With the short amount of daylight, rainy weather and foggy days, it’s the perfect time of year to snuggle up with your child and a book. Try some of these time-tested ways to engage with your young child:
Picture reading
Ask questions about the pictures or have the child tell a story just by looking at the pictures. Books with lots of pictures such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar are good for this.
I spy
Before reading a page or passage, ask the child to find punctuation marks, sight words, specific letters or letter teams, or the smallest or largest word.
Echo reading
Read a passage and have the child read it back to you.
Partner reading
They read a sentence and then you read a sentence. Could also be done paragraph by paragraph or page by page.
There’s a bonus beyond the enjoyment of reading together: The number of minutes children spend in out-of-school reading, even if it’s just 10 minutes a day, correlates positively with reading achievement. And the number of years your child will sit in your lap are all too short; enjoy them while you can.
Brought to you by:
AnnaMarie Gosser
Santiam Christian Elementary Principal
santiamchristian.org 541-745-5524 x 243
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