Reading well is at the heart of all learning. When you read with your child everyday you can have a powerful impact on children’s literacy and learning by promoting positive attitudes about reading and writing. But just simply reading isn’t enough. To really engage your child, when you read together, you need to have conversations.

Use conversation when reading together

When reading use conversation to expand your children’s vocabulary and bring out their natural curiosity. Here’s how to bring conversation to your reading time.

• Name what you or your child sees in the pictures. I see a car. Let’s count the wheels. What do you see?
• Have conversations about emotions that come up in the story. He looks scared! He is happy now that he is safe at home. What scares you?“
• Ask open-ended questions and allow time to respond. Questions that have more than one right answer, or ones than can be answered in many ways, are called open‐ended or divergent questions. This way of asking questions stimulates more language use, acknowledges that there can be many solutions to one problem, affirms children’s ideas, and encourages creative thinking. Learn more about open-ended questions here.
• Choose books that help children expand their understanding of other people, cultures, race and beliefs.
• Take reading a step further by labeling objects around the house. Seeing the word lamp on a lamp will help link the written word to the object in your child’s mind. Kick it up a notch and add adjectives like small and big.

Interactive daily reading using conversation will increase your child’s vocabulary, strengthen your bond, create memories and set your child on the right learning path.

At Halsey Schools we read together using conversation many times a day. Children have direct open access to their own hands-on library in every classroom to read on their own. Please keep it up at home too. Read, Read and Read some more!

The post Read together every day & do this… appeared first on Halsey Schools Preschool & Infant Center.

When you make reading with your children fun, they LOVE it! Children who are read to regularly in a fun interactive way are more likely to be strong enthusiastic readers! Here’s how to add your personal flair and personality to the daily stories you read with your children and have FUN!

Make reading fun & interactive

• Use small and over the top gestures, facial and vocal expressions.
• Change your voice for each character.
• Act out the story: walk, dance, sing, cry, laugh…
• Try using puppets of any kind. Grab a sock and turn it into a puppet. Shadow puppets. A popsicle stick. An action figure. Whatever you’ve got! Any relevant prop will do.
• As you read encourage your child to retell the story as you look at the book together.
• Talk about and predict what will happen next.

When you have fun being silly, your child has fun too! Reading together every single day is a great way to have special bonding time with your child and get them excited about reading. At Halsey Schools we read together often and we all have fun doing it.

The post How to make reading FUN! appeared first on Halsey Schools Preschool & Infant Center.

Literacy skills like talking, signing, reading, writing and playing can all be nurtured at home with a book nook. We have book nooks in every classroom at Halsey Schools. Here’s how to make a book nook at home to provide your child with a quiet, comfortable space that nurtures learning.

How to make a book nook at home

Create a quiet, fun, well-lit space with soft comfy seating, pillows, rugs, lamps, music and book storage. A quiet corner, a window seat, a tent in the backyard, that secret ‘room’ in the closet under stairs all make great book nooks.

How to stock your book nook

• Get lots of comfy pillows, chairs, blankets…
• Books can be stored in shelves, baskets, boxes, buckets or whatever works for you.
• Provide an assortment of reading materials for hand-on reading: magazines, newspapers, paper books, hardcover books, cloth books, board books with objects, numbers, animals and more.
• Use and old phone, tablet, or whatever to easily play lullabies and other quiet, relaxing music.

How to use the book nook

• Family reading time. Read stories aloud and share family stories. Remember when we did that? When I was young I used feel that way too. Enhance conversations by asking who, what, why, where, how.
• Make up a story based upon a picture or object ( a teddy bear)
• Alone time.
• Listening to relaxing music.
• Winding down and getting ready to nap or go to bed.
• Singing songs and reciting simple rhymes.
• Tell your children how much you enjoy spending time with them.
• (Never send a child to a book nook as a punishment or a time out.)

A book nook is a great way to encourage reading as a way to relax, connect with each other and a good way to entertain ourselves without any screens when we are alone. For more ideas ask a teacher or check out one of our book nooks.

The post Do you have a book nook? appeared first on Halsey Schools Preschool & Infant Center.

The single most important thing we can do to help our children develop the knowledge they need to become successful readers is to read aloud with them often; beginning when they are babies. Reading with your child at least every night at bedtime, is a good start. When reading books is a regular part of family life, you send your child a message that books are important, enjoyable and full of new things to learn.

Make reading together a habit

Read together often everyday. Build a routine that works for you but make it a habit. You can read at bedtime. You can read at wakeup time. You can read anytime in between. Just read.

• Encourage your child to choose the book.
• Read in short increments and build to longer reading sessions as your child’s attention span increases.
• Ask your child to help turn the pages and hold the book.
• Point to the words as you read them.
• Have books ready to go for you to read or for your child to ‘read.’ Children love to look at the books, words and pictures to start on their reading journey.
• Place reading materials around the house for easy access: Books, magazine, and newspapers (if you can find any.)

At Halsey Schools we read together many times a day. Children have direct open access to their own hands-on library in every classroom to read on their own. Please keep it up at home too. Read, Read and Read some more!

The post Make this a habit appeared first on Halsey Schools Preschool & Infant Center.