Reading with Children from Birth to Three
This article focuses on the Aural Stage of Preliteracy. This is article is primarily for children birth to three.
There are 6 developmental stages for literacy:. Most educators will say 5. I added aural because listening and talking is where literacy truly begins. (See Article 1.)
Moving from stage to stage in reading is natural and developmental in the hierarchy of literacy skills. It is connected to chronological age, language age and life experiences. It requires ongoing assessment and planning. It is facilitated by direct interaction (teaching). That is where you as parents come in!
The aural stage is the listening stage. We’ll talk about that stage here. During this time infants and toddlers are building the neural connections that will support language and literacy throughout life.
What skills are we looking for? This is going to sound so familiar!
How can you facilitate skills during this time? Let’s go back to those five pillars of reading: Phonemic awareness, phonology, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. You can build phonemic awareness with singing, by reciting rhymes and fingerplays and by reading books that have repetitive language and rhymes. You can build phonology by playing with sounds in songs, by shaping your child’s sounds into word approximations and by interacting with books. You can build vocabulary by narrating activities as you do them. Talk to your child about what you are cooking or cleaning or what you are looking for in the grocery store. Label (name) toys, activities and pictures in books. Move beyond nouns. Be sure you are labeling verbs and adjectives and adverbs, too. And of course, you read often every day so children associate their growing bank of knowlege with the books you share.
You can build fluency by doing the same rhymes and songs over and over until your child can join in or fill in missing parts when you pause. Rereading the same books also helps your child become more and more familiar with the words they hear. Eventually they will pretend read their favorites or “catch you” if you try to skip something.
Watch your child for signs of comprehension. Do they mimic your play routines? Do they mimic the chores you do? Do they take something they have learned and apply it appropriately to a new situation? Feed them lots of new words about the real world to help build vocabulary. For example, if you read about dirty farm animals and daddy comes in from yard work with dirty hands, do they say “dirty daddy?” Ask lots of questions. Don’t just ask yes/no questions. Ask “who, what, what doing and where.”
A few more words about books. Don’t let anything stop you from sharing books. Make sure that is part of everyday. Turn off the TV. Eliminate other distractions. Read real books, not e-books. Hold them; touch them. Books with textures and flaps are really good at this point. Board books are great so your child cannot be destructive if he wants to “read” on his own. Teach your child to find and point to increase vocabulary. Make photo books starring your child and your family. Make experience books to relive activities you enjoyed together. Provide the best listening experience for your child by putting him in your lap facing the book with you.
That way you position yourself approximately 6 inches from his microphone, which is optimal.
Life is busy. Sometimes all this can feel like a chore. Make yourself a promise you can keep whether it is 2-3 books a day, 10 minutes of reading 3 times a day or whatever you decide! Remember this is not just shared time, these activities are building the ground floor for your child’s life experience as a reader.
Moving from stage to stage in literacy development is somewhat fluid. Article #3 looks at the preliterate stage. Some children enter this stage before they even turn 3. Some kindergarteners are still working on getting to this stage because all children are different.
As your child becomes interested in print, be sure to check back for Article 3, available soon! Read article 2 in this series: “Introduction to Reading and Your Child.”
There are 6 developmental stages for literacy:. Most educators will say 5. I added aural because listening and talking is where literacy truly begins. (See Article 1.)
- Aural
- Preliterate
- Letter/name
- Within Word
- Syllable Juncture
- Derivational Constancy
Moving from stage to stage in reading is natural and developmental in the hierarchy of literacy skills. It is connected to chronological age, language age and life experiences. It requires ongoing assessment and planning. It is facilitated by direct interaction (teaching). That is where you as parents come in!
The aural stage is the listening stage. We’ll talk about that stage here. During this time infants and toddlers are building the neural connections that will support language and literacy throughout life.
What skills are we looking for? This is going to sound so familiar!
- Joint attention
- Eye tracking
- Conversational turn-taking
- Phonological awareness
- Pattern perception
- Production of speech sounds
- Shaping speech sounds into meaningful approximations in response to your models
How can you facilitate skills during this time? Let’s go back to those five pillars of reading: Phonemic awareness, phonology, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. You can build phonemic awareness with singing, by reciting rhymes and fingerplays and by reading books that have repetitive language and rhymes. You can build phonology by playing with sounds in songs, by shaping your child’s sounds into word approximations and by interacting with books. You can build vocabulary by narrating activities as you do them. Talk to your child about what you are cooking or cleaning or what you are looking for in the grocery store. Label (name) toys, activities and pictures in books. Move beyond nouns. Be sure you are labeling verbs and adjectives and adverbs, too. And of course, you read often every day so children associate their growing bank of knowlege with the books you share.
You can build fluency by doing the same rhymes and songs over and over until your child can join in or fill in missing parts when you pause. Rereading the same books also helps your child become more and more familiar with the words they hear. Eventually they will pretend read their favorites or “catch you” if you try to skip something.
Watch your child for signs of comprehension. Do they mimic your play routines? Do they mimic the chores you do? Do they take something they have learned and apply it appropriately to a new situation? Feed them lots of new words about the real world to help build vocabulary. For example, if you read about dirty farm animals and daddy comes in from yard work with dirty hands, do they say “dirty daddy?” Ask lots of questions. Don’t just ask yes/no questions. Ask “who, what, what doing and where.”
A few more words about books. Don’t let anything stop you from sharing books. Make sure that is part of everyday. Turn off the TV. Eliminate other distractions. Read real books, not e-books. Hold them; touch them. Books with textures and flaps are really good at this point. Board books are great so your child cannot be destructive if he wants to “read” on his own. Teach your child to find and point to increase vocabulary. Make photo books starring your child and your family. Make experience books to relive activities you enjoyed together. Provide the best listening experience for your child by putting him in your lap facing the book with you.
That way you position yourself approximately 6 inches from his microphone, which is optimal.
Life is busy. Sometimes all this can feel like a chore. Make yourself a promise you can keep whether it is 2-3 books a day, 10 minutes of reading 3 times a day or whatever you decide! Remember this is not just shared time, these activities are building the ground floor for your child’s life experience as a reader.
Moving from stage to stage in literacy development is somewhat fluid. Article #3 looks at the preliterate stage. Some children enter this stage before they even turn 3. Some kindergarteners are still working on getting to this stage because all children are different.
As your child becomes interested in print, be sure to check back for Article 3, available soon! Read article 2 in this series: “Introduction to Reading and Your Child.”