teacherstoauthors

We’ve come up with a few quick and easy ways to create a literacy-rich environment to support your young learner and encourage healthy reading habits at home.

-Model behaviors like reading a book. Whether it’s an actual book or an electronic version, show your child that you are actively reading. Our little learners most often copy what they see.

-Make labels using adhesive note pad papers or index cards and stick them onto everyday items like the bed, chair, refrigerator, television, sink,etc. Through repeated exposure to the labels, readers will eventually begin to understand that written language can represent oral language and they can make connections between the two. Once they have the labels memorized, take them off and they can help recreate them.

-Visit your local library and get library cards for the family. As a free resource, you and your child will have access to thousands of books (magazines, movies) to enjoy together.

-Attach some construction paper together and create a book about a topic of their choice. You can print pictures of the family and label each person.

-In a conversational tone, point out letters, words and numbers on things like household items (milk, bread,toys, etc.)

-Flashcards. A classic idea but use flash cards as a matching game instead of drills.

We were raised during the flashcard era and we used drills for letter and sight word recognition, and while it worked for us, we’ve found that throughout the years, that may place pressure on emergent readers to always get the answers correct. So if using flashcards, make it fun! Have multiples of the same word and flip them over to make pairs.