Pre-readers are those children ages birth to three who are learning to speak words and sentences, learning early print concepts when being read to, singing the ABC song and nursery rhymes and scribbling. All of these are important when it comes to raising readers. As author Emilie Buchwald once said "children are made readers in the laps of their parents," so grab a book and take a few minutes to read a book to your child today!
Activities to Try at Home:
- Reading aloud! It has so many benefits. A guide to reading aloud to children of all ages can be found here (en Español). We also have a library of online read alouds here.
- Help your child expand their vocabulary! Watch this video to learn how OR check out these resources (Spanish version here)
- Kids love picture books because of the pictures, so how do you get them to take notice of the words? Print referencing! Watch this video/vídeo en español to learn how some small changes to the way you read to children can help boost early literacy skills.
- Strong phonemic awareness is one of the strongest predictors of later reading success. Learn more about this set of skills children need to develop before they can learn to read here. Learn more about phonological awareness and find some activities to boost this skill set at home:
- 3 Ways to Make Books with Children / 3 maneras para hacer libros con los niños
- Writing Activities for your Pre-K Child / Ideas para usar con los niños: escritura y ortografía
- Developing Writing and Spelling at Home (Pre-K) / La escritura en preescolar
Additional Resources:
- Is your child's language development where it should be? See if your child is hitting developmentally appropriate language milestones here.
- How to print reference and books that work well for print referencing (en español)
- The research behind print referencing
- Learn how to get your child started writing and also improve their writing skills.
