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| U Read - Introduce Reading to Pre-Schoolers |
By Dr. Mary Abouzeid
Tempo
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 Mary Abouzeid, a faculty member at the Curry School of Education, University of Virginia, is the Director of TEMPO, the statewide outreach program for teachers that is part of the McGuffey Reading Center at UVa. Mary teaches teachers how to teach children to read. She started her career as a high school English and Latin teacher and returned to college to pursue a masters' and doctoral degrees in education. Mary tutors a first-grade boy in reading twice a week at a Charlottesville public school.
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| Promoting Literacy Before Children Enter School |
"Before children enter school, they need opportunities to read, write, and develop their oral language. Parents, grandparents, and other family members can make a huge contribution to children's literacy by engaging in some very easy and engaging literacy activities at home." - Mary Abouzeid, Ph.D., University of Virginia
The McGuffey Reading Center, started in 1946, is the oldest reading center in the United States. Dr. Abouzeid, a faculty member at the University of Virginia, is Director of the State Outreach Program in Reading called TEMPO, which is that part of the McGuffey center offering graduates courses in reading to educators in Virginia. In addition to her university teaching and administrative duties, she works in school districts, with family literacy groups, and individual children in the reading clinic at McGuffey to help ensure that all children learn to read.
Dr. Abouzeid joins us to offer some simple suggestions to parents and family members, based on research in the field of reading, on how they can help their children at home to begin to move towards literacy before they enter kindergarten.
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| Reading Activities |
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Read to your children every day. Pictures books, fairy tales, and books with rhyme are great choices for younger children.
Point to the words as you read so that the child will come to understand that each printed word has its own sound and that printed words move from left to right. Make or buy audio tapes of books for your children to listen to as they follow along in the book.
When they are old enough to hold the book, ask them to read to you. This "pretend" reading helps children develop a sense of story and the act of reading.
Take your child to the library. They will enjoy picking out books for themselves and for you to read together. |
| Writing Activities |
Children need to practice scribbling as early as possible. This helps to develop the motor skills that will lead to actual letter formation. As they get older, you can help them with the alphabet by modeling how to write the letters.
Ask your child to draw a picture and then write a story or label the things in their picture. Their early labels will be scribbling. With them telling you what each label says, write underneath their writing the correct spelling. Ask them to read that word with you after you finish.
When you are writing letters or grocery lists, give your child paper and pencil and ask them to write with you. In this way, they come to know writing is done for real purposes and is important in daily life. |
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| Oral Language Development and Letter Recognition |
Reading, writing, and speaking intertwine to help children move towards literacy. Ask your child to tell you a story, to tell you about his or her day. Engage them in conversation! When you are reading to them, ask them to tell you what they see in the pictures and what they think will happen next in the story.
Teach children rhymes that you can say together. Play with rhyming words like cat, bat, and mat.
Recite the alphabet with your child and point to the letters of the alphabet on an alphabet strip as you do.
Ask your child to tell you the names of things - when you are visiting stores, when you are looking at picture books together.
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| Promoting Literacy at Home |
TEMPO provides parents, families, child-care providers and teachers with specific literacy activities, materials, and resources to help get pre-school children on the path to literacy.
Dr. Abouzeid has produced a ULiveandLearn course on how to introduce reading to pre-school children. To take this course, which is designed to facilitate and support specific literacy development in both educational settings and in the home environment, click here now.
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| Additional Resources |
Books/Links Related to Literacy Development in Young Children
The Read-Aloud Handbook (Fifth Edition), by Jim Trelease
Starting Out Right: A Guide to Promoting Children's Reading Success, (National Research Council) M. Susan Burns, Peg Griffin, and Catherine E. Snow, Editors
Ready *Set* Read for Families (1997), U.S. Department of Education, America Reads Challenge
Suggested Books to Read to Children: Toddler through Kindergarten
Recommended Picture Books
Abuela (Picture Puffins - English with Spanish Phrases), by Arthur Dorros, Elisa Kleven (Illustrator)
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judity Viorst. Ray Cruz (illustrator)
Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock, by Eric A. Kimmel, Janet Stevens (illustrator)
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, by Bill Martin, Jr., Eric Carle (illustrator)
Henny Penny, by Paul Galdone
Horton Hatches the Egg, by Dr. Seuss
It Could Always Be Worse: A Yiddish Folktale, retold and illustrated by Margot Zemach
Leo the Late Bloomer, by Robert Kraus, Jose Aruego (illustrator)
The Little Dog Laughed and Other Nursery Rhymes, by Lucy Cousins
Little Red Riding Hood, by Brothers Grimm, illustrated by Paul Galdone, McGraw-Hill (October 1974)
Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale, retold and illustrated by John Steptoe
The Random House Book of Mother Goose, selected and illustrated by Arnold Lobel (September 1986)
Perez Y Martina : Perez and Martina (Fabulas Bilingues), by Marjorie E. Herrmann, Dorothy Bishop
The Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter
The Story of Babar, The Little Elephant, by Jean De Brunhoff
Recommended Books That Feature Rhyme
Peek-A-Boo!, by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
Each Peach Pear Plum, by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
I Can't, Said the Ant, by Polly Cameron, Putnam Publishing (June 1961)
Jamberry, by Bruce Degan
A Beach Day, by Douglas Florian, Greenwillow (March 1990)
Is Your Mama a Llama?, by Deborah Guarino, Steven Kellogg (illustrator)
The Missing Tarts, by B.G. Hennessy, Tracey Campbell Pearson (Illustrator), Frederick Warne & Co. (March 1989)
One Sun: A Book of Terse Verse, by Bruce McMillan, Holiday House (March 1990)
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, by William Steig
Two of Everything: A Chinese Folktale, retold and illustrated by Lily Toy Hong
Alphabet Books
In a Pumpkin Shell (Alphabet Mother Goose), by Joan Walsh Anglund, Harcourt (March 1988)
A Farmer's Alphabet, by Mary Azarian
Ashley Bryan's ABC of African-American Poetry, by Ashley Bryan
The ABC Bunny, by Wanda Gag, Putnam Publishing (Reissue Edition, April 1992
Pigs from A to Z, by Arthur Geisart
Oscar de Mejo's ABC, by Oscar de Mejo, HarperCollins Children's Books (August 1992)
Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions, by Margaret W. Musgrove, Leo Dillon (Illustrator), Diane Dillon (Illustrator)
The Graphic Alphabet, by David Pelletier
The Wildlife ABC: A Nature Alphabet Book, by Jan Thornhill
Books for Toddlers
Ten, Nine, Eight, by Molly Bang
Numbers from ten to one are part of this lullaby which observes the room of a little girl going to bed.
In the Tall, Tall Grass (An Owlet Book), by Denise Fleming
Rhymed text (crunch, munch, caterpillars lunch) presents a toddler's view of creatures found in the grass from lunchtime till nightfall, such as bees, ants and moles.
Clap Hands, by Helen Oxenbury
Takes toddlers through different things humans do with their hands.
Say Goodnight, by Helen Oxenbury
A board book of poetry while putting babies to bed.
Tickle, Tickle, by Helen Oxenbury
Takes the toddler through different things to touch. |
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