The Reading Railroad 021

Developing Vocabulary and Language
Since oral language skills precede reading and writing, give your child daily opportunities to talk about what she’s thinking and learning. As tiring as it may feel, try to answer her questions and talk about her concerns. Remember that a rich vocabulary and strong language skills are predictors of success in learning to read.

Here are some oral language activities you can do together:

• Look at family photo albums. Discuss special holidays or important events that are part of your family's cultural traditions.

• Read and talk about letters and emails from family members and friends. Have your child dictate messages so she can “write” back to relatives.

• Sing songs that play with words.

• Repeat favorite nursery rhymes.

• Play word games, such as, "I’m Going on a Trip", "I Spy Something…", and "Simon Says".

• Make up silly names for household objects, i.e., vacuum "screamer" for a noisy vacuum cleaner.

  Encourage your child's imagination through puppet play, dress-up, and other make-believe activities. Preparing to Read

Learning to read and write is based on an awareness of the printed word. Your child will learn that the spoken word (speech) can be broken down into small individual units of sound (phonemes). These sound patterns are represented by a set of symbols (letters of the alphabet). Finally, combinations of letters can be blended together to form a word (phonics).


Here are some activities to help your child get ready to read:

• Read aloud to your child every day for at least 15 minutes.

• Go to the public library often. This becomes a special event when your child has her very own library card and chooses the books she checks out.

• Have her participate in the children’s story hour at the library.

• Read books about things she’s interested in. Read from a variety of materials — story books, picture books, comics, magazines — both fiction and nonfiction.

• Read ABC books, nursery rhymes, and Dr. Seuss books. Encourage your child to "read" the repeated lines with you.

• When you read with your child, point out how print goes from left to right. Let your child turn the pages to help reinforce that pages are read from left to right also.

• Reread a favorite story and leave out key words. Ask your child to say the missing words.

• Ask her to predict what will happen next in a story or to tell what she liked and didn’t like about a story.

Communicating on Paper

• Children progress from scribbling and drawing, to trying to form letters, to finally writing real letters and words. When your child asks you to "read" her scribbles, you know she’s aware that speech is represented by symbols (letters of the alphabet). Writing and drawing activities also help her develop fine motor control, as well as imagination and creativity.

• Here are some tips for expressing ideas on paper :

• Have writing and drawing materials easily accessible. Include paper in different shapes, colors, and sizes; markers, crayons, pencils; paste, tape, glue, safety scissors. Keep supplies in a special box or place that belongs to her.

• Give your child old magazines and pictures to cut and paste so she can create books on different themes — e.g., alphabet, colors, animals, toys, food, shapes, numbers.

• Let your preschooler make her own book by using photos or drawings and dictating captions for you to write under each picture.

• Help her write/draw greeting cards to send to friends and family on special occasions.

• When your preschooler is able to match sound segments to print, encourage her to experiment with putting sounds together to make words. Invented spelling is one step on the way to becoming a reader.

II. 101 Word Games To Play In The Car

Are you planning on traveling more then a half hour in your car or taking a road trip for Easter? Well, I came across the instantly downloadable eBook, 101 Word Games To Play In The Car that is a collection of all verbal word games for the whole family to play during short and long road trips.

Makes an ordinary family road trip extraordinarily fun and even educational!

III. Site of the Month

PBS Kids
One of my most favorite sites is PBS Kids where are games stories music and coloring. This site will keep your kids' interests and abilities all the way through high school, so put it in your favorites!

IV. Book of the Month for Kids

The Giant Hug
The tale begins when Owen's mom asks him what he'd like to send his grandmother for her birthday. Owen doesn't hesitate one bit. "A GIANT HUG," the young pig declares, spreading his arms wide.

Drawing a picture of a hug won't do. So Owen and his mom head to the post office, where Owen tells Mr Nevin that he wants to send his grandmother a real hug for her birthday. "Well, we don't normally send hugs," Mr Nevin replies, "but I suppose we could give it a try."

Litle Owen opens his arms wide and gives Mr. Nevin a giant hug, along with a request to make it just as giant when Mr. Nevin passes it on. As the story continues, Owen's hug gets passed on by animals who help speed the mail along the way, from goat to rabbit to porcupine - and even a bear named Captain Johnson, pilot of the mail airplane.

And... I will not spoil the fun by giving you the ending! I will tell you that the best part is yet to come when Granny sends back a reply. Young readers will be sure to giggle at Granny's response.

About the Author: New author Sandra Horning didn't have to search far to find the inspiration for the Giant Hug, her first children's book. She grew up in Reading, PA, where her father spend many years working for the city post office. It's easy to imagine that Horning learned a lot from her postman dad, because her delightful book perfectly captures a child's fascination with how the post office actually works.