Learning to read begins with fostering excitement for books.

Children love to touch, explore and interact with materials. How can we make books more interactive for children?

Early stages of reading:

1. Letters and numbers are symbols.

First, children begin to recognize that letters are special symbols. Then they realize that letters and numbers are both symbols but have different purposes.

Hunt for letters with your children and discover them hiding on signs, wall posters and in books. Use the letter bookmarks to seek and find a specific letter in a book.

2. Letters have sounds.

Next, children will begin to associate a sound with each letter. Practice letter-sound connections by making a game of saying the sound each time the child points at the letter in the book. Keep it interesting by pretending to be different people or animals when saying the letter sound. For example: pretend to be scared kitty or a man with a low voice while saying the sounds.

3. Multiple letters make a word.

Soon, children will begin to see that when we put multiple letter sounds together, we can make a word.

Sight words are simple words that have a high frequency of use and are some of the first words that children begin to recognize in books.

Celebrate Reading

Learning to read is a process. Each child moves through this process at his or her own rate. Celebrate a child’s interest in books, even if the child is still struggling to make sense of letters and sounds. Create a literacy rich environment with the carefully designed preschool literacy tools in the Experience Preschool Curriculum or by creating a library of books, letter manipulatives, and posters. Play with sounds and letters. A positive approach to reading will create a strong foundation for future literacy skill development.

Download the letter, number and sight word bookmarks and be reading detectives today!