Archive for the ‘Toddlers and Reading’ Category

Holiday Gift Giving Ideas

Friday, December 9th, 2011

Books make great holiday gifts for children and adolescents. One of the best ways to make sure that your children are becoming strong readers is to find books that appeal to them so that they read as much as possible. The best way to improve at reading is to actually read. That being said, capitalize on your child’s interests and look for books that can appeal to those interests. Some children love fiction while others are more the non-fiction type and prefer to read about topics such as horses or race cars. If you are at a loss as to what type of books might appeal to your young child or teen reader, your local children’s librarian can provide guidance on what kids with similar interests are reading. Giving the gift of a book or two this holiday season is a wonderful way to stimulate learning and build a bookshelf of wonderful books that your child can come back to over and over again.

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Listening to Stories Builds Children’s Vocabularies

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

All children love to be read but in our busy lives sometimes it is just plain hard to find the time to read to our children as much as we might want.  A great way to fill in the gaps is by downloading free orally read stories that children can listen to over and over again on the computer, an iPod or even on your mobile phone.  Two of my favorite websites for finding high quality stories that children will love to listen to over and over are www.storynory.com and www.thestoryhome.com.  Both of these websites feature free downloadable stories that are sure to grab your children’s attention and stimulate their imagination.  Another good source of free downloadable iPod and phone story aps can be found on iTunes.  Listening to oral stories can not only help your children develop a love of listening to wonderful and informative stories but it can also enhance a child’s vocabulary in the process.

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Preschool literacy Skills

Thursday, November 25th, 2010

For the past 10 years now, preschool children have enjoyed the PBS series Between the Lions on television.  A new study, published by the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, has discovered that this program when combined with teachers who have good training and instructional materials, can have a very positive impact on the preschool early literacy development of young children. In the show, Theo, the father lion, models how to read to his daughter and enjoy a book together. Children and parents can also enjoy listening to stories told in video form, play games and get free downloads of songs about letters and sounds to enjoy “on the go” with mobile devices at the Between the Lions website at http://pbskids.org/lions.

Preschooler reading book.

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Toddlers and Reading

Saturday, March 27th, 2010

Giving children the “gift” of reading is one of the greatest gifts a parent can give his or her child especially in this fast-paced, digital world. Here are some ways to help you toddler between the ages of 2-3 learn how special books can be. Read with your child even if it is only for a few minutes every day so your child comes to expect that books will be a part of every day life. Encourage the child to help bring his or her favorite books to you so you can read together. Point to the pictures and say the names of objects aloud. Encourage the child to point to the pictures and also repeat the words after you. Talk to your child about the thing that are happening during the day since strong verbal skills make strong readers. Encourage your child to “pretend read” or to “tell” you the story by looking at the pictures. Provide paper and crayons and encourage your child to scribble, draw pictures and to pretend write letters to you and other family members. Celebrate reading each day and your child will grow up also valuing reading and the joys of print.

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