10 Great Books That Help Promote Phonological Awareness

 

Reading aloud with your children is one of the best ways to prepare them for future reading success. Shared Book Reading helps your child develop language, build comprehension and learn more about print (see our Top 10 List of Books to Read with Your Young Child through Shared Book Reading). Shared Book Reading also helps children raise their knowledge of Phonological Awareness, the understanding that our spoken language may be broken into smaller parts: sentences into words, words into syllables and syllables into individual sounds. 

Phonological Awareness is a progression of skills that help children become aware of the individual sounds of our language and eventually code these sounds to the letter 
representations.

Many children's books have wonderful rhymes and many alliterations that help children to hear the same sound at the beginning of words. Our BUILDING BLOCKS FOR LITERACY® coordinator, Brenda Buzzell, recommends some books that will help promote Phonological Awareness while reading. Here are 10 great stories to help get you started:

Why Focus on the First Years?

Forty to fifty percent of Vermont’s children are not ready for kindergarten. Why are so many of our kids unprepared for school?

Science points to the earliest years. Modern research tells us that the most critical time for a child’s development is the first five years. Eighty percent of the brain develops by age three, and ninety percent by age five. Seven hundred to one thousand new brain connections are created every second, forming a mental foundation for more complex learning. The connections that are stimulated and used are strengthened, and those that are not used will be lost. Therefore, it’s important that children have quality experiences during the earliest years that stimulate their brain connections in a healthy way.

“Serve and return” interactions are an important element of healthy brain development. Scientists use this phrase to describe the back-and-forth interactions between an infant and an adult: the baby makes a bid for attention with a coo or gesture, and the adult returns it in a direct and meaningful way—perhaps with encouraging words or a smile. These simple interactions actually strengthen the connections in the growing brain. As Dr. Lewis First writes in his Let’s Grow Kids blog post on serve and return interactions, “[Such] interactions play the critical role of strengthening brain connections between all of the different areas of the baby’s brain—helping them develop the emotional and cognitive skills they need for life.”

10 Great Books to Read Aloud with Young Children

 

Stern Center’s Building Blocks for Literacy® program teaches early care and education providers as well as parents how to foster early literacy skills in children. Our Building Blocks coordinator, Brenda Buzzell, has compiled a list of books that are not only fun to read with young children, but also helpful in promoting the three focus areas of the Building Blocks program: Shared Book Reading, Phonological Awareness and the Speech-to-Print connection.

Shared Book Reading: Reading with your child rather than to your child is the key here. Making reading interactive by asking questions about the story and talking about the pictures is not only a great way to connect with your child, but key to helping your children develop language, build comprehension and learn more about print. Here are 10 books to help promote Shared Book Reading:

• Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
• Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
• Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
• HUG by Jez Alborough
• Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems
• Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza by Philemon Sturges
• The Mitten by Jan Brett
• Stone Soup by Ann McGovern
• Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens
• Whose Mouse Are You? by Robert Krauss 

Thursday Thoughts: Interesting Learning and Literacy Links

Brain Teaser:

A man is headed to a mountain along with a lion, a goat and a basket of vegetables. On the way, he needs to cross a river and the boat can only carry two things at a time. If he takes the vegetables, the lion will eat the goat. If he takes the lion, the goat will eat the vegetables. How does he cross the river?

(Answer at the end of post. Find more teasers like this on Buzzle.)

Interesting Learning and Literacy Links:

Homework in Elementary School Divides Educators. "PDF"—play, downtime, and family time—has replaced homework for kindergartners, 1st graders, and 2nd graders at one Chicago elementary school. Education Week, September 15, 2014.

Ted Talk: Rita Pierson, Every Kid Needs a Champion. Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, "They don't pay me to like the kids." Her response: "Kids don't learn from people they don’t like.’” A rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect with them on a real, human, personal level. May 2013.

Write On! Three Ways to Teach Your Preschooler That What They Say Can be Written Down

People are motivated to read and write because we know that print contains a message. We also know that anything we say can be put into print. In our third and final post of this series spotlighting different early literacy games to play at home, we will focus on building awareness about speech to print or what we say can be written down. 

Speech to print is the third building block in the journey towards becoming a reader alongside shared book reading and phonological awareness, which we discussed in the previous two blogs of this series, Sharing Stories, Building Brains, and 5 Games for Busy Parents to Help Their Young Children Learn to Read.
 
Here are a few games that will help your little ones master this early literacy skill:  

If You Can Say It, You Can Write It!
Have your child dictate a thank you note, an email or a story to you. Write down exactly what is said, not making any corrections for grammar or pronunciation. Read it back to your child, pointing to each word as you go.

5 Games for Busy Parents to Help Their Young Children Learn to Read

Last week, in my Sharing Books, Building Brains blog post, I wrote about the difficulty I have had with not being able to send my kids to preschool due to scheduling and lack of child care. It is a worry to me that my kids may fall behind their peers who are able to attend preschool. I am not an educator and nor do I know how or what to teach my children to ensure they are ready for kindergarten. Making sure they have the early literacy skills needed to become successful readers tops that worry list.

