Early Literacy Skills

To successfully begin to read, a child needs a variety of skills. These skills are the building blocks for learning to read and write. Children who have these skills before they go to school will benefit more from classroom instruction.

We will offer activities in each age range that you can easily do at home or on the go with your child. (See "Your Baby and Reading," "Your Toddler and Reading," "Your Very Busy Preschooler.") These activities will note which early literacy skill they focus on. A trip to the grocery store or a few minutes of interaction each day while cooking dinner can reap years of benefits. Also, be sure to check out "Reading Aloud." This is the single most important activity you can do that will introduce and reinforce literacy skills.

The American Library Association, along with many professional education institutions, focus on the following six skills:

Vocabulary
Knowing the names of things. Your child may know the name of 3,000 - 5,000 things before they enter school. Keep talking to your child. Practicing saying the name of all the things he comes across each day -- in books and in everyday situations.

Print Motivation
A child's interest in and enjoyment of books. A child with print motivation wants to handle books, select books, pretends to read, and loves being read to. Be the role model for your child by showing your own enjoyment in books. Keep them handy in special areas of the home. Always make reading together a fun and special experience.

Print Awareness
Print = words. Point out printed words everywhere you see them -- on signs, in the stores, in the books you are reading together. Knowing that words go from right to left on the page and from the top to the bottom is a valuable skill in beginning reading instruction.
Narrative Skills

Letter Knowledge
The knowledge that letters are different from each other and represent different sounds. Practice the sounds. Trace over beginning letters in books.

Phonological Awareness
The ability to hear and play with the sound in words. Practice by reading and making up rhyming words.

Narrative Skills
The ability to understand and retell stories. Have your child describe to you things he has been a part of -- a party, a trip to the park, swimming in the pool. Let your child retell a story to you that you have read aloud.