SUMMER SESSION WEEK TWO

SUMMER SESSION WEEK TWO
Classic Children's Stories and Poems
 
As your child grows there are many skills they will need to learn.  One of those skills is learning to read.  The best way to create a reader is to instill a love for learning.  One of the ways a child learns to love reading is by being exposed to the written word.  Children who love to read are given an opportunity to learn about the world around them, develop empathy for others, create their own stories and explore new concepts through the books they read.  
Reading is a skill that is built on a foundation of pre-reading skills.  Your child will need to develop both discriminatory and memory skills that are both auditory and visual.  They need memory skills to recognize a sound or image and they need to be able to distinguish the differences between the sounds and images.  When we sing songs, do flannel rhymes and read stories children are learning these skills.  They want to do them over and over again because they are developing this pre-reading skill and mastering the specific skill needed before they move to the next level of learning.  Children need to be exposed to written words as well as hear those words spoken. Seeing the words written on a page or showing them words on signs / buildings / their fishy cracker bag shows them that words mean something and that what is said can be written down in the form of a word.
The following activities are ways to enhance their vocabulary, develop their awareness of the written word and create a sense of fun while learning about the written word.
 
WHAT IS MISSING
We develop visual memory when we play the Bug in a Rug game during circle time.  
You can play a What is Missing game by showing your child 3 or 4 objects.  
~Name the objects.  
~Have your child hide their eyes and take away one of the objects.  
~Name the objects again and say “something is missing” when you come to the empty space where the hidden object was.  
~Ask your child to try to remember what object is gone.
~Put the object back and do it again by removing another object. 
 
CREATE A PIECE OF ART AND LABEL IT
~Have your child draw or paint a picture
~Ask the child to tell you about the piece of art
~Label the artwork with the words they have used to describe it.
 
CREATE A STORY
~Show your child a picture or use a picture they have created
~Ask them to tell you a story about that picture
~Write down the story they tell you. Read their story to the child and other family members and friends.
~If it is a long story you can record the story and have them listen to their story.
 
SILLY STORY TIME
When reading a story that is familiar to your child insert silly words instead of the correct word.  This needs to be a story that they know and can tell it is not the correct word.  You can do this with stories or songs. 
An example would be: Baby Beluga in the deep blue TREE. Or Is the water COLD
They need to have the visual / auditory skills to know that this is not correct that it is: deep blue SEA and the water is WARM
 
For the little ones you can do this with picture books by pointing to the cat and calling it a dog.  
They need to know what a cat looks like and what a dog looks like to be able to ‘see’ the difference when you call it the wrong name.
 
WORDLESS STORY TIME
Find a collection of wordless story books or make up some story cards of your own.  Have your child tell you a story using the book or cards.  This is a great open-ended activity.  It can be the same story they tell you (using their memory skills) or it can be totally different every time (using their imagination)
 
STORY IN A BOX
A different twist on the wordless story is the create your own story with some props in a box.  Put a few items in a box that are items you child already knows about. Have them pull out an item and start a story.  Pull out more items to continue the story.
A little boy had an egg for breakfast.  After he ate he brushed his teeth with a toothbrush.
 
For the little ones you can have them pull out an item and just identify it.  This is an egg, this is a toothbrush, these are flowers, this is a block.
 
RHYMING GAME
Show your child a picture and ask them to come up with as many words or sounds as they can that rhymes with it.  They do not have to be words they can just be sounds. DOG: frog, log, hog, bog, ogg, mog, sog, wog, rog…
The sillier the more fun they will have.
 
ECHO GAME
Have your child repeat what you say. Silly words, silly rhymes, words they know, words that are new to their vocabulary.  Say the words using a quiet voice, a loud voice, a silly voice.   Then let them be the leader and you repeat what they say.
Playing with words and voice intonations is a way to learn cadence and rhythm patterns.
 
SNACK TIME
Use as many descriptive words as you can when serving up snack.  Say words that rhyme with their snack.  Make up silly stories about where the snack came from or who would like to eat it. Use snack time as a time to introduce vocabulary words about food, kitchen tools and words to describe what they are doing.  
You are chewing your food. 
You are drinking your milk. 
The banana peel is yellow but the banana is white.
 
DEVELOPING A LOVE FOR READING AND BOOKS IS A GIFT YOU CAN GIVE YOUR CHILD THAT WILL LAST A LIFETIME. LET THEM EXPERIENCE STORIES AS YOU READ TO THEM OR AS THEY ‘READ’ THEIR OWN BOOKS.
BY MODELING A LOVE OF READING YOU WILL TEACH THEM THE VALUE OF BOOKS AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO READ.
 
~Teacher Janice