This article originally appeared in the January-February 2003 issue of the Children's Advocate, published by Action Alliance for Children.

Getting ready to read

Parents can help their kids tune into language and books-starting when they're babies

By Eve Pearlman

Parents and preschool teachers know that kids don't just wake up one day knowing how to tie their shoes or use a fork. Learning these skills takes lots of attention and help from adults. Likewise, children don't just automatically show up to kindergarten ready to start reading.

The skills children need to help them become good readers are put into place slowly during the first five or so years of their lives, as all their senses are fine-tuned and sharpened. Before they go to school, children need to learn to pay attention to the sound of language and to recognize the shapes of letters. They learn to tell stories, listen to stories, ask questions, and, most of all, to make thinking and discovery part of their lives.

Here are a few tips to help you help your children get ready to read.

Start reading early

Even before babies can sit up on their own, they can cuddle on your lap and look at board books with black and white drawings or pictures of faces. "Making the habit is so important," says Catherine Held, director of literacy programs at the California Parenting Institute. "We work with a lot of parents who didn't believe that a nine-month-old or a two-year-old would sit still for a book-and they're amazed." The earlier you start, the more comfortable your child will be with sitting together and reading.

Make it routine

Reading together, says Held, can be a way to carve out peaceful time in an otherwise hectic day. "As parents, we have too few opportunities to relax and enjoy our kids." Many families pick a particular time of day-often bedtime, because reading is a cozy, calming activity.

"Parents always talk about how much more creative their children become when they start reading to them," Held adds. "It's because children are exposed to new things, new art, new words."

Sing, rhyme, play

Mónica Canels says her three-year-old daughter loves the songs she has learned in her own adult English class through Even Start in Santa Rosa. "Sarahe loves to have me sing to her," says Canels, "especially 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town,' because she recognizes it from the mall." Canels has also taught her daughter other favorites like 'If You're Happy and You Know It' and 'Itsy-Bitsy Spider.' Her daughter likes to sing the last word of each line with her.

Lynda Gilgun, a literacy instructor in San Diego, says this is all part of getting ready to read. "People have played 'Pat-a-Cake' with their children for years, and there's a reason for it," says Gilgun. "Rhyming games tune our ears to the sound of words. If children understand rhyming, when it comes time to read they can identify a whole lot more words."

Ask questions, explore ideas

María Abazán says that when she was growing up in Mexico her family didn't read to her. But for her, reading to her sons, especially her four-year-old who doesn't read yet, is a special way to spend focused time with them, to talk and explore ideas together.

"Little by little," she says, with the help of such programs as the Home Instructional Program for Preschool Youngsters (see Resources), "I've learned how to read to them. I look at the picture on the cover and see the title and author. Then I read, but I also ask questions: What's that character's name? What's going on in this picture? What do you think is going to happen next?"

She especially likes listening to her children talk about the book after they read it. "They learn everything," she says proudly. "They're thinking about so much."

Set an example

Abazan is not just reading with her children, she's also taking English classes. When they see her doing homework, she's modeling just how important books and learning are to her. "They like to see me study," says Abazán. "They see they're like me-we are all going to school."

Get into the drama

"I like to make it real so my kids can understand better what's going on and so they pay attention," says Paula Barajaf, who enjoys reading with her two youngest children, five and three, every day. She puts a lot of drama into her animal sounds and character's voices. "When they say 'Mommy read it again,' and try to imitate me, I know they're understanding," says Barajaf.

Tell your own stories

If Barajaf, a native Spanish speaker, doesn't know enough of the English words on the page to understand the story, she makes up the narrative. "That's perfectly OK," says Held, "Kids are learning anyway. They're learning how to turn the pages and they're learning to connect the stories their parents are telling with the pictures."

Learn about letters any time, any place

Whenever Canels and her six-year-old son Victor go shopping, they make a game out of identifying words on road signs, billboards, and ads in stores. "He loves to ask me what everything says," says Canels. "We talk a lot about what we see."

Three- and four-year-olds can search for letters on everything from food packaging to newspaper headlines. Being familiar with the shapes of letters and the sounds they make is an important step toward getting reading to read.

"The challenge," says Gilgun, "is to teach kids these skills through play but not through drilling. They need to be active listeners."

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Resources

Materials

• American Library Association, 800-545-2433, has a program called Born to Read: How to Raise a Reader, including information sheets at www.ala.org/alsc/raise_a_reader.html with links to more materials.
  
  
• The National Association for the Education of Young Children, 800-424-2460, has many publications including a one-page sheet of tips, Raising a Reader

Programs

• Even Start is a federally funded program to help parents gain literacy and parenting skills. In California contact Joanne Bass, California Department of Education, 916-319-0277, jbass@cde.ca.gov
  
  
• Two home-visiting programs teach parents how to help children learn:
  
  
  • Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY), 718-549-1993, http://www.hippyusa.org. In California, call Clinton Pearson, 619-607-0412 or 619-264-1554.
    
    
  • Parents as Teachers, 866-PAT4YOU (1-866-728-4968), patnc.org

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Extra resources from the Children’s Advocate bulletin (updated 8-06)

• Boletin informativo para padres y familias, from Colorin Colorado, is an email newsletter about literacy for Spanish-speaking families. Includes information about the US school system, tips for getting involved in children's education, and reading activity ideas. Summary online at http://www.colorincolorado.org/boletin

• Early Literacy: Policy and Practice in the Preschool Years, form NIEER, discusses early literacy and offers recommendations about standards, curriculum, accountability and assessment, teacher education, and home-school connections. Online at http://nieer.org/resources/policybriefs/10.pdf

• Family Involvement Storybook Corner, from the Harvard Family Research Project, discusses how educators can use children's books with family involvement themes to engage families in their children's education, encourage family-school-community partnerships, and support literacy. Online at http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/
  projects/fine/resources/storybook

• Get Ready to Read! Making Child Care Work for You offers tips and activities for helping parents foster children's early literacy skills in fun, developmentally appropriate ways. By Sally Moomaw and Brenda Hieronymus. $11. Available from RedLeaf Press, 800-423-8309; summary online at http://www.redleafpress.org

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