Archives For recommended

Month 1: Your Child’s Journey to Early Reading

Julie Haden —  : Mar 4, 2014 — 2 Comments

I remember the days of beginning to teach Bella to read. Friends would ask me when I planned to start my early reading intervention. I would reply that I was starting now. They would say, but she is only one month old; what can you do at such as early age?

We started at one month and one of Bella’s favorite activities was looking at black-and-white picture books as I talked about the different objects on the pages.

I would prop her up on her Boppy pillow, show her each page, and talk about what I saw. “Look at the zebra!” or “There’s a bunny.” She seemed to enjoy this exchange and was eager to look at these books again and again.

The beauty of this experience was not only the bonding time together, but also the vocabulary and language skills that we were building by reading the same book over and over and talking about the pictures.

Babies visualize better in black-and-white and high-contrast until they reach about 3 months of age. The author of three black-and-white contrast books that we really love are by Tana Hoban.

This is an example of an activity that you can start with your infant as early as one month to build reading skills.

What are some of your favorite activities to engage your one-three month old?

white on black

black on white

what is that

In Blog , ,
 permalink

Julie’s Recommends New Books for your Preschool Reader

Julie Haden —  : Jan 28, 2014 — Leave a comment

  • The Tortoise & the HareTortoise & the Hare is by the renowned children’s illustrator and recipient of five Caldecott medals, Jerry Pinkney. This particular version tells this classic story almost entirely through illustrations. The drawings are exquisite and tell the story on their own. Your child will love to tell you the story as they learn to assign meaning to each page.
  • Thumpy Feet Thumpy Feetby Betsy Lewin is a great book for your cat or animal lovers. Your child will love making the sound affects as you read how the cat “smacks” its mouth while it eats or “lick, licks” as she grooms herself. Great bedtime story as the cat goes to the point of “snoozy, snooze” by the end of the story.
  • The Story of Fish and SnailThe Story of Fish and Snail by Deborah Freedman is a great story your child will adore as Fish tries to convince Snail to have an adventure with him – to have the courage to jump “off the page” of the story into the unknown world of dreams. You and your child will enjoy this story of friendship and bravery made even more compelling by startling illustrations.
  • The Mighty Lalouche by Matthew Olshan and Sophie Blackall is a book your five to eight year old will appreciate. Set in Paris is focuses on a postman who loses his job and decides to take up boxing. An unlikely candidate due to his small stature and personality he challenges larger boxers with his speed and agility. Wonderfully playful drawings help to tell a story of persistence and believing in oneself to solve many problems.  It is a lesson in following what you love.
  • Sophie’s Squash by Pat Zietlow Miller and Anne Wilsdorf is an adorable story about a girl who gets a squash at the farmer’s market. Sophie becomes attached to the squash – to the point of caring for it like a baby doll. The story evolves into a beautiful ending that focuses on the magic of loving and the mysteries that come from letting go.

Your emergent and independent readers are likely to return to these books again and again.

What new books are you reading with your child?

In Blog , ,
 permalink

Reading and writing go hand in hand!

Julie Haden —  : Jan 21, 2014 — 1 Comment

When learning letter sounds and identifying letter names, your child is also ready to add handwriting into the mix. Here are a few ways to do this:

  • Teach your child how to make letters that have similar curves. For example, c, o, a, d – since all have similar ways of being made. Start by mastering making lowercase letters first and then tackle the uppercase letters since your child will be writing primarily in lowercase letters.
  • Use an arrow as a marker for your child to demonstrate the direction in which to form the letters. As directionality becomes second hand, making additional letters will become easier for your child.

Zaner Bloser Manuscript Model 2010Zaner Bloser Manuscript Model – 2010 (A-Z and Numbers)

  • Have your child say the letter name and sound as they make each letter. This will help further reinforce that a letter has three components: a name, a sound and a way of making it. For example, c goes cah as your child writes the letter c.
  • Use tactile activities to help make practicing letter writing fun for your child. Some examples are forming letters with shaving cream on a cookie sheet or in sand on a sand tray, and tracing a letter that you write on very fine sandpaper.
  • Use small golf pencils to help encourage your child to use the correct pencil grip. Its small size will encourage your child to use the correct pincer grip which makes forming the letters so much easier and gives your child greater control over the pencil. It also will help your child more successfully maneuver their fork and spoon while eating, an added bonus!

These are a few ways to make letter formation part or your child’s reading learning too – letter name, sound, and formation go hand in hand!

What are some ways you encourage letter formation with your child?

In Blog , , ,
 permalink

How to create reading rituals at home!

Julie Haden —  : Jan 14, 2014 — Leave a comment

reading in bed 2014 01 v2Cultivate your early reader by creating rituals that promote reading.  Here are a few rituals that can help keep your child motivated and make reading fun.

