"Play"ing with Literacy

Calling preschool teachers and parents!  Here are two helpful hints for developing language arts skills:

Want to encourage oral language skills? Make a pretend microphone out of a paper towel roll and tin foil Have children look out the window and imagine they are a weather reporter. Ask them to describe the weather. Is it sunny, cloudy, cold, hot, rainy, etc.?  What should people wear when going outside?  When children “become”  someone else, the fear of speaking in front of a group or even the family can disappear.

Label items in your home and classroom. Kitchen center items, books, tables, etc. should "wear a word" so children can develop Concept of Print, see a meaningful visual of letters in use, and begin to develop a sight vocabulary. But, be careful how you label items. Take a look at the photo. What’s the difference between the two words? The top word is written with all capital letters. The bottom word uses lowercase letters. When labeling, be sure to use lowercase letters. They more accurately reflect print in books. 

And...you can even take the labels off and have children play a game by returning them to the correct item. 

Make Counting Meaningful!

Children may be able to count, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. But do they attach meaning to these numbers? That is key in early numeracy. Help children picture what numbers mean.  

            Using one of our favorite books, you can integrate ideas. Read a Llama, Llama book by Anna Dewdney. Remember that these books promote rhyming, a key skill in early childhood.  

Discuss what healthy foods a llama might eat. I usually pose silly questions like, “Would a llama eat chocolate ice cream?”  Get children answering “No!” with glee. Then ask, “What would you eat that is healthy? What would a llama eat that is healthy?” Prompt with food like carrots.

Use the pictures below to ask, “Which bunch shows one carrot? Which shows three carrots?” Follow by asking children to find one of an object in the room. Continue with other objects. This helps integrate rote counting and meaning of number.

Look, in a brief time frame, you have encouraged rhyming (literacy/ phonemic awareness) healthy eating (science), and numeracy understanding (math). WOW! 

Choices! - - - Choices!

In today’s fast paced world, we can too often forget the importance of giving children choices. Choices help children feel empowered and invested in lessons and tasks.  Even simple choices like what color of marker should be used or which of 2 books will be read, can motivate children to listen and engage in lessons. Whether you are a preschool teacher or caregiver, look for ways to offer children simple choices.

Using Panda News To Develop Expressive Language and Numeracy!

In honor of the baby panda born at the National Zoo, we offer you this outline of a panda. Use it to encourage expressive language in children and to develop numeracy. Talk about the number of panda eyes, ears, arms, legs, and so on. Discuss the idea that pandas only eat plants. Ask children to contrast this with the healthy foods they eat.

If you have the favorite food of pandas, bamboo, nearby you could take a walk and look for it. Compare bamboo to other plants. This brings in size comparison. Discuss how bamboo is like other plants and how it is different from other plants you see.

Show children how big a baby panda is in comparison to its mother.  Babies are about 5 inches long when born. Find a toy or book that is about this size. Compare it to an object that is 4 to 5 feet tall, the size of a mother panda. What a size difference between a baby panda and its mother! 

Concept of Print

Concept of Print is an important school readiness skill. Make classroom or home reading fun and integrate these key readiness questions into your reading sessions:

Can the child identify the front of the book?

Does the child know where to begin reading? (top/down)

Does the child know which direction to read? (left to right)

Does the child know at the end of the line to return to the next line? (return sweep)

Does the child have a one-to-one match with voice to print? (Can the child point to words as they are read?) 

Does the child understand the concept of first and last part of the book?

Does the child know that the left page is read before the right page?

Can the child identify a period?

Does the child know the meaning of a period?

Can the child identify a question mark?

Does the child know the meaning of a question mark?

Read, Read, Read!

Read, read, read! The most important way to build future literacy success is to expose preschoolers to books…and lots of them.

As you read to children, encourage Concept of Print by pointing out the cover of a book and the way the pages turn.  Point to the first sentence and say, “Let’s begin reading here.” That helps a child know to look from left to right. You may even want to run your finger along the line as you read. This helps train young eyes.

You can even build comprehension skills! Talk about the pictures. Ask children to imagine what the book will be about, what will happen, and what the characters might do. This is an important step in making predictions, a key comprehension skill for the elementary years.

Why not print the illustration below? Have young children add details to show their own love of reading!

Step Into Reading!

We often think of knowing the names of individual letters as a necessary first step in reading. Did you know that most reading/literacy specialists think phonemic awareness can be just as important, if not more important? That means you should play many sound games with preschoolers. Encourage phonemic awareness with rhyming words. One way to do this is to share silly poems and songs with children.

Read poems like this:

Is a llama an animal you have met?

It has long legs and a neck you can pet.

If people need help, a llama will do

Because this animal will work for you.

Going a long way? It will carry your pack.

A llama walks far with this on its back.

Need a warm coat from llama hair?

Just like a sheep, it is happy to share.

A llama likes grass and carrots to eat.

It chows down plants, but never meat!

A llama is fast when it goes on a run,

And it thinks a swim is a lot of fun.

So look for a llama when you go to the zoo.

It may bat its long eyelashes right at you!

Leave out the italicized words in bold. See if children can get in the rhythm by supplying the, missing word. When you are all done, read the words back:

met/pet

do/you

pack/back

hair/share

eat/meat

run/fun

zoo/you

During the next few days, make up real or silly rhyming words.

Stay tuned for more information about why this is important and more steps in developing phonemic awareness.

Poem by Kathy Hart Smith, Ph.D. Maggie’s Earth Adventures, www.missmaggie.org, Parent company of Maggie’s Big Home