Help Your Child Reach Preschool Reading Milestones

During the preschool years, many young children will be able to recite or sing the alphabet. They may begin to recognize familiar letters, especially letters in their own names. Children who have been read to frequently pretend to read books to themselves or to their toy dolls and animals. They use their own words or phrases from the story. But preschoolers do not simply wake up one morning able to read and comprehend a story. It takes time and plenty of support from parents and teachers. 

Here are some tips for helping younger children become readers for life.

Read and reread your young child’s favorite books every day.

 Reading books with rhymes helps develop a child’s awareness of the sounds in our language. This ability is associated with reading success in the early grades. An example is in the book “Green Eggs and Ham ”. The repetitive refrain, “I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them Sam I am.” is memorable. Young children also delight in predictable books with memorable refrains.

Read books with a variety of characters. 

All children should have the opportunity to read books with characters that look and speak like them. At the same time, children also enjoy reading stories about fantastic characters, such as talking animals. These will stimulate their imagination and build on their love of pretend play.

Enjoy rhyming books together. 

Children enjoy books with rhyming patterns. Young children find the use of nonsense rhymes playful and fun. As you read, invite your child to fill in some of the rhyming words.

Point out the important features of a book as you read. 

Before you start reading, show your child the title and author on the front of the book. For example, you might say, “The title of this book is ‘Amazing Grace’. Then say, “It is written by Mary Hoffman and the pictures are by Caroline Birch.”

Point to each word with your finger as you read. 

This demonstrates to your child that there is a one-to-one match between the spoken and written word. Also, it also draws your child’s attention to the link between the words you say and the words on the page. Therefore, pointing as you read also reinforces the concept that we read from top to bottom and from the left to the right.

Use stories to introduce your child to new words.

 Focusing on new vocabulary words increases reading comprehension. Thereby, promoting your child’s vocabulary development by drawing his attention to new or unusual words in the story.

 Most importantly, just have fun with these new words and help your child use them in real-life situations. An example of this would be, after learning “capsize” in a story, you can point out that the toy boat in your child’s bath has capsized and the animals are now in the water.