NURTURING YOUNG CHILDREN’S LOVE OF READING: LITERACY BEGINS AT BIRTH

BROWN BEAR:

• Share this book repeatedly with your child.

• Invite the child to “read” with you.

• Talk about animals and their characteristics.

• Use children’s names “Bill, Bill what do you see?”

• Let children glue pictures from magazines on a page of the story with their name “Bill, Bill what do you see? I see a jack-o-lantern looking at me.”

• Invite children to display their “new story” on a bulletin board.

• Compare the animals in this story to those in “Polar Bear”.

• Read other books emphasizing the sense of sight, such as Mary Wore Her Red Dress, The Jacket I’ll Wear in the Snow, and Planting a Rainbow.

POLAR BEAR:

• Share this book repeatedly with your child.

• Invite your child to discuss each animal, their habitat, eating habits.

• Enlarge the illustrations from the book, and each day work with a different animal, using different ways to decorate it.

• Print the text on large sheets of paper.

• Display the text with arts projects.

• Take snapshots of the animals with the text beside it. Put the snapshots into a book form for the child to look at.

• Encourage the child to make animal sounds for each animal when the story is being read.

• Help your child cut out pictures of animals and make their own book. Perhaps, give the text of Polar Bear to your child to glue on their pictures.

• Take a field trip to the zoo, sing and recite the words en route.

• Make animal cookies and let the child decorate.

• Read other books that emphasize the sense of sound such as “Wheels on the Bus: and “Over the Meadow.”

RICH LITERACY ENVIRONMENT

• Parents purchase books and/or take child to the library.

• Child sits close to parent/sibling to share books.

• Read books aloud and respond to child’s comments and questions.

• Read books repeatedly and respond to child’s requests.

RICH WRITING ENVIRONMENT

• Create spaces designated for writing stocked with supplies and materials.

RICH LISTENING ENVIRONMENT (MUSIC ENRICHES LITERACY)

• Play the same selection of EARLY music daily.

• Include other classical music throughout the day.