I am lucky to work with many experts in just this area, who have helped me come up with activities to help with early reading that are fun and not overwhelming to me as a mom. They are games that can be played for a couple of minutes here or a couple of minutes there, don’t take a lot of explaining and usually leave my children asking for more.

This week’s five games are all about raising your child’s Phonological Awareness or helping them understand that words are made up of smaller parts. Words are made up of syllables, syllables are made up of letters, letters have individual sounds.

Please note, your kids do not have to know that this is what they are learning, it will automatically happen while you are playing the following games:

Clean It Up!
When it is time to pick up all the toys that have become scattered about you can make it fun and educational. Tell your child that you see something that needs to be picked up and it starts with the letter B, /b/ (make the sound a b makes), B. Your child can then start by picking up the ball or the bulldozer or the book. Keep going until the room is clean.

This game helps children think about the individual sounds in words, by isolating initial sounds.  

Sharing Stories, Building Brains

 

When conversations surrounding the necessity of high-quality preschool became a daily occurrence in the national media, I had mixed emotions. On the one hand, I was happy. I am a strong supporter of education and these early childhood programs are beneficial to our children and communities. On the other hand, it scared me because I am unable to send my kids to preschool.
 
While the town I live in has an amazing preschool program, the hours are challenging to coordinate with our family’s work schedules. Kids go to school four days a week from 10-2:15 and, unfortunately, at this point in time, there is no care before or after to cover early mornings or later afternoons.

The fact that my children are unable to attend preschool has drastically shifted my perspective on educational responsibility. Preparing our children for school now falls solely to me and my husband.

As a reader, I have made sure that books are an integral part of my children’s upbringing. We read together every day and most nights before bed. Is this enough? I know that reading with your child can alone build vocabulary skills, help children become comfortable with books, serve as a great conversation starter and help provide quality time as a family. But, does this prepare my child for kindergarten?

10 Reasons to Keep Reading Aloud to Your Toddlers Even When They Prefer to Climb on Your Head

Do you get frustrated while reading aloud with your toddler? You pick out the perfect book. You get your child all comfortable on your lap. After one, maybe two, pages your little one tries to eat the book, hops off your lap and starts playing with a different toy, starts climbing all over you and in general seems completely uninterested in the story you are reading?

Don’t get discouraged.

Don’t stop reading.

This is all completely normal.

Your child is still listening and learning.
 
Reading with your child, young or old, on a daily basis is one of the best ways to ensure your child's future success in school and later in life. Here are 10 reasons why:

1. Eighty percent of a child’s brain is developed by the time s/he is three years old. Reading to young children stimulates brain development, improves listening skills and builds vocabulary.

2. Toddlers learn that there is a front and a back to the book. They also learn how to hold a book and how to turn its pages.

3. Reading nursery rhymes and singing songs spark children’s awareness of language and sounds.

Help Your Child Get Ready to Read Through Games Part III

How-To: Help Your Child Get Ready to Read Through Games, is a four-part series of “how-to” videos for parents, and early child care providers and educators that shows you different games you can play with your children to help them get ready to read in kindergarten. Each of the videos models a different technique that will increase your children's early literacy skills through fun and games. For more information on how to help prepare your child for reading, or to find more fun ideas and games, check out the Stern Center's Building Blocks for Literacy online program for parents and educators. 

This week's How-To focuses on the sounds of letters. This is important because the ability to think about the individual sounds in a word is one of the strongest indicators of future reading success. Below are two games you can play with your child that will keep them entertained while at the same time helping them practice their letter sounds.

How To: Help Your Child Get Ready to Read Through Games (Part II)

How-To: Help Your Child Get Ready to Read- Games, is a four-part series of how-to videos for parents, and early child care providers and educators that shows you different games you can play with your children to help get them ready to read in kindergarten. Each of the videos models a different technique that will increase your children's early literacy skills through fun and games. For more information about helping your child prepare for reading or to find more videos, check out the Stern Center's Building Blocks for Literacy online program for parents and educators.

This week's How-To is a strategy to teach kids about syllable awareness and how words are made up of different parts and sounds. Children progress from simpler to more complex tasks when working with syllables:

Level 1: Blending and putting syllables together. For example, a parent says, "Guess my secret word." And the child responds,"Bum ble bee."

Level 2: Segmenting and taking syllables apart within words. For example, "My name is E liz a beth."

Level 3: Taking syllables away is an even more complex skill. The video below demonstrates a game you can play with your child.

How To: Help Your Child Get Ready to Read Through Games (Part I)

How-To: Help Get Your Child Ready to Read- Games, is a four-part series of how-to videos for parents, and early child care providers and educators that shows you different games you can play with your children to help get them ready to read in kindergarten. Each of the videos models a different technique that will increase your children's early literacy skills through fun and games. For more information about helping your child prepare for reading or to find more videos, check out the Stern Center's Building Blocks for Literacy online program for parents and educators.

This week's How-To is all about rhyming and showcases a great game to play while driving in the car, sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's office or while grocery shopping.

Have fun today, rhyming away!