Your only investment is time…

Are you looking for ways to encourage your young child to read? Would you like to instill in your toddler a love of books? With your help, toddlers and 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

· First, and foremost, read aloud to your child, no matter how young. Infants love to hear their parent’s voice. Reading to your child not only provides a valuable learning experience, but it can become a treasured family activity.  Be There Bedtime Stories adds an entirely new dimension to reading aloud. After recording a story for a loved one, they will have it to look at for years to come.

· Be a role model. Parents can set a good example by showing that they enjoy and benefit from reading at home.

· Make regular visits to your local library, and be sure to elicit the help of the children’s librarian. There are a number of library resources available to help you choose books, such as reading lists and lists of award-winning books.

The rewards you will reap are priceless.

Teaching Moments

Greetings to everyone from a white Christmas in Chicagoland! I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season! Today the topic is teaching moments for everyone.

Teaching moments aren’t just for teachers. They are for everyone who spends time with a child, be it parent, grandparent, aunts and uncles, daycare providers and more… While reading to/with a child, be on the lookout for teaching moments. These are super rich opportunities for learning because they happen in context and come from your child and/or the text they are engaged with.

If you plan on reading a “Be There Bedtime Story” for a loved one, consider when you read the text ahead of time where you can ask the following questions:

What do you think is going to happen next?

What do you think about this character?

If…….then what do you think about…..?

What do you think might happen because of this?

What would you do if this happened to you?

These are only some of the ways you can get the child to go further with what they wonder about and possibly construct their own meaning.  When they construct their own meaning they own it and it stays with them.

Now that is time well spent!!!!