Preliteracy to Literacy- Birth-5

Preliteracy skills and activities are ones that will create a supportive environment for your child to begin reading. This actually begins when your little one is a baby! I will try to break it down in to a simple to follow list, including activities, that you can follow through the stages. Keep in mind that no one is perfect! If you are starting now with your 5 year old don’t worry! It’s never, ever too late. You might have a bit more of a challenge but hey, challenges make life interesting.

·         Read to your baby!

o   Ages birth-1 year old

Ø  Have a quiet time set aside each day for baby-mommy story time. This is usually before bedtime or nap time when it’s time to relax. Board books are great to use, they aren’t easily damaged and usually have vivid pictures. Books with real pictures are best but often more difficult to find. Lullabies and songs are interactive and easy to follow.

o   Ages 1-3 years old

Ø  This is a really fun time! Story time is now interactive and you can add more variety to the reading list. Board books are still great; you’ll really need the durability at this age. Pop-up books are really entertaining at this age and so are any books that add tactile (touch) sensations. Look for books with simple pictures. Sometimes the pictures in stories have so much going on in one scene that it’s hard for little ones to decipher. Read stories that follow themes such as seasons or holidays. Also, don’t be afraid to use the same book several times! While variety is great, young ones love predictability!

o   Ages 3-5

Ø  Here is when letters, letter sounds and simple three letter words are introduced (gradually of course, not all at once). Keep reading you’re your little one! When reading you can begin asking simple questions about the story. Questions can vary in complexity as the child gets older. Begin with simple ‘wh’ questions and work up to questions that require predictions such as what will happen next.

 

Ø   Introduce pre-reading skills: These skills do not necessarily have to be completely mastered to move on to the next level, but it is helpful for them to have achieved much of it.

 

1.      Identify letters: Typically, children begin learning the letters of their own name and then move on to other common letters.

2.      Letters have sounds: There are many, many ways to teach the sounds of each letter. I suggest using a song and also adding a craft component. If you are teaching the letter f, you may want to consider a fish activity to help them remember the sound. *vowels are the most difficult since there are so many rules for reading vowels.

3.      Letter sounds make words? Really?!?!: Yes they do! And now you can work on reading simple three letter words. Be very careful what words you choose to introduce here. Car is a better word than toy since they are going to need to understand that two vowels can have a different sound.

4.      Congratulations, you are no longer in the preliteracy stage, you have graduated to “My child is really learning to read,” literacy stage.

 

For actual reading lessons I used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelman, Phyllis Haddox, and Elaine Bruner.

This book made it fun and easy, with 100 simple lessons that were 20 minutes or less. It became a part of our bedtime routine and my daughter was reading paragraphs by the end, at 3 1/2 years old. Every child is different though and I don't recommend starting until you think that they are ready.