Tips for Parents to help their child with early literacy skills

If your child is having difficulty with alphabet recognition try the following activities:

  • identify, match and /or sort upper and lowercase magnetic letters
  • play games such as Lotto, concentration and go fish with letter flash cards
  • read a variety of simple alphabet books
  • write letters in the air, in a sand tray , on a chalkboard, or on a Magna Doodle
  • cut-out and identify letters in magazines and newspapers
  • search for and circle specific letters on a printed page
  • complete an alphabet puzzle

Help with Story listening: comprehension and vocabulary:

  • Look for language patterns in poetry, songs and stories

e.g.  find the words that rhyme

  • identify characters, setting and plot
  • form mental images and make predictions
  • talk about and dramatize new situations, concepts and vocabulary
  • learn vocabulary concepts through repeated readings of storybooks and works of non-fiction

Phonemic Awareness Initial consonant activities:

  • pronounce sounds slowly to highlight individual sounds
  • e.g.  mmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaappppppppppppp       map
  • match and sort pictures and words according to their beginning sounds

One -to-One Matching and word naming activities:

  • read and point with the parent while reading text
  • cut apart and reassemble sentences
  • locate words in text that begin with specified letters and or sounds

Letter Sounds Activities:

  • read simple alphabet books
  • write independently
  • share the pen and let the child write the letters he knows and the parent writes the others
  • read and reread familiar books
  • write from dictation (parent dictates easy sentences or words)   e.g. The cat sat.

Developmental Spelling Activities:

  • write dictated words and sentences
  • read a variety of literature including fiction, non-fiction, and poetry

Word Recognition Activities:

  • identify and locate known words in various text
  • read and reread stories and poems with predidctable language patterns
  • maintain word banks or picture dictionaries of known words
  • play word card games such as Gingo and Concentration
  • write indepentently and together with a partner

Graded passage Reading:

  • participate in shared reading (parent reads and stops to let the child read the missing word or phrase)
  • reread familiar books
  • reread stories that child has written
  • reread easy familiar books independently