.

Some favorite Jowonio preschool classroom books include: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, The Mitten by Jan Brett, The Napping House by Audrey Wood, Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff, and especially any of the homemade class books with kid’s pictures!

Reading to Develop Skills
Children‘s awareness of words, sounds within words and later knowledge of letters develops naturally through exposure to language and print. Children often love books with repetitive text because it is predictable, and children can chime in and “read” the repetitive text. Over time they will begin to recognize the words within the text. Rhymes, chants, songs or books written in rhyme are captivating because of the rhythm and rhyme. Hearing rhyme encourages children to hear parts of words that are alike. In a similar way, chants, slogans or books with words that have the same initial sounds (alliteration), help children hear the parts of words that are alike. When you read books with these elements with your child, he/she will tune in to the slight differences in the words that sound alike thus developing beginning reading skills. Here are some ways to encourage your child’s participation with text and sounds:
• Find books with repetitive text that capture your child’s interest and read and reread then over time.
• Encourage your child ‘s reading by pausing for him/her to join in reading repetitive text (but don’t insist!)
• Point to words as you reread books at times, to draw your child’s attention to the words as you read.
• Say or read familiar rhymes or chants and leave off a rhyming word, allowing your child to fill in the missing words.
• Change a familiar rhyme or song with other rhyming words and encourage your child to do the same (made up rhyming words are fine).
• Look at the pictures in alphabet books together, stressing or commenting on the sounds that are the same; find the page matches your child’s name, siblings name, friends names.
• Children may recognize the letter or letter groups that match the sounds, but remember that recognizing letters is a later skill.

So enjoy with your child the oral part of language and sounds. Favorite books in the Jowonio classrooms that are repetitive include: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See, By Bill Martin Jr. & Eric Carle; Are You My Mother, by P. D. Eastman; Jump, Frog, Jump, by Robert Kalan; and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, by Michael Rosen. Many children’s books have rhyming text (like Dr. Seuss) but don’t forget to look at the anthologies of children’s poetry with good illustrations, such as A Child’s Treasury of Nursery Rhymes, by Kady MacDonald Denton, and Richard Scarry’s Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Tales. Alphabet books are also an important base for literacy and there are many wonderful ones! Check out, for example, A is for ..? A Photographer’s Alphabet of Animals, by Henry Horenstein; 26 Letters and 99 Cents, by Tana Hoban; Eating the Alphabet, by Lois Ehlert; and The Farm Alphabet Book by Jane Miller.

Reading for information
While this is the age of “high speed information”, it remains important for children to learn about resources for factual information. Though using the internet is fast and easy and provides children with skills in “technological literacy”, it lacks the ability to teach children the value and richness in a diverse collection of resource material. Resource materials are beneficial for young children to: expand on their particular interests (i.e. trains, dinosaurs, etc); prepare for an upcoming event or life change (i.e. going on a special trip, going to the doctor’s office, a new baby, etc), and answer questions (i.e. “That is a good question… why do stars twinkle at night. Let’s look it up” , “Aunt Betty moved to a new house, help me look on the map to find it”, etc.). Additionally, as with any piece of literature, resource materials will help develop vocabulary skills, as well as teach your child the function, organization and value of non-fiction versus fiction work.
Some ideas for preschool resources include the Discovery Book series, the Children’s Encyclopedia Brittanica, a Children’s Atlas, Eyewitness books, and the Magic School Bus series.

After first thinking about what to read, think about the general strategies of how to read. Leading experts recommend:
• Read everyday.
• Snuggle with your child while you read.
• Read with expression – use different voices for different characters.
• Be interactive – discuss what’s happening, point out things on the pages, ask questions, encourage your child to ask questions and point things out.
• Have books and reading materials (magazines, newspapers) available everywhere – in the car, in the bathroom, stacked next to the bed – and within your child’s reach.

Good readers start with a love of books and a solid foundation in readiness skills. Reading often with your child will facilitate building those necessary pre-requisite skills. Let your child see you read – the mail, the newspaper, magazines, books, encyclopedias, atlas, etc – and tell him/her how much you like to read!

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