Tips for Parents

It can be hard to find extra time at home as a busy parent. Here are some simple ideas for things to work on at home from www.ReadingRockets.org. Some of these things could be done in the car or as a part of a bedtime routine.

• * READING TIPS FOR KINDERGARTEN*

-Talk to your child about their day and encourage them to explain something they did.

-Sing songs, read rhyming books, and say silly tongue twisters to help kids become more aware of sounds in words.

-Connect books you read to real life experiences

-Point out the link between letters and sounds

-Have your child trace letters with their finger. You can use paper, sand, or sugar to make it more fun.

-Have your child practice writing words they are working on it school. Have them help with making a shopping list.

-Practice blending sounds into words. Say each sound separately in a word to see if they can guess which word it is. For example, you say "d-o-g" and see if they can put the sounds together to say "dog".

-Read your child's favorite books over and over and ask them about what is going on in the story or how they feel about the story.

-Talk about letters and sounds; You can make it into a game such as I Spy. "I spy something that starts with the letter f" or "I spy something that begins with the /m/ sound."

-Point out sight words (common words) in books you are reading.