You may have heard by now that the early years are learning years! Make the most of the moments you spend reading with the littles ones in your life thanks to these tips from Prekindergarten Essential Instructional Practices in Early Literacy.
As you read aloud with young learners, draw attention to print in the book by doing one or all of the following while you read together:
- running finger under words
- noting specific features of print and letters (e.g., “that is the letter D like Deondre’s name”)
- asking children where to start reading
- counting words
- pointing out print within pictures
Great books for drawing attention to print with in pictures are Jane Yolen’s How Do Dinosaurs? series. The illustrations have hidden names of dinosaurs to find on each page and you might even count how many dinosaur words you find! For more information on reading with young children, visit Prekindergarten Essential Instructional Practices in Early Literacy website or the Talking is Teaching page on Great Start Collaborative Wayne’s website. Read aloud and read often!
Great Start Readiness Program is a Michigan state-funded preschool program for four-year-old children with factors which may place them at risk of educational failure. The program is administered by the Michigan Department of Education, Office of Great Start. Funding is allocated to Wayne RESA to administer the program locally.
These blogs were developed and funded under a grant awarded by the Michigan Department of Education.
Research on preschool programs and specific research on GSRP indicates that children provided with a high-quality preschool experience show significant positive developmental differences when compared to children from the same backgrounds who did not attend a high-quality preschool program.