Reading and Writing

Reading, Writing, and Language Early Learning Activities

Fall into a Good Book

Finding a book about fall is not a problem; choosing one is. There are so many wonderful stories with incredible illustrations. Here are a few favorites, both old and new.
Clifford’s First Autumn, by Norman Bridwell: Clifford, as usual, gets into trouble when he explores fall changes.
Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf and Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert: The illustrations in these two books are striking. Also includes activities.
Wild Childby Lynn Plourde: Mother Earth says it’s time for bed. A rhyming text, this book may even help with getting little ones off to bed!
Leaves, Leavesby Salina Yoon: This is a board book with flaps and textures that adds a sensory dimension to the story.
What fall books are favorites at your house?

Kindergarten Readiness – 1 Leaf Say To The Other?

What did one autumn leaf say to the other leaf? I’m falling for you!

As a change and extension from reading books, it’s important to also tell stories.  Ask your child to choose a fall leaf. Either you or your child can be the voice of the leaf and tell about being on a tree and all the things it saw. For example: “I am a leaf. My name is Lucy. I lived at the top of a very big tree and I saw all around. One day a little boy left a bicycle by my tree. He ran off to play with a ball and the bicycle got up and started to chase the ball, too.” Or, choose 2 leaves and let the leaves have a conversation.

Telling stories instead of reading them gives kids a chance to make the pictures in their own heads first and then add the story. They practice both creating a context and the language that’s needed. Plus, they exercise their imaginations. As adults, we take the basic structure of a story for granted but children are only beginning to understand that stories have a beginning, middle and end sequence. Some of them have dialogue. They are usually built around one event or idea. It takes lots of experiences with stories and books for kids to figure all this out.
We can’t just leaf it to chance! Fall for some story time. What does your leaf say?

Kindergarten Readiness – Fall & Ball Rhyme

Anytime is a good time to rhyme but fall and ball are easy, ordinary, everyday words to practice words that rhyme. Rhyming is a skill that is needed for learning to read.  As children learn to manipulate and create with language, one of the abilities they develop–(without any formal teaching on our part!)–is to divide spoken words into parts. Ball becomes ‘buh’ attached to ‘ah’ and ‘ll’ so altogether it is ball. This is called phonological awareness. One of the ways to evaluate if children have developed this skill is if they can identify, and later make, words that rhyme. Do fall and ball sound the same at the end? Do fall and shoe sound the same? How about fall and wall? Think of some other words that rhyme with fall. A fun activity for people small and tall! Even kids that crawl like books with words with the same call.   
Do you fall for this activity at all?

Kindergarten Readiness – Apple Who?

Knock, knock.  Who’s there? Apple. Apple who? Knock, knock. Who’s there? Apple. Apple who? Knock, knock. Who’s there? Orange. Orange who? Orange you glad I didn’t say apple! Kids love knock, knock jokes and they also love stories. Many books for this age level contain both fantasy and dialogue. For this last apple activity before … Continue reading Kindergarten Readiness – Apple Who?

Kindergarten Readiness – Once Upon an Apple #5

There are some terrific children’s stories and books about apples or with apples in them. Eating the Alphabet and A is for Apple are yummy examples. The Very Hungry Catepillar munches an apple, too. I’d love to pick a few from The Apple Pie Tree. Dr. Seuss has 10 Apples Up On Top. One Upon A … Continue reading Kindergarten Readiness – Once Upon an Apple #5

Kindergarten Readiness – World Literacy Day

Today, September 8, is World Literacy Day. Celebrations will be taking place around the world to highlight the importance of literacy. Many of these will be reading. When should parents begin reading to children? New research results show it’s important to begin before a child is even born! No matter the age of the kids … Continue reading Kindergarten Readiness – World Literacy Day

Kindergarten Readiness – Mmmonday

Monday is a good day to practice the sound of the letter M. Practicing the sounds of letters and reading stories with words that rhyme is something that parents, daycares, and caregivers can do with kids at any age. Not only does this promote kindergarten readiness, it expands your child’s language ‘bank account’. To help … Continue reading Kindergarten Readiness – Mmmonday

Kindergarten Readiness – Have a Berry Good Friday

Last night, I had to come in because it was too dark to see the blackberries. Actually, I could still see the berries but I couldn’t see the thorns.  What sound starts the word ‘berry’? (the letter name is bee, the letter sound is ‘buh’) What other things start with this same sound? Butter, baby bath, … Continue reading Kindergarten Readiness – Have a Berry Good Friday

Kindergarten Readiness – W=Writing

The foundation needed for writing skills begins before children even arrive in kindergarten. The key concept is so basic that we just assume kids naturally understand, but that is not the case. Kids need lots of experiences with print to know that the squiggles and lines on the page contain meaning. Print contains ideas. Once children have this … Continue reading Kindergarten Readiness – W=Writing