Talking about books and stories helps your child to develop early literacy skills in a variety of ways.  By reading stories together, your child:

• Begins to look at books or words and develops and likes being read to.

• Begins to understand that his or her own thoughts can be turned into words.

• Begins to act like a reader (holds a book, turns the pages, pretends to read, etc.).

• Begins to act like a writer (holds a pencil, crayon or marker and pretends to write, types on a keyboard, makes letters with playdough, etc.).

• Uses both recall and pictures to tell a story.

Don't have access to books?  You can sign up for a free library card at the Sault Ste Marie Public Library website. You can also access free digital books on the Unite for Literacy website or Chapter One's Global Free Library website.

You can help your child make connections between what they learn at home and at school and everyday experiences at home and in the community.  Talk about it and listen carefully!  Children learn to read and write through talking and listening!

• Look for words and phrases that are all around us - on cereal boxes, street signs, maps, posters and books.

• Play board games and card games (e.g. memory and rhyming games)

• Listen for sounds in words.  When grocery shopping, ask your child to tell you the first sound of items you put in your cart.  

• Invite your child to write by creating greeting cards, shopping lists or party invitations.  Even if it's just squiggles at first, they are learning that print contains a message and is a way to communicate!

For more information on how you can support your child, check out A Parent's Guide to Literacy and Mathematics in Full-Day Kindergarten