1. Reading to Children

2. Benefits:
Positive impact upon speech
Pronunciation
Vocabulary
Grammar

3. Improved listening skills

4. Increased Attention Span
A child’s attention span is their age + 2
A seven year old:
7 + 2 = 9 minutes
Also increases comprehension/ attention to detail

5. Increased memory

6. Gives an eagerness to read
Reading is essential to most learning throughout life.

7. Promotes family and interpersonal bond
Children want you to read to them because they have your FULL attention. You can’t multi-task and read too.

8. The NUMBER ONE predictor of future success in school is the time spent reading to a child!

9. Reading Rules #1
Read EVERY day
15-30 minutes is best.

10. #2 NEVER take reading away as discipline/punishment
Should learning ever be “removed” as punishment? NO
Avoid using learning activities as punishment too (NO WRITING SENTENCES!!!)

11. #3
Ham it up while you read
Voices
Animal noises
Knocking

12. #4
Begin reading with a newborn and read aloud until at least 5th grade.

13. #5 In 1st grade, have your child read to you.
Only reading aloud at this point will slow reading skills.

14. #6 Talk about what you read What is in the tree?
What color is the daddy’s truck?
What color is your daddy’s truck?
How many mice are drinking milk?

15. #7
Model Reading
Read in front of your child. This allows them to see that reading is enjoyable.

16. #8 Age guidelines are suggestions only!
Use your child’s interests to choose books.
Some children like picture books well into late elementary school while others want chapter books in Kindergarten.

17. Reading to Infants
Newborns do not understand what you read– READ ANYWAY!
By three months, a baby can connect words of the parent to pictures on the page.

18. By six months, baby will recognize books and respond:
Widened eyes
Arm/Leg movement
Squeels of excitement
At 6-8 months, a baby may:
Try to taste pages
Try to turn pages
Try to “talk” about the book while you read

19. Infant Book Characteristics
Made of cloth, vinyl, or sturdy cardboard.

20. Features simple pictures of FAMILIAR objects.

21. Family picture books are a good choice.
An infant should recognize all family members including pets by age one.

22. Books featuring real pictures of other infants are also excellent choices.

23. Reading to Toddlers (1-3)
Stories need simple plots that reflect their own world.
Potty training
Manners
Pacifier loss
New baby
Eating broccoli
Day Care
Hair Cuts…

24. Predictable books that feature repetition are best.
Promotes synapse development in the brain
Children also like predictability im times of change (new day care, no more bottles, potty training, big kid bed…)
Ten in the Bed by Penny Dale

25. Older toddlers are ready for CONCEPT BOOKS.
These are books that teach something specific:
Colors
Letters
Feelings
Body Parts
Types of Dinosaurs…

26. Teach VISUAL DISCRIMINATION
Where is the mouse?
Point to the mommy.
What will she have for a snack?
Which bear is littlest?
Visual discrimination, shapes, letters, words, sentences… READING!

27. Good Toddler Books
Lift the flap
Rhymes
Repitition

28. Reading to Preschoolers (Ages 3 and 4)
Like stories about the real world
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
by Eric Carle
Characters are important and so are “sequel” books
Clifford, Curious George
Notice the shift from repetition to sequence
Still expect a preschooler to have a favorite book or two or three they want to have read regularly.

29. Concept books are ESSENTIAL at this time.
Now, most preschoolers are expected to identify all 26 letters of the alphabet and be able to identify the sounds of some of the letters.

30. Tie in EXTENSION ACTIVITIES to books as you read:
Trip to the zoo
Make cookies after reading If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Paint after I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More
Craft Projects…

31. Pre-Readers (Age 5) Read to your child Have your child “read” to you
Don’t expect true reading… Most kids become fluent readers at about AGE 7.

32. Begin to have children do more than just answer questions about the story.. Now have them predict
Why do you think she likes school?
What will happen next?
Do you think he will still have a messy room?

33. Practice/Teach these skills
Print goes left to right
Use your finger
A story has a beginning, middle, and end
Words have a space between each…

34. Let children choose their own books
Some kids are ready to hear “chapter style” books with more complex plots.
Junie B. Jones
Magic Tree House
Judy Moody
Continue Extension activities

35. Emerging Readers (Ages 6 and 7)
Reading and writing go hand in hand
Have children draw pictures while you “write” their version of the story.
Avoid correcting spelling/grammar
MOST children are NOT fluent readers yet.

36. Children still like books they can identify with…
Race
Religion
Gender
Culture
Hobbies
Family Lifestyle