Empowering Your Child through Literacy Development

1. Come Learn the Power of BOOK! Strategies to increase your child’s engagement in reading. Tracy Kronewitter & Kristen Thomas

2. Why is reading important? • Youtube – Read to Children

3. What is Literacy and Why is it Important? • Literacy, in its simplest form, is the ability of a person to read and write. • However, literacy goes far beyond just having the ability to read and write, it is the power to shape one’s own life. www.edc.org/newsroom/articles/what_literacy • According to Reading Rockets, “Reading is a fundamental skill that defines the academic success or failure of students.”

4. The Importance of Literacy • Literacy development starts early in life and is highly linked with school achievement. • Literacy is connected to all areas of a child’s development including physical, social-emotional, cognitive and language. • Early literacy and reading success begins with oral language development along with alphabet and print knowledge.

5. Oral language and Literacy Development • When parents provide rich language and literacy support, children perform better in school than those children that do not receive this support. • There is a strong relationship between vocabulary development and reading achievement. • Parents can help their child understand the meaning of words by asking questions.

6. The Importance of Reading Comprehension • Reading comprehension involves understanding what you read. • What a child brings to the text, will influence their understanding and ability to apply what they read. • Children build background knowledge through prior reading experiences. • You can begin building reading comprehension skills at home by simply reading with your child.

7. Reading Comprehension Strategies at Home • YouTube – Reading at Home: Tricks to Improve Reading Comprehension

8. Reading Comprehension Strategies for Parents • Talk to your child about what they have read. • Ask questions about the book and connect the events to your child’s life. “How do you think he felt?” “How would you feel?” • Make connections between what they read and similar experiences such as what they saw in a movie, or read in another book.

9. Reading Comprehension Strategies continued… • Monitor their understanding. Teach them to pause and ask “Do I understand what I just read?” If not, get them to go back and read it again. • Help your child go back to the text to support their answers. This could be done by using the pictures for early readers. • Discuss the meaning of unknown words. This is an opportunity to build new vocabulary.

10. Reading Comprehension Strategies continued… • Read the material in short sections, making sure your child understands each page read. • You do not need to read the entire book nor do you need to read every word on the page. • Modify the words in the book so that the book is understandable for your child’s ability level and attention.

11. The Importance of Literacy at Home • In a study at Brown University School of Medicine in Providence, Rhode Island, 18- to 25-month-olds whose parents said they had been reading to them regularly for a year could say and understand more words than those whose parents had not read to their child. • The earlier a child is immersed in a book, the more the child is going to want to read books.

12. The Importance of Literacy at Home Continued • YouTube – Helping Parents Develop Language and Literacy at Home

13. How to Select Books that will Engage Your Child in Reading • Beginning Readers: • Choose books with little or no text and big, bold pictures. • Consider books that are interactive such as ones that use puppets, mirrors, or flip-ups. • Name objects you see in the book or have your child name the objects if they are able. This helps increase their vocabulary.

14. How to Select Books that will Engage Your Child in Reading • Beginning Readers Continued: • Point to the pictures they show interest in, and act out what you read with your face, hands, and voice. The sillier you are while acting out the story, the better. For instance, if you're reading about animals, make animal noises. • Slowly, begin to introduce books with one or two sentences per page.

15. How to Select Books that will Engage Your Child in Reading • Making Progress in Reading: • Invite participation by asking questions such as "What does the dog say?" or "Do you see the cat?“ • Ask your child to point to real-life examples, "Where's the cat or point to your nose?“ • Re-read books that are familiar to your child. This gives them confidence to begin “reading” on their own.

16. Generalizing Book to Real Life • Many objects that a child focuses on can be related back to books you have read to them by simply referring back to what happened in the story. • Ask questions such as “Why did the character do that?” “What makes you think that?” “Why do you think that?” • Youtube – Strategies for asking questions

17. Generalizing Book to Real Life Continued • Here is a timeline for the ages at which you can typically expect children to ask the what, where, when, who, and why questions. Note that young children’s verbal skills develop at different rates. • 21-24 months:  Asks, “What’s that?” (Or “Dat?”)25-28 months:  Asks questions with rising inflection26-32 months:  Asks where questions36-40 months:  Asks who questions37-42 months:  Asks “Is…?” and “Do…?” questions42-49 months:  Asks when, why, and howquestions • You can encourage your child to ask these types of questions by modeling them while reading out loud to them and by asking questions during their daily activities.

18. Book Share at School • Now that we have discussed the importance of reading and literacy and provided several strategies for you to use at home, here is what we do with book share at school. (You can do this too!). • “Book Sharing has enabled us to add techniques to our curriculum that enhance communication skills and increase the children's abilities to answer questions related to themes.” Amber McNamara

19. Book Share at School Continued • We begin with a discussion of the cover: • What does the author do? • What does the illustrator do? • What do you see on the cover? • Read the title of the book, tracking the words as you read • We usually have a 3D object that relates to the cover. The students are given an opportunity to interact with the object

20. Book Share at School Continued • We modify the words to meet the children’s understanding level • We use pictures or objects to help with Joint Attention (JA), Response to Joint Attention (RJA), and Initiation of Joint Attention (IJA) • Joint Attention (JA): two or more people focusing on the same object or picture

21. Book Share at School Continued • Response to Joint Attention (RJA): looking at or pointing to an object that someone else is focusing on in order to share in their experience • Initiation of Joint Attention: the child actually initiates the joint attention by pointing to the object or picture.

22. Book Share at School Continued • ‘Twas the day before Christmas and Santa was sick (Modified Words) • We would point to the Santa in the book and say, “Here is Santa – Where is another Santa? (using a picture to create JA) • The RJA would come in when the students respond to the question

23. Book Share at School Continued • For this page, Santa calls Pete the Cat • We would have a play phone set up somewhere around the book area • Students should point to and say, “Look, there’s a phone.” (IJA) • Students could pretend to talk on phone. This helps make the book interactive and fun!

24. Book Share at School Continued • Create a repeated saying throughout the book such as the one in Pete the Cat Saves Christmas • The repeated saying is “Give it your all, give it your all. At Christmas we give, so give it your all.”

25. Book Share at Home • YouTube – Joint Book Reading

26. Packets to Take Home • Home Literacy Environment Checklist • Activities

27. Summary • Reading is a fundamental skill that will shape your child’s academic success or failure • You, as a parent, play a critical role in the literacy development of your children • You can increase your child’s comprehension by asking questions about the book and the child’s natural environment • It is important for you to make connections between books and real-life experiences that your child has had in the past • All books can and should be modified to the level of the child in order to keep their interest and to keep them motivated in reading

28. Summary • Choose books the are of interest to your child • Choose books with vivid illustrations and repeated phrases (or modify the book to create your own repeated phrase) • Ask lots of questions and encourage your child to ask questions on their own such as who, why, what, when, where, and how • Make books interactive through voice and facial inflections or by using actual 3D objects that represent something in the story • Don’t just read a story, make sure your child is sharing in your experience by using JA, RJA, and IJA

29. Summary • Focus your child’s attention by pointing to words or pictures as you read • Encourage your child to retell the story in their own words using words or drawings • Point out letters and words throughout the day and across environments that relate back to the book you read with them • Talk to your child about the book cover, title and author, and explain that this is part of every book • Allow your child to “read” the book back to you (don’t worry about correcting mistakes, just have fun with your child)

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