Introducing Reading to Kindergartners

Give your early reader a boost with three crucial steps.

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4-6

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Learning to read is one of the most important accomplishments your child will need to make in school. It is the key to success in all subject areas and overall academic progress. There are some simple things that you can do at home to support her learning at school:

  • First and foremost, read aloud to your child every night, without exception. Reading aloud is the perfect tool to promote the pleasure and enjoyment of reading and to offer her a good model (you) of what reading is all about.
  • Second, play language games with him to help him become aware of the sounds of language. In order to learn to read, children must be able to hear sounds in words and then begin to match those sounds to letters. By singing songs and clapping to the rhythm, by listening for words that rhyme in poems and stories, and by talking about words, you will be helping your child think consciously about language.
  • Third, encourage your child to write — even if she is just making scribbles. Writing actually helps develop reading skills. By forming letters, children learn to recognize certain words, like their names. They also learn that written language is a communication tool. You can ask your child to help you make a grocery list. You can play "restaurant" and ask your child to be the waiter who writes down your food order. Soon you will begin to see letters and even words mixed in with the scribbles.

These are the three most important ways to help your child along the road to reading in the kindergarten and early school years. Of course, your child's teacher may have other suggestions that will directly support what is happening at school. Good communication between home and school will also foster your child's reading.

Books | Individual Titles | Hardcover Book
The Day the Crayons Quit
Crayons have feelings too.

Poor Duncan just wants to color. But when he opens his box of crayons, he finds only letters, all saying the same thing: His crayons have had enough! They quit! Beige Crayon is tired of playing second fiddle to Brown Crayon. Black wants to be used for more than just outlining. Blue needs a break from coloring all those bodies of water. And Orange and Yellow are no longer speaking-each believes he is the true color of the sun.

What can Duncan possibly do to appease all of the crayons and get them back to doing what they do best? Kids will be imagining their own humorous conversations with crayons and coloring a blue streak after sharing laughs with Drew Daywalt and New York Times bestseller Oliver Jeffers. This story is perfect as a back-to-school gift, for all budding artists, for fans of humorous books such as Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Sciezka and Lane Smith, and for fans of Oliver Jeffers' Stuck, The Incredible Book Eating Boy, Lost and Found, and This Moose Belongs to Me.

Contributors:

Although Drew Daywalt grew up in a haunted house, he now lives in a Southern California home, haunted by only his wife, two kids, and five-month-old German Shepherd. His favorite crayon is Black.

Oliver Jeffers (www.oliverjeffersworld.com) makes art and tells stories. His books include How to Catch a Star; Lost and Found, which was the recipient of the prestigious Nestle Children's Book Prize Gold Award in the U.K. and was later adapted into an award-winning animated film; The Way Back Home; The Incredible Book Eating Boy; The Great Paper Caper; The Heart and the Bottle, which was made into a highly acclaimed iPad application narrated by Helena Bonham Carter; Up and Down, the New York Times bestselling Stuck; The Hueys in the New Sweater, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year; and This Moose Belongs to Me, a New York Times bestseller. Originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, Oliver now lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

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