Hi Everyone,
It is my joy to spread the word about a wonderful resource for speech-language pathologists, early childhood educators, and parents.
The Play For Literacy Booklet is a twenty page resource that offers excellent book choices as well as fun family literacy activities that you can play right away! These enrichment activities will engage preschool and school age children, while providing you with an excellent tool for accelerating literacy development. Click on the link to open the document: PlayForLiteracyBooklet Celebrating Family Literacy Day 2011
Literacy is more than physically reading and writing. Literacy development starts when we are babies when we respond to the sounds, sights, and movements around us. Growing babies love to get into a great book by holding and tasting it!
Toddlers like to use their little fingers to pick up objects, paint, and put things in and out and in and out of containers…getting their hands ready to draw and write while they learn about their world. Looking at bright, chunky books that include pictures of other toddlers, toys, clothes, and food encourage them to point at and `read` the pictures…..`BALL!` Toddlers have already started to be the star of their own story when they pretend to drink from a cup or to rock a baby.
Like toddlers, preschoolers enjoy experiencing their world with all their fingers and toes so they can use all of their senses (see, hear, feel, taste, smell). Pretend play develops into more elaborate stories, such as becoming Batman, a hairdresser, or a store owner. These preschoolers will use crayons to make lines, circles, and scribbles on paper…these count as words, sentences, and stories! Older preschoolers enjoy learning the letters and sounds in their own name. Books with predictable, repetitive text can help them participate in reading the books. Rhyming is a fun skill to develop…THE CAT HAS A HAT!! CAT HAT!
As children emerge into kindergarten, they start to understand more about how the letters in the alphabet actually make their own sounds! The letter B says `buh`. Hey – we eat something that starts with buh! It is an apple or a banana? Soon, letters combine to make words and stories. Pictures matched with words help these eager learners to `read` schedules, labels, and directions. The world is unfolding….
The following video demonstrates four early literacy activities for your literacy-enriched environment.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjMy6HQFSkk]
Let`s give every child the gift of literacy!
Take care,
Marnee Brick, MSc
Speech-Language Pathologist and Director of Speech Therapy
TinyEYE Therapy Services (Speech Therapy Telepractice)
Growing smiles, mending spirits, engaging children in their lives…
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