Tips for Parents on Talking, Singing and Reading

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Tips for READING with your child.
The name for the ability to notice and work with the sounds in language is phonological awareness.  Young children who have phonological awareness notice, for example, when words begin or end with the same sound - that bag, ball and bug all begin with the sound of b; that words can rhyme; and that sentences are made up of separate words.  Research shows that how quickly children learn to read often depends on how much phonological awareness they have when they begin kindergarten.

It is important for young children to be able to:

• Repeat rhyming songs and poems, identify rhymes, and generate rhyming words when playing a rhyming game.
• Recognize the common sounds at the beginning of a series of words.
• Isolate the beginning sounds in familiar words.

Here are some things you can do to help children learn about the sounds of spoken language:

• Choose books to read aloud that focus on sounds, rhyming and alliteration.
• Do fingerplays raising your voice on the words that rhyme

Check out these books from your local library and read with your child.

• Dr. Seuss Books
• Mrs. McNosh and the Great Big Squash by Sarah Weeks
• Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash by Sarah Weeks
• Is Your Mama a Llama? by Deborah Guarino
• Snuggle Wuggle by Jonathan London
• Knock at the Door and Other Baby Action Rhymes by Kay Charao
• Silly Sally by Audrey Wood
• The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Iza Trapani
• Mary Had a Little Lamb by Iza Trapani
• I'm a Little Teapot by Iza Trapani
• Classic Rhymes and Verse by Eric Kincaid
• The Real Mother Goose
• Old MacDonald by Rosemary Wells
• Bingo by Rosemary Wells
• The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Rosemary Wells
• The Bear Went Over the Mountain by Rosemary Wells
• If You Were My Bunny by Kate McMullan
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr.
• Time for Bed by Mem Fox
• Miss Mary Mack by Mary Ann Hoberman
• Teddy Bear Teddy Bear by Michael Hague
• Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow
• There's a Hole in the Bucket by Nadine Bernard Westcott
• Do Your Ears Hang Low? by Pamela Cote
• The Lady With the Alligator Purse by Nadine Bernard Westcott
• So Many Bunnies by Rick Walton
• Hand Rhymes by Marc Brown
• The Honeybee and the Robber by Eric Carle
• One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root