Early start: Raise a Reader

(First of two parts)

 CEBU, Philippines - There are many foundations or pre-reading skills that a child must learn before he or she starts to read. Many of these skills, learned naturally during the course of a normal childhood, can be supported by parents and teachers alike. It is important that parents keep these activities light and fun so that children associate learning to read with positive feelings. Below are some pre-reading skills and ideas on how you can support your children in a fun, enjoyable way:

Matching. When we read, part of what we do involves matching. Children learn to match shapes of letters to names and sounds, patterns of letters to sounds and words.

Here are some activities and games you can play with your child to help him or her develop matching skills:

• Card games

• Dominoes

• Activity books that involve matching shapes, pictures, and letters

• Matching socks from the laundry

• Shape sorters

• Jigsaw puzzles

Rhyming. Research shows that children who can understand rhyming words have a head start in learning how to read and, even more, to spell.

Some activities and games you can play with your child to help them develop rhyming skills:

• Sing nursery rhymes.

• Miss of the end of rhymes for your child to complete, e.g. "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great...?"

• When that gets too easy for them, make it harder! "Humpty Dumpty sat in a tree, Humpty Dumpty had a cup of ...?"

• Play rhyming games, such as "I Spy with my little eye, something that rhymes with fox" (e.g.box).

• Encourage your child to sing along to nursery rhymes, pop songs, whatever they enjoy.

Letter skills. Learning the most common sounds that each letter makes will give children a head start.

Here are some activities and games you can play with your child to help him or her develop letter skills:

• Introduce letters and their sounds gradually.

• Start with letters that are important to your child, such as their initial, or all those with an interesting shape that makes them easy to recognize.

• Use letter sounds rather than names?"a for ant", not "ay for ape". Letter sounds are much more useful than names in teaching children how to read.

• Generally, stick to lowercase letters to start with, except for the first letter of a name.

• Try using magnetic letters.

• Draw letters on the sand or soil. Put salt in a pan and draw letters with the salt.

Source:http://www.familylearning.org.uk

The FREEMAN and the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. is running weekly features on Early Childhood Care and Development to emphasize the importance of Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) and to increase public support for ECCD.