5 Strategies to Build your Child's Reading Skills

These tips will help build and strengthen your child's early literacy skills:

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1. Talking to Build Phonics Awareness - Phonics is a way of teaching sounds and connecting those sounds to the alphabet. Start talking to your child from birth. Use simple sentences to avoid confusion. Speak in a loud and clear voice to teach proper pronunciation of words and sounds.  Talking to your child will help him or her learn oral language. You are your child's guide, so be careful with your words. Sample talking activities include:

• Practice Word Sounds using a Mirror as this is another visual tool that helps you in forming the right sounds with your mouth.

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• Favorites (what are your favorite things, foods, books, toys, movies, places to go/be, etc.)
• Self or Body Image (play a body parts game; where is your nose? Talk about positive self image)
• Feelings and Emotions (be a role model, especially at stressful times, as your kids pick up on negative behaviors faster than the positive ones. Explore different types of feelings and how to deal with negative feelings). 

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2. Dramatic Play - play based learning is crucial for building your child's social skills. This probably requires less preparation than any of the other activities. This is best time for practicing child-led play. Sample dramatic play activities:

• Pretend and Play Toys (i.e. cash register, doctor's set, tools' kit, pretend kitchen, etc.
• Social Interactions (talk about and model ways of behaving in various social scenarios such as the supermarket, mall, at someone's house, at home, in a restaurant, during a disagreement with friends, etc.)
• Play classic games like hopscotch, hide and seek, catch and run/tag, rhyme/song games, clapping games, Follow the Leader games, I Spy, musical chairs, Simon Says, etc.

Great resource for teaching Social Skills 

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3. Practice with Print - firstly do not expect your child to write perfectly! He or she is still deveeloping their hand muscle control. Your goal is to help strenghten those hand muscles by allowing your child to engage in fun writing practice activities. Always start off with easy and fun activities. Sample writing activities include: 

• Doodle Toys are great for writing practice.
• Sand in a box or Salt in a bag method is great for writing practice. It also makes a great sensory activity.
• Practice drawing different types of Lines (i.e. zigzag, curvy, straight, etc.)
• There are tons of Practice Writing Apps for toddles/preschoolers that help your child practice without wasting paper.
• Dotted Words writing practice is another way to practice their writing. Use a lined notebook for teaching how to write in between lines. Model the correct way to hold a pencil.
• Practice writing using various medians like pens, markers, paint brushes, chalk, etc.

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4. Singing Rhymes and Rhythms - Rhyming and rhythm go hand in hand. Rhymes consists of rhyming words that have matching sounds. Rhythm is like a beat/sound that follows a pattern. Singing will help build your child's vocabulary and teach them a strong awareness of phonics/word sounds. Kids love to sing or move to the rhythms of songs or poems. Add actions, visuals (pictures/labels), and physical movement to the songs or poems. Sample singing activities include:

• Make everything that you do into a song with rhyming words. 
• Introduce new words with poems or songs
• Break words into syllables when teaching new words using rhythmic movements such as clapping, stomping, etc.
• Choose songs according to seasonal themes to build hype. For example, sing apples or trees songs in fall.
• Make your own musical instruments from everyday household objects like rhythm sticks, shakers/maracas, bells, etc.
• Sing a book (use picture books or books that have lots of rhymes).

5. Shared Reading and Read Aloud - Shared reading is when you read a book together and read aloud is when you read a book out-loud. You also discuss, ask questions, and share each others' thoughts during these processes. In order for your child to fall in love with reading, you need to read to him daily.  Sample reading activities include: 

• Point out common usage words/Dolch words (i.e. it, is, the, on, etc.) as you read together.
• Practice Dolch/Sight words with your child using flashcards or apps.

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• Encourage questioning by asking lots of questions and never denying your child the rights to ask questions.
• Always prompt your child to draw a scene or character from the story. Then ask questions about what or who it is.

I hope these tips will help address and strengthen your child's literacy skills,

Annie