[ Cognitive Development ]
Tips for Raising Lifetime Readers
by Jackie Hill
Long before children can walk and talk they start developing early language and literacy skills. Research shows that children get ready to read years before they start school.
“Infants build their early literacy skills by hearing lots of words,” said Cathie Sue Andersen, children’s services librarian, Tulsa City-County Library. “You can help your child develop early literacy skills by reading and talking about books and telling stories to your child starting at birth. Reading aloud also helps your baby create a positive bond to you.”
Tulsa City-County Library offers First Readers to help you raise a lifetime reader. Visit your local library and ask for a First Readers packet. You will find easy tips to use every day with babies and children through age 5. A free board book is included.
“Read a book, sing a song, recite a rhyme, share a story – these are the keys to teaching your baby to love reading,” said Andersen. “Our First Readers packets are full of valuable information to help you prepare your child to learn to read.”
First Readers packets include a growth chart; a “Finger, Hand & Action Rhymes” booklet; “Infant & Toddler Songs” booklet; and a free board book, Everywhere Babies, written by Susan Meyers and illustrated by Marla Frazee.
First Readers taps into research on reading and children’s brain development and gives age-appropriate reading experiences for the pre-talker, the talker and the preschooler. It offers parents the information and encouragement to succeed, including tools and techniques for sharing books and building language skills.
Reading research has determined six skills that children must know before they can learn to read: print motivation, phonological awareness, vocabulary, narrative skills, print awareness and letter knowledge. Parents can help even very young children learn these skills. First Readers packets give tips on how to build each of these skills.
To complement First Readers, Tulsa City-County Library offers “Every Child Ready to Read @ your library” workshops to give parents and caregivers great ideas about using books at home and to help you prepare your child to become a lifetime reader.
Child-care providers benefit from the workshops too. Not only do they receive one hour of DHS continuing education credit for each session they complete, but, most importantly, they walk away with a clear understanding of the positive impact they can have on the lives of the children in their care by sharing books with them.
“My First Storytime” programs also are a great place to see how to share books with your baby. You will learn and enjoy songs, stories and activities that are just right for your little one. Several Tulsa City-County Library locations offer these lapsit storytimes year-round for newborns to 2-year-olds and their caregivers. If your neighborhood branch does not offer these storytimes, check the library’s monthly event guide or click on http://www.tulsalibrary.org/eventguide for other library locations that do.
You already may read to your baby or toddler, but by coming to “Every Child Ready to Read @ your library” workshops and library storytimes you will realize that subtle changes in the way you share books can make a big difference in your child’s brain development. For example, by asking questions like “what do you see on this page” and allowing your child to tell you what’s going on, you can help improve your child’s narrative skills.
How we read with children is just as important as how often we read with them. When sharing books with babies, Andersen offers the following advice:
• Pick a time when you and your child are in a good mood, ready to enjoy each other.
• Engage your child physically in reading by clapping out rhymes or bouncing on your knee as you tell a story.
• Point to the pictures and talk in your most natural and cheerful voice.
• Talk and have fun. If your baby likes to be held, snuggle up and read a book together. * Some babies like to lie on a blanket. You can lie beside your baby and look at a book together.
• Let your baby chew, throw or play with the book like a toy. That is how children get to know books at this age.
• Share books every day – it’s important even if only for a few minutes.
First Readers was funded by grants from the Meinig Family Foundation, Ralph and Francis McGill Foundation, Emerson D. and Wanda L. Fowler Foundation, and Oklahoma Department of Libraries. First Readers was adapted in part from “Every Child Ready to Read @ your library” early literacy campaign, produced by the Association for Library Service to Children and the Public Library Association, divisions of the American Library Association.
Parent groups may schedule an “Every Child Ready to Read @ your library” workshop by contacting the nearest TCCL location, or e-mailing or calling Andersen at canders@tulsalibrary.org, 596-1637. For more information about First Readers, visit the library’s Web site for children at http://kids.tulsalibrary.org/adults/first_readers.htm
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