Encouraging Literacy Skills in Little Ones

A couple of times a year we are privileged to have Student Teachers work with us to learn more about early intervention as they prepare to complete an Early Childhood Education degree.  At the end of the student teaching time, these future teachers are asked to provide a small training on a topic of their choice to the staff.  One of our amazing student teachers recently taught on early literacy.  I want to share the suggestions she shared with us.

Early Literacy Behaviors

Book Handling

Behaviors related to a child's physical manipulation or handling of books such as page turning and chewing.

Looking and Recognizing

Behaviors related to how children pay attention to and interact with pictures in books, such as gazing at pictures, laughing at favorite pictures.  Child shows recognition of and a beginning understanding of pictures in books.

Picture and Story Comprehension

Behaviors that show a child's understanding of pictures and events in a book such as imitating an action seen in a picture or talking about the event in a story

Story-Reading Behaviors

Behaviors that include children's verbal interactions with books and their increasing understanding of print in books such as babbling in imitation of reading or running fingers along printed words.

Things to Do to Encourage Literacy Skills

• Talk with babies, they love to hear voices
• Play and interact with babies, they learn through touching, banging, shaking, mouthing, dropping and rolling toys
• Give choices
• Sing songs
• Tell stories
• Look at photo albums
• Encourage kiddo's to make sounds and actions
• Talk about things you are doing together, name things
• Ask questions
• Scribble, draw, and color together
• FOLLOW THE CHILD'S LEAD

Ideas on How to Share a Book

• Make it fun
• Talk and sing about the pictures
• Let the child turn the pages
• Make stories come alive by creating voices and sounds
• Make it personal, share family memories and stories
• Ask questions about the story, allow the children to ask questions as well
• Spend a few minutes on a book - you don't need to finish the book
• Make books part of the daily routine, meal times, in the car or bus, doctor's office, bath time, naptime, etc.
• Let the child tell the story 

I hope these tips help make books enjoyable to you and your child!