Birth to Pre-K

Babies listen, react and play with sounds from the moment they are born. They babble, imitate and try to talk. This is an important stage in literacy development. The more words and stories children hear during this time — in whatever language is spoken in the home — the easier it will be for them to learn to read and write in English later.

Young children love to listen. They love to hear their favorite books read aloud over and over. They ask “Why?” just so they can listen to you talk.

Young children love to talk. Once they discover that sounds have meaning, they learn new words very quickly and start to use them to interact with adults.

Young children love to read. They love to handle books, and gradually they learn to read them from front to back and left to right. Preschool children can begin to learn the alphabet, recognize letters and associate them with their sounds.

Young children love to write. They imitate what they see adults doing and learn to express their thoughts by scribbling and drawing.

What can you do at home?

Talk with your children:

• Talk about everyday things. Name objects your child sees.
• Talk about signs and labels, pointing out the words.
• Talk about pictures in books.
• Talk about TV shows or videos they watch.
• Tell stories about your family, favorite memories and past experiences.
• Sing songs.
• Share nursery rhymes.
• Teach the alphabet song.    
• Play pretend games with your children and follow their lead.
• Describe what you are doing with words they can use.
• Talk with them in your home language. These conversations will develop his literacy skills in both the home language and English.

Listen to your children:

• Ask about things your children are seeing and doing.
• Ask them about their scribbles and drawings.
• Encourage them to tell you stories.
• Listen patiently to their questions and answer them.

Read to your children:

• Schedule a regular time and place to read to your children daily.
• Use library books. Let them choose some.
• Read and reread favorite books in whatever languages you speak.
• Make books to read together by cutting pictures out of magazines or catalogs.
• If the language of the home is not English, take them to programs at the public library, where librarians will read to them in English.
• Use alphabet books to teach the sounds of letters.

Encourage your children to draw and write:

• Provide drawing materials and display the pictures.
• Ask them to draw something from a favorite story. 
• Write the names of objects on the pictures they draw so that they begin to link ideas with written words.
• Have them tell you a story, write it down and read it back.
• Show them how you write.
• When it’s time to give gifts, consider books, crayons, special papers, magazine subscriptions or other items that make your home a literacy-rich environment.
• Let your children see you reading and writing, too. They will understand that these are important “grown-up” skills we all use every day.