Read-Alouds Build Readers: KID Bits

December 2015
Wichita Collegiate School

Jennifer Hearne, Early Childhood Counselor
KID
BITS
Telling the truth
Oops! Your youngster

says she didnt spill paint on the rug,
but youre pretty sure she did. Gently
encourage her to tell the truth. (I
know you wish you hadnt spilled the
paint, but its better to be honest.)
Your calm reaction may make her feel
more comfortable telling you the truth
in the future.
Family fire drill

More fires occur in the winter than
during any other season. As a family,
make a fire escape plan. Talk about exit
routes from each room in your house,
and name a safe place to meet outside,
like at a neighbors home. Then, hold a
drill to practice. Idea: Have your child
draw a map of your plan.
Collect opposites
Opposites take on more meaning
when your youngster can see or hear
them. Let him create an opposites
collage he might glue on scraps of
rough sandpaper and smooth satin or
strips of shiny foil and dull paper. Or
he could record opposite sounds (a
loud alarm and a soft whisper, high
and low xylophone notes).
Read-alouds build readers

Reading to your child is one of the
best ways to help him read on his
own. And letting him play an
active role in story time will
speed up his progress. Use
these ideas for encouraging
him to be an eager audience.
Touch the book

Kids this age are handson learners, so give your
youngster opportunities
to touch and handle
books. He might turn
the pages for you, run his
finger underneath the words, or
point to and name items in the pictures.
All of this helps him become familiar
with books and how they work.
Fill in the blanks

As you read, pause occasionally for
your youngster to supply the next word.
In There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed
a Fly (Pam Adams), he could look at the
pictures and read what the lady swallows on each page. Or he might use the
context of a sentence to predict a word.
Example: Its a perfect day for a bike
___ (ride).
Listen for rhymes

Read a rhyming story like Green Eggs
and Ham (Dr. Seuss), and have your
child clap when he hears a rhyme. Then,
ask him to look at the words and compare them. What parts are the same?
Whats different? (Sam and ham both end
with am but start with different letters
and sounds.) Hell see how words with
similar patterns often sound similar
knowledge he will use when sounding
out new words.
Worth quoting
The more we share, the more we
have. Leonard Nimoy
Just for fun

Mason: These shoes dont fit!
Mom: You put them
on the wrong feet.
Mason: These
are the only feet
Ive got!
2015 Resources for Educators, a division of CCH Incorporated
Make someones day

Kindness makes the world a nicer place.
Try these day brighteners with your youngster, and shell see how good it feels to
be kind:
While youre out and about, tell your
child to be on the lookout for kind things
to do for others. For example, she might put
a dime in a parking meter thats about to expire. Or she could help unload a bulky
item from someones shopping cart at the checkout.
A little ones drawing can bring a smile to an older persons face. Encourage your
youngster to draw or paint pictures with bright colors. Together, deliver her masterpieces to residents at a senior center.
Early Years
December 2015Page 2
Instead of video games after

schoolmake a game using
things from around the house.
Your youngster could use her
creativity to create an indoor
golf course with cardboard,
paper cups, empty cans, and
other objects. Or she might set up
a bowling game with plastic bottles
from the recycling bin and a tennis ball.
Less screen time =

more family time
Replace TV, video games, and cell
phones with face-to-face family time! Here
are easy ideas that encourage you to laugh,
play, and talk together in person.
Instead of TV shows at breakfastput cereal
boxes on the table, and take turns reading the jokes, facts, or
stories on them. Make up your own tales, too. Your child can
start with Once upon a time. Then, go around the table,
adding to the story until someone wraps it up with happily
ever after. These activities will all build language skills.
PARTOENT
PARENT
ACTIVIT Y Tweezers and tongs

Little fingers need
CORNER strong
muscles for
Parents
pitch in
One night, my
son Eli was unhappy because his favorite
toy airplane at school was broken. He
asked if I would fix it.
The next day, I talked to the teacher
and offered to
repair the
airplane,
and any
other toys
that needed to be fixed, over the weekend. She was grateful for the help, and
as I worked, I had an idea. What if parents formed a club to do tasks for busy
teachers? I mentioned this to the teacher
and a couple of other parents, and they
thought it was a good idea. So together,
we formed a volunteer team.
Now when teachers have a job for us,
they email me, and I coordinate with the
other volunteers to schedule the tasks.
So far this year, in addition to fixing
toys, weve washed dress-up clothes,
built a puppet stage, and taken pictures
for the school website.
O
To provide busy parents with practical ways

to promote school readiness, parent
involvement, and more effective parenting.
Resources for Educators,
a division of CCH Incorporated
128 N. Royal Avenue Front Royal, VA 22630
540-636-4280 [email protected]
www.rfeonline.com
ISSN 1540-5567
2015 Resources for Educators, a division of CCH Incorporated
Instead of cell phone apps in the carboost your childs powers of observation by listing items to spot out the car window
(heron, ice cream shop, orange car). Let her check off each
thing that someone finds. How many can you get before you
reach your destination?
writing, cutting, coloring, and more. Provide

your youngster with tweezers and tongs for
giving those muscles a workout.
With tongs:
Take turns adding one wooden or foam block at a time to a tower. See how tall
you can make the building before it falls over.
Have him serve snacks to himself or feed snacks to his stuffed animals.
At bath time, he can fish toys out of the water and into a bucket.
With tweezers:
Let your youngster place pennies into his piggy bank.
Make a messy pile of toothpicks, and pick up one toothpick at a time.
Hide small toys in a bowl of uncooked rice, and ask your child to rescue them.
Q
&
A
Learning with games
Q: My children love board games

and card games. Can you recommend some educational ones?
A: Good newsits easy to find games
that help children with a variety of skills.
For instance, playing Candy Land is a
fun way for kids to learn colors, Hi Ho!
Cherry-O lets them practice counting,
and Boggle Jr. is great
for spelling. There
are many versions
of Zingo!these
games teach everything
from sight words to
number recognition and telling time.
And games like checkers and Concentration let children work on planning ahead,
remembering, and solving problems. All
of these games can teach your youngsters
to follow rules, take turns, and show good
sportsmanship, too.
When youre shopping at a store or
a yard sale, look for
games that fit your
childrens interests
and abilities. You
could also swap with
neighbors or ask relatives to hand down
games their children
have outgrown.

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December 2015

Wichita Collegiate School

Telling the truth

Oops! Your youngster

Family fire drill

Read-alouds build readers

Touch the book

Fill in the blanks

Listen for rhymes

Just for fun

2015 Resources for Educators, a division of CCH Incorporated

Make someones day

Instead of video games after

Less screen time =

ACTIVIT Y Tweezers and tongs

To provide busy parents with practical ways

writing, cutting, coloring, and more. Provide

Learning with games

Q: My children love board games

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