Promoting Literacy Growth in Young Children

Dr. Sara Alexis Rutledge

Associate Professor of Early Childhood and Elementary Education

Mount Aloysius College

  1. Let kids see you read. Model reading behaviors and let children see you reading different types of materials (books, magazines, newspapers).
  2. Remember that it is never too early to read to children!
  3. Model how to care for books andhow to turn pages, read left to right, read top to bottom, etc.
  4. Make books together as a family or class (about trips, special events, etc.) Language experience stories  Create a family or class scrapbook.
  5. Provide children with a print-richenvironment. Show examples of different kinds of books, puzzles, bath letters, refrigerator magnets, ABC blocks, etc.
  6. Read aloud everyday (board books, bath books, soft cover, lift-the-flap, interactive, touch and feel, rhyming books).
  7. Make books accessible around the house and classroom (small bookshelves or baskets)
  8. Respect your child's reading choices. Let them pick what they want to read.
  9. Read and reread favorite stories with predictable text. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.
  10. Help your child create his or her own personallibrary.
  11. Label things around the house or classroom with the intention of building

vocabulary

  1. Share information from your own reading.
  2. Read the newspaper as a family or class(Mini Page).
  3. Encourage intergenerational reading.
  4. Act out with children what you read together.
  5. Go places and do things with children to build their background knowledge and vocabulary to give them a basis for understanding what they read.
  6. Tell stories. It's a fun way to teach values, pass on family history, and build your children's listening and thinking skills.
  7. Continue to read to older children even after they have learned to read by themselves.
  8. Encourage writing along with reading. Ask children to sign their artwork, add to your shopping list, make their own books and cards as gifts.
  9. Suggest practical reasons to read (shopping list, cooking, home repairs, crafts, menus).
  10. Take books where you go.
  11. Offer reading materials as a reward.
  12. Read in the car and listen to books on CD (Magna Doodles are great for the car).
  13. Encourage active reading where you child can ask you questions and share stories.
  14. Make connections among books.
  15. Join a Book-of -the-Month club or order from Scholastic take home sheets or Scholastic fairs. Use book orders in your classroom.
  16. At the dinner table talk a lot and let your children in on the conversation.
  17. Visit the public library or Barnes and Noble Bookstoresfor storytimes/activities and get your child their own library card.
  18. In the community, point out letters on billboards and trucks.
  19. Give your child a special place where he or she has a selection of materials to write with (an old desk is great).
  20. Encourage children to experiment with various writing materials (magna doodle, crayons, paper, paint, markers, pencils).
  21. Talk and sing to children during the day.
  22. Name what young children point to.
  23. As a family and a classhave fun with language- jokes, puns, etc.
  24. Have many different genres of literature available to children- fiction and non-fiction

Action, adventure, animals, autobiography, biography, humor, fantasy, how-to,

poetry, sports, etc.

  1. Make sure to have multicultural books (race, ethnicity, class, different types of families), books that support diversity of children with special needs, and gender-equitable books.
  2. Give books as presents!!! We love when our children get books as presents and we give books frequently a presents for our friends, nieces, and nephews 
  3. Determine a special time to read to children- bedtime is great! At school or at a child care center make reading a special part of your day.
  4. Praise and encourage your child’s literacy attempts.
  5. Share wordless picture books with children.
  6. Finger paint with your child.
  7. Use a microphone to promote speaking abilities.
  8. Order monthly magazines for your child- they LOVE getting mail.
  9. Purchase literacy games such as Boggle Jr.
  10. Sing rhyming songs with your child to promote phonemic awareness.
  11. Take children to puppet shows.
  12. Ask children open-ended questions.
  13. Find activities related to stories you are reading- If You Give A Moose a Muffin- make muffins and read the recipe.
  14. Play with letter blocks.
  15. Create a chalkboard on a wall in your house or classroom(chalkboard paint) and purchase an easel with dry erase on one side and chalk on the other.
  16. Retell stories with a flannel board.
  17. Let children retell favorite stories with homemade puppets.
  18. Introduce children to computer software to supplement the reading you do with them- Jay Jay the Jet Plane: Sky Heroes to the Rescue. The AmericanAcademy of Pediatrics recommends waiting until children are 3 before introducing them to “screen time”.
  19. Listen to your child as they “read” and tell stories.
  20. Point out “environmental print”- Giant Eagle, STOP signs, etc.
  21. Dress as favorite characters from books- or even better have a “favorite children’s book character” birthday party. Call me- I’ll help you with it! What about “book themed” birthday parties? Examples: Little House on the Prairie and The Magic Tree House.
  22. Make use ofinteractive books- pop-ups, seek and find, life-the-flap, etc.
  23. Visit a storyteller at the library or community event.
  24. Have children’s book authors in your community sign books for your child.
  25. Write the alphabet in shaving cream, whipped cream, or sand.
  26. Get your child interested in predicting what will happen in the story.
  27. Take children to movies based on the book (The Polar Express, Charlotte’s Web) and then talk to them about the different e between the book and movie.
  28. Sing “finger-plays” and games.
  29. Supplement your reading time with LIMITED television viewing of literacy-rich shows such as Between the Lions.
  30. If possible, expose your child to the listening of different languages.
  31. Show young children the letters in their name.
  32. Be sure to have crayons, markers, colored pencils and other writing materials available to your child.
  33. When children get older (5 years old) use new words when you talk to your child (Mommy, its raining. It’s raining so hard it’s a downpour).
  34. Ask your child to tell you about their scribbles/drawings.
  35. Play games to teach your baby new words.
  36. Even with babies, you can take turns when you talk.
  37. Use letter cookie cutters for play-doh.
  38. Have toys around the house the support language development.
  39. Role-playing also boosts language development.
  40. Use magnet letters and a cookie sheet to make new words.
  41. Create a word wall in your home or classroom.
  42. Have FUN reading! Make it a happy time.