Ready to Read: Helping your child develop a love for reading.

Congratulations!

Your child's journey to becoming a reader begins in the womb.

Parents and Guardians are the best role models for a child's education!

Today you have taken a big step towards helping your child be their best!

What happens before school matters!

What preschoolers know before they enter school is strongly related to how easily they

learn to read in first grade.

3 Predictors of reading achievement:

• Knowing the names of letters in the alphabet.

• Knowledge about print (front and back of books, how to turn pages).

• Awareness of sounds in words (phonemes).

Learning to read is closely tied to learning to talk and listen. 1. Your baby can communicate with you

before they can talk! 2. The “give and take” between you and

your baby helps your baby’s brain grow strong and healthy.

3. Answer with excitement when your baby makes a gesture or a sound!

Start reading as early as birth and in your FIRST language.

WHY? Babies answer to the tone and beat of your

voice. Reading is one way to form a healthy and

loving relationship. Children raised in bilingual homes have

cognitive advantages. Neuropath ways

Double vocabularies, solving logic problems, handle multi-tasking more efficiently.

Compared 6-month babies from bilingual and monolingual homes.

At 6-months, both groups of babies could distinguish sounds in two different languages; however,

By 10-12 months, the babies in the monolingual homes lost the ability to distinguish the sounds in a 2nd language;

Bilingual home babies continued to sharpen their skills.

How listening shapes the baby brain.

Julie Russ Harris, Harvard Graduate School of Education

T • Tell my

child what I notice or wonder

A• Ask my

child what he/she notices or wonders.

L• Listen to

my child’s ideas and questions.

K• Keep the

conversation going.

There is always time to T.A.L.K!

Tell your child stories about him or herself, or you as a child.

Make sure your child can easily reach his or her letters and books.

Make reading a family activity. Give books as gifts. Make books!

Make sure your child sees YOU read!

Toddlers

Teach your child rhymes and word games. Make story telling and reading a nap and

bedtime ritual. Give your child chalk, crayons, paints,

markers, colored pencils and paper. Use your public library often-and with the

whole family.

Preschooler

Watch for ways for your child is getting ready to write.

Write letters and notes to your kindergartner. Keep talking with -and listening to- your child

as often as you can. Play dominoes, card and board games with

your child. Build a relationship with your child’s teacher.

Kindergartners

Talk about what you are doing, thinking, and seeing. (At the

grocery store, running errands…)

Use joint book reading as a time to talk and learn about the world. Picture books and books in

your native language are

perfect!

Encourage the act of writing (or

drawing) as a way to communicate, remember, and

celebrate ideas and moments. (Family stories, creating books, shopping

lists…)

Ways to T.A.L.K. in a busy life!

Thank you! For information about ESOL, GED, or Family Literacy

Classes contact:

Worcester Adult Learning Center Worcester Public Schools24 Chatham Street

Worcester, MA (508)799-3090

www.walcadistance.com

You ARE a Role Model!