Top 4 Things You Should Know When Reading to a Toddler

1. Have Repetition and Be Predictable: Do you remember how smart you felt, as a kid, when you figured out what was going to happen next in a story? With toddlers, it’s important to include books that contain repetitions, as they mature, add predictable and rhyming books. Read stories again and again. Your toddler enjoys repetition and it helps them become familiar with the way stories are organized.

2. Use Expressions & Rhymes: The beauty of reading with children is that you won’t be reading to a peanut gallery of harsh critics – release your inhibitions! Read with expression using different voices for different characters. This change in tone can help keep the child engaged and also teaches the art of storytelling – which is one of the benefits of our hands-free video storytelling platform! Toddlers also love rhythms and rhymes in stories, give them opportunities throughout the story to repeat rhyming phrases. Better yet, add a tune to it.

3. Have Child Repeat: Encourage your child to repeat what you say or comment on it and
encourage them to ask questions. Provide models of interesting questions and examples of possible answers. “I wonder where they are going to next? I think the bear will trip in the rock because he is not paying attention to where he is going. What do you think?”. Also encourage your child to make paying attention to where he is going. What do you think?”. Also encourage your child to make up next steps in the story, such as- “what would you like to see happen next”? This is the spark that storytelling causes in an imagination!

4. Make it a Routine/Habit: Make reading a habit for bedtime, after lunch, or after naptime. Research abounds on the benefits of daily reading for a child’s foundation of literacy for life. Combine reading with an encounter with relatives that are distant for uber-enhanced bonding! Bedtime stories happen every night, so pick one night a week and your child will begin to look forward to this reading time on the computer (or tablet) – as will the family member committed to this time with the child. You can even calendar the reading day so that they know when it is coming. Have them put stickers on each reading day so they can see when it is happening. Kids often approach the habit of reading as a chore, so by integrating it with computer privileges makes it cool and the storytelling dynamic teaches them about creativity.that has

Lifting the Curtain

Aunt Ali reads aloud with Cassie and Abby.

I recently read an article on how important it is for teachers to read and write alongside our students. We work to make both processes seem natural and something they will do for the rest of their lives and not just inside of a classroom. I am always thinking aloud while I read with my middle school students. I will stop and say things like “that doesn’t make sense, let me go back and re-read that” or “that didn’t sound right, I need to try that again”. Because this happens in our real-world reading we need to make sure students see that reading is not about calling out words perfectly but about reading so that it makes sense for us.

This article parlays perfectly into the reading done with any child of any age. While it is important for children to hear a model of good fluency, it is also important to draw back the curtain at times to show them the thinking that is going on behind the reading. Done in moderation, this kind of modeling is a simple but important part of reading to a child. It is a powerful way to get children to see the thinking that goes on behind calling out the words.

Work at Play

Here is a great website: 
http://ht.ly/9A5ww

Currently you will find a study on this website that now gives us evidence for something most of us already knew anyway. Playing with your young children will pay off in future years. This study focused on toddlers and the same set of children later during their 5^th grade school year.  There were a number of interesting findings, but one I want to highlight is the mention of “stimulating activities” with toddlers that were linked to a positive academic achievement later in life. According to this study these activities included:

“encouraging and engaging in pretend play; presenting activities in an organized sequence of steps; elaborating on the pictures, words, and actions in a book or on unique attributes of objects; and relating play activity or book text to the child’s experience…”

So this begs us to ponder: “Is work, play? Or is play, work?”

Your turn!

Go Check Them Out!

I thought I would sing the praises of my local libraries again. Libraries provide our children with so many different choices that build motivation to read. I would dare any child to walk into a library and NOT want to walk out with a book. IMPOSSIBLE, I tell you!

"ABC Letters in the Library" - Lobster Press on BeThereBedtimeStories.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most libraries have a plethora of social activities for everyone from toddlers to retirees. These include storytime, book club, featured speakers, puzzles, playthings, aquariums, listening stations, computers loaded with educational software and more! My children and I have taken advantage of many of these offerings.

My girls are now in school and get to visit their school libraries every week to check books out. However, I am still taking advantage of my local library’s offerings. Currently, my local library is providing me with books on CD in order for me to listen to novels on my way home each day.  As a reading specialist at a middle school, I wanted to be familiar with the literature selections that each grade level chooses to study and so far I have found every single one at my local library on CD. I love my local libraries!!!

Emerging Readers

Are you still looking for ways to encourage your young child to read? Would you like to instill in your child a love of books? With your help, kids from toddlers to preschoolers can get a head start on the road to reading, even if they cannot yet read themselves. Here are a few suggestions help get you started from : – www.essortment.com

• Return to your child’s favorite books again and again. Make books available to your child at all times by placing them on a shelf within easy reach. This invites your child to look at books whenever he desires.

• Encourage preschoolers to “write” their own books. Let your child dictate stories or the events of the day to you, and write them down word for word. Allow her to add artwork or pictures cut from magazines. Then, read the book back to your child.

• As your child grows, look for books on subjects that are of special interest to his experiences and expanding knowledge.

Reading to our children can do more than simply help them excel in school; reading to them can instill a love of books that will last them a lifetime.