School Readiness: Text Features, Concept of Word. Fluency, and MORE!

Read, read, read to children! We know that is the best way to encourage literacy and a love for books. But as you read, can you help prepare for literacy concepts they will encounter in school? These short videos based on the book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr., illustrate what we can do to promote school readiness as children copy what we do as we read.

Be sure you show children the cover of the book, the title page, and read the title and author. As shown below, this child has heard the name of the author and knows to "read" it with just a little prompting.

We love that he ALMOST got the name of the author correct. This shows that children do not have to say everything exactly right. At this age, the goal is to understand the meaning of what an author does and to acknowledge an author's importance. 

The next clip shows this child has seen family members point to words as they read. You will notice he also points to words. This helps develop a Concept of Word, a key school readiness skill.

The child is also familiar with how the text is read and mimics that expression. This helps develop fluency skills. 

Finally, note how this child tracks the animals the children see at the end. He moves from left to right on each line and makes a return sweep at the end of the line to the next line. This is another important readiness skill. 

You can see that when adults read with expression, point to words, and show features like the parts of a book and the name of an author, this helps children develop school readiness skills. 

Standards Alignment:

NAEYC - 2.B.04.; 2.E.03.; 2.E.04.;2.E.08.; 2.E.09.

Head Start - II.A.; VII.A.; VII.D.