1) WHAT BOOKS TO READ FOR GRADE LEVELS AND TOPICS: The DBRL Kids Lists are great ways to get ideas.
2) HOW CAN I HELP MY CHILD BE READY TO READ AND TO LEARN?
✪ Talk to your infant and toddler to help him learn to speak and understand the meaning of words. Point to objects that are near and describe them as you play and do daily activities together. Having a large vocabulary gives a child a great start when he enters school.
✪ Read to your baby or child every day starting at six months of age. Reading and playing with books is a wonderful way to spend special time with her. Hearing words over and over helps her become familiar with them. Reading to your baby is one of the best ways to help her learn.
✪ Use sounds, songs, gestures and words that rhyme to help your baby learn about language and its many uses. Babies need to hear language from a human being. Television is just noise to a baby.
✪ Point out the printed words in your home and other places you take your child such as the grocery store. Spend as much time listening to your child as you do talking to him/her.
✪ Take children’s books and writing materials with you whenever you leave home. This gives your child fun activities to entertain and occupy him while traveling and going to the doctor’s office or other appointments.
✪ Create a quiet, special place in your home for your child to read, write and draw. Keep books and other reading materials where your child can easily reach them.
✪ Help your child see that reading is important. Set a good example for your child by reading books, newspapers and magazines.
✪ Limit the amount and type of television you and your child watch. Better yet, turn off the television and spend more time cuddling and reading books with your child. The time and attention you give your child has many benefits beyond helping him be ready for success in school.
SIMPLE STRATEGIES FOR CREATING STRONG READERS
Without doubt, reading with children spells success for early literacy. Putting a few simple strategies into action will make a significant difference in helping children develop into good readers and writers. Through reading aloud, providing print materials, and promoting positive attitudes about reading and writing, you can have a powerful impact on children’s literacy and learning.
✪ Invite a child to read with you every day.
✪ When reading a book where the print is large, point word by word as you read. This will help the child learn that reading goes from left to right and understand that the word he or she says is the word he or she sees.
✪ Read a child’s favorite book over and over again.
✪ Read many stories with rhyming words and lines that repeat. Invite the child to join in on these parts. Point, word by word, as he or she reads along with you.
✪ Discuss new words. For example, “This big house is called a palace. Who do you think lives in a palace?”
✪ Stop and ask about the pictures and about what is happening in the story.
✪ Read from a variety of children’s books, including fairy tales, song books, poems, and information books.
