Emergent Literacy: For Talkers Ages 2 to 3 years old

-Six Pre-Reading Skills your child can start learning from birth!

1 – Print Motivation

Make book-sharing a special time for closeness between you and your child.

Let your child see you reading.

Visit your library often.

 *Children who enjoy books will want to learn how to read! *

-Bark George By Jules Feiffer

2 – Vocabulary

Talk with your child about what is going on around you. Talk about feelings—yours and your child’s.

When you child talks with you, add more detail to what she says.

Speak in the language that is most comfortable for you.

Read together every day. When you talk about the story and pictures, your child hears and learns more words.

*Children with bigger vocabularies are better readers! *

-Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do you See?

-Napping House By Audrey Wood

3 – Print Awareness

Read everyday print out loud—labels, signs, lists, menus. Print is everywhere.

As you read stories point to some of the words as you read them, especially words that are repeated.

Let your child turn the pages.

Let your child hold the book and read or tell the story.

Hold the book upside down. See if your child turns the book right side up.

*Children who are comfortable with print are better readers!*

-In The Tall Tall Grass By Denise Fleming

4 – Narrative Skills

Tell your child stories.

Ask your child to tell you about something that happened today.

Read books together. Stories help children understand that things happen in order—first, next, last.

Read a book that you have read before. Switch roles—you be the listener and let your child tell the story.

*Being able to tell and retell a story helps children to understand what they read.*

-My Friend Rabbit By Eric Rohmann

-Come Along Daisy By Jane Simmons

5 – Letter Knowledge

Help your child spot different shapes and letters.

Talk about what is the same and what is different between two objects.

Write your child’s name, emphasizing the first letter.

Make letters from clay or use magnetic letters.

Point out and name letters when reading alphabet books, signs, or labels.

Read alphabet books with clear letters and pictures.

Say nursery rhymes and make up your own silly, nonsense rhymes.

Sing songs. Songs have a different note for each syllable in a word, so children can hear that different sounds put together make up words.

Play word games such as, “What sounds like ‘ran’?” or “What starts with the same sound as ‘ball’?”

Say rhymes and sing songs in the language that is most comfortable for you.

*Being able to hear the sounds that make up words helps children when they are learning to read.*

-Go, Dog, Go! By P.D. Eastman

-Silly Sally By Audrey Wood

1 . Choose a book that your child already knows well.

2. Ask questions: “What’s this?” “What is going on here? Tell me what you see on this page.”

3. Follow your child’s answers with another question: “What else do you see?” “What is happening over here?”

4. Repeat what your child says and expand on it with another piece of information.

5. Help your child as needed. Praise and encourage your child.

6. Follow your child’s interests.