  1. Create a reading nook in your child’s favorite spot. Depending on your child, this might be a private spot in her room or a public spot near the rest of your family.
  2. Read to your child before bedtime. Let them know that you read then, too. Talk about the books you are excited to read. Your enthusiasm can inspire them to want to read just like you. Put a reading light in your child’s room to encourage reading in a soothing way. This is especially helpful for your older reader who might need bedroom rituals to promote sleeping. Reading is a great way to settle your child’s body and mind.
  3. Start a book club and read the same book together or separately. Discuss elements of the story together. What did you like best about the book? What did you think about a particular event or character in the book? You can even have your child invite their friends to join and to read the same book.
  4. Make a record of all the books your child reads, so he can make book recommendations to his friends and keep a tally of how many books he has read. Goodreads is a great app to use as a tool to keep track of books that you have read, plan to readgoodreads_logo, or are currently reading. In addition, you can search for books for your child and learn more details through other reader reviews and a summary.
  5. Subscribe to a few magazines that your child loves. (See my blog of magazine recommendations.) Your child’s excitement when that first magazine arrives and eagerness for each monthly issue will amaze you!
  6. Read aloud to your child using books at a higher reading level. It is a wonderful way to improve listening comprehension. You can determine the right reading level by having your independent reader read a book of their choice to you. Books, where on average your child misses ten words per page, are good candidates for you to read aloud. You can read aloud to your non-reader or emergent reader to expand vocabulary and work on comprehension. Every page or two, ask your child key questions about what you have read. Questions such as, why did the dog feel sad when he was lost in the forest? Or what state was the family traveling to on their trip to the beach?

These are just a few ways to create rituals that foster your child’s love of reading. What are some reading rituals you have created with your child?

In Blog ,
 permalink

Top five board books! The most chewed list for your early readers!

Julie Haden —  : Dec 18, 2013 — Leave a comment

Board books come to mind when I reflect on the beginning of my daughter reading. These books are important to your babies and toddlers because without your help they can choose and explore them in a very developmentally appropriate way. Appropriate because these books are sturdy, generally no more than ten pages, and can handle little hands’ roughhousing.

Here are my top five recommended board books for your child:

 1.)  Goodnight Moon Goodnight Moonby Margaret Wise Brown offers a great story that helps your child develop a good sleeping ritual. The story progresses as the mother bunny puts her baby bunny to sleep by saying goodnight together to everything in the bedroom. Its cadence and rhyming patterns provide great practice for these prerequisites to early reading.

bear hunt2.) We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury takes your child on a family adventure to find a bear. It plays on courage and allows you and your child to act out and pretend you are going on a bear hunt through sound effects and dramatic reenactment. Together you can swishy swashy through the tall grasses and splash through the water until you find the BEAR! (We’re not scared.)

3.) Five Little Ducks Five Little Ducksby Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey is an invitation to sing. As you read to your child, you may find yourself putting a tune to the words. Your child will begin to learn basic math skills – adding and subtracting to five as the mother duck looks for her ducklings as they leave one by one and then come back. You may hear your child recite the book back to you – a success at the beginning of becoming an independent early reader.

The Runaway Bunny4.)  The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown encourages your child to use her imagination to be anything she aspires to be. The story plays on the love between a mother bunny and her child. Additionally, Clement Hurd’s beautiful illustrations will challenge your child imagination as they look for the missing bunny in the pictures as he tries to run away from his mother.

5.). Barnyard Dance Barnyard Danceby Sandra Boyton will make you and your child dance with delight as you read the book that gives instructions like “stomp your feet” and “clap your hands.” All the dancers in the book are barnyard animals, so your child can bounce with the bunny and strut with the duck.

These books are short with great attention getters to keep your child engaged, motivated and asking you to read them again and again – all preliminaries to early reading. You just might find that one of our most chewed board books becomes your child’s favorite.

Please let us all know some favorite board book your child loves reading again and again.

In Blog , ,
 permalink

Magazines and your early reader

Julie Haden —  : Nov 23, 2013 — 2 Comments

Why are magazines important to encouraging your child’s imagination and reading? Magazines offer short and easy to read articles with content that is sure to peak your child’s interests. Plus, your child will likely experience the thrill that my daughter feels when one of her many magazines arrives in the mail.

The Ranger Rick magazine is all about animals – their habitats and behaviors. Each issue will introduce your child to neranger rickw habitats and animals, for example a virtual excursion down the Amazon to study tree frogs. Your child will enjoy learning how other children’s parents have jobs that take them into these habitats around the world or are doing interesting projects to improve the environment right in their backyard.

Another gZoobooksreat magazine for your animal lover is Zoobooks. Each issue focuses on just one animal species, for example wolves. The magazine offers your child a quick way to become an expert on a monthly featured animal. Your early reader will cherish the Zoobooks photographs for collage projects. Later he or she will fall in love with Zoobooks as a source of information for their elementary school five-paragraph essay assignments.

For your scientist or artist, Ask is an excellent magazine. Each issue has a theme, for example: “How does a computer work?” Each issue includes simply explained, short, well-illusasktrated articles on the theme. Interspersed are cartoons and commentary by animal characters that moderate each issue, short biographical sketches of relevant and unusual historical figures, and theme-related puzzles and craft projects. Just to mix it up, each issue includes off-theme, quirky articles. Past articles have described how to grow square watermelons and an unusual species of fish with teeth on its skin.

Finally, HighligHighlightshts is a classic favorite among most kids. Your child will love the activities in this magazine, especially the arts-and-crafts projects and challenging visual puzzles. Like other magazines, its fact-base paragraphs about dinosaurs and unusual animals will fascinate your child. However, the substance of the magazine is fiction that will entertain your child while teaching them how to thrive in a world full of differences and moral challenges.

What is most important for your child is that they are enjoying what they are reading while discovering the world and new ideas.

What children’s magazines do you recommend?

In Blog , ,
 permalink