Hooray! Your
child can sing the alphabet like a pro! Now what? Once your child has mastered
letter recognition, what can you do to help her get on the path to literacy?
Here are seven important tips to consider after your child has learned the
letters of the alphabet, but before she’s reading fluently.
1.
Focus on the letters of her name. Names are
the most important words for children, so it makes sense to begin literacy
learning with the child’s name. Acknowledge the “child’s letter”—the first
letter of his or her name—by pointing it out whenever and wherever you see it.
Then do some letter scrambles using blocks, magnetic letters or letters on
index cards. Mix up the letters of the child’s name and work together to put
them back in the proper order. Repeat this often with your child’s name, and
then introduce “Mom,” “Dad,” and the names of siblings, friends, family and
pets.
2.
Recognize each letter and know their sounds. It’s one
thing for the child to know the letters in order, but it’s a bit harder for her
to recognize each letter individually. When you see “her letter” on a sign,
cereal box, or book, remember to point it out. Say, “Hey! Look here! I found
your letter, Maddy! Here’s an M for Maddy. Mmmm, mmmm, Maddy!”
Talk about the
sounds that letters make and return frequently to easily relatable objects or
things that interest the child. For example, say: “There’s a letter B for
‘blankie.’ I know you love blankie and sleep with it every night. Blankie
begins with the letter B, like ‘ball’ and ‘butter’ and ‘baby bear.’ What else
can you think of that begins with the B sound?”
3.
Introduce uppercase and lowercase letters. Your
child will not likely be reading books that have all uppercase letters, so it’s
imperative that you talk about uppercase and lowercase letters early on. Play
games that involve matching uppercase and lowercase letters and spell her name
using both cases.
4.
Practice early writing techniques. If children
practice creating several simple letters, they will most likely be able to
write the majority of the alphabet. Begin with X and O and then move on to a
square and a triangle. Encouraging kids to “write” on sand, paint with water,
or use their finger in shaving cream will make creating these shapes fun, and
before you know it, they’ll be ready to move on to the letters of their names.
5.
Connect objects with words. Because
reading involves creating meaning by combining words, pictures and prior
knowledge, early readers lean on illustrations when reading—and that’s okay.
Label everyday objects and point to the word as you say it. Play games where
children connect simple words with pictures, like “cat” with a photo of a cat
and “dog” with photo of a dog, etc. Model how to do it by pointing out the
first letter of the word and saying the sound that the word makes, followed by
the word, and then pointing to the picture.
6.
Practice print referencing. Print
referencing is a simple yet meaningful way to enforce early literacy skills. It
involves pointing out print elements in texts: pointing to the title of the
book as you read it, running your finger under the words as you read the text
on a page, or talking about anything related to the text. This helps children learn
the basics: every book has a title and an author (and sometimes an
illustrator), and we read from left to right, followed by a sweep down to the
next line. Later, consider touching on basic grammar conventions and
punctuation marks, differences between fiction and nonfiction texts, and
different genres (news, magazines, poetry, short stories, etc.).
7.
Read, read, read! Read with your child every
day, many times a day. Read books, signs, posters—anything with words. Read in
the morning, in the afternoon, and at night. Read at the park, in the living
room, at the pool. Read print everywhere you can find it!
Most importantly, make an effort to celebrate your child’s
successes, because learning to read is something to smile about!
By
Amy Mascott
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