presentation script - Ohio Ready to Read

Current research has proven the critical role of parents and caregivers in developing language and early
literacy skills in children beginning at birth. Logically, the people who spend the most time with a child
have the most influence on their development. They know the child best—their moods, their habits,
their interests. You can use this knowledge to develop their child’s interest in reading and books.
Learning to read is essential to school success, and children get ready to read long before they start
school.
(Synaptic Density Handout) What you are looking at is a picture of the synapses, or connections, that
occur in a child’s brain at three different ages. Of course, infants start out with a few synapses that are
essential to survival. You can see that by the age of six there has been an explosion of learning and
children’s brains are full of synapses. This is an amazing time, and the best time to be working with a
child on all of the skills they will need when they start to read.
Now notice the brain of a 14-year-old. As we grow older, fewer synapses form; they are pruned, but
more organized. Repetition helps decide which connections are kept and which are pruned. You have
to use it or lose it. Think about a shrub in your garden that must be pruned in order to grow. If your
shrub is big and full, you can prune lots of branches and still have a beautiful shrub to look at. But if it is
a tiny shrub with only a few branches, cutting just one branch may leave it looking empty. We want our
children to have a garden full of reading synapses, so no matter what gets pruned there will always be
flowers in bloom.
(Effects of Mother’s Speech on Infant Vocabulary Handout) One of the best ways to get those brain
connections made is by talking to a child frequently and with a purpose. Studies show that the more a
mother talks to a child, the better the child’s vocabulary. The more words you hear, the more words
you know. But take a look at the gap between the vocabulary of a 26-month-old child whose mother
talks a lot and a child of the same age who gets little verbal interaction. It’s a drop of more than 600
words! Notice this chart says nothing about the quality of the vocabulary. You don’t have to use threedollar
words in order to help your child build a better vocabulary. Just keep talking and new words will
come up!
So, we know we need to talk to our children. We know we need to give them as many pre-reading skills
as possible before they reach kindergarten. What are some easy ways that we can talk to our children
that will help them get ready to read?
The Lorain Public Library System is participating in Every Child Ready to Read, a national, research-based
program that works to give children the skills they need so they are ready to learn to read when they
enter kindergarten. Every Child Ready to read is based on two major principles. The first principle is
that there are three stages of learning for young children—birth to 24 months, 2 to 3 years old, and 4 to
5 years old. There are things that parents can do at each of these stages to prepare their children for
reading readiness.
The second principle of Every Child Ready to Read is the division of reading readiness into six skills.
These skills are Phonological Awareness (the ability to recognize the sounds within words), Print

Awareness (understanding that print is everywhere, that letters and words have meaning, and learning
how books work), Print Motivation (the interest in books and reading), Vocabulary (learning new words),
Narrative Skills (understanding the parts of a story), and Letter Knowledge (knowing the ABC’s). This
may sound like a lot of skills for a six-year-old to learn, but these are things that can be easily taught
through play, and children at this age are eager to learn anything you want to teach them!
Some of the resources we have at the library include handouts with suggested activities, computer
games that cover all six skills, and toys that reinforce reading readiness. We even have backpacks filled
with toys, games, books, and CD’s that are tailored to fit each skill. (Show example backpack and explain
how the items inside fit with the particular skill.)
Recently, the State Library of Ohio has provided libraries with copies of the book You, Me, and the ABC’s
by Michael J. Rosen. This book is full of activities that a parent can do with their child to jumpstart their
reading career.
There are two things to keep in mind while using this book with your child. First, learning literacy skills
should be FUN. Never force your child to work on a certain skill as though they are in school. This is not
lesson time, it is play time. Kids should view word and letter activities like any other game or toy.
Making learning time and play time makes sure your child will want to learn and will learn more.
Secondly, the activities in this book are just a starting point. In order for early literacy play to work, it
must become part of your everyday routine. Think about your day and how busy you are. If you try to
fit half an hour of “lessons” in that cover letters and words, you will soon become frustrated and
discouraged. Instead, incorporate letters and literacy into the things you already do. Chances are, you
are already doing many things that help prepare your child for reading. You, Me, and the ABC’s will just
give you some new ideas to incorporate literacy into your life.
So, let’s start with the beginning to our day—breakfast. Turn to pages 10 and 11 in your copy of You,
Me, and the ABC’s. How easy is it to go to the store and buy some generic alphabet cereal? As soon as a
toddler can pick up a piece of cereal, he or she can be learning the letters in his or her name! Even if
they can’t answer back, you can still point out their first initial in their cereal, on street signs, in the
newspaper, even on your cell phone! Usually, the first letters children learn are those in their name,
and it is also usually the first word they learn to recognize on paper. Notice that every page in the book
has both a capital and lowercase letter. It is important for children to learn both sets of letters for
reading readiness. All of this, of course, leads to our skill Letter Knowledge. And, for a bonus, if you talk
about the sounds a letter makes that’s Phonological Awareness.
Let’s talk about Phonological Awareness for a second. This tends to be the hardest skill for a lot of
children. This is one skill that can start from birth and really evolve through a preschooler’s
development. The best thing you can do with a child to increase Phonological Awareness is to sing. The
notes of a song naturally break up words into syllables that are easily distinguished. Think about
“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” (Sing song even if you have no singing voice and clap on each beat to
show how each syllable has its own note.) Don’t worry if you can’t sing. I’m willing to bet that many of
you want to cover your ears when your preschooler sings in the car, right? Totally tone deaf! But sing

to a child, especially babies, because they love to hear your voice and because they will learn to hear the
different sounds of words. For the littlest child, there are also animal noises. Saying “moo” is actually a
great way for a child to think about the sound their mouth is making.
For two and three year olds, try the game on pages 14 and 15. Pick a day and listen for the sound of a
certain letter. Easy sounds to start off with are the sounds of letters t, b, d, and p. These are easy to
hear because they have that hard, aspirated sound whether at the beginning, middle, or end of a word.
However, you are going to want to start with beginning sounds since those are even easier to hear.
Once the child has mastered the art of a beginning sound, move on to rhyme. This is one of the hardest
and most complex skills to master, so the earlier a child gets started, the better. Again, singing will help.
Start a song and have your preschooler finish a verse with the correct rhyming word. (Sing example
song of your choice.)
One of the hardest skills to “teach” is Narrative Skills, or the ability to understand how a story flows.
Children need to know that stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end and that there are characters
in a story. One of the best ways to encourage a child to think about how stories work is to have them
tell the story of their day. On page 16, the activity directs you to create a “To Do” list that you can cross
off during the day as you complete activities. Then, as a bedtime story, talk about the things you did
during the day. This activity does double-duty because it also enhances Print Awareness. By writing
things down, it shows the importance of words and writing. For younger children, you can use pictures
of certain activities or even just show them the grocery list and let them help shop for the day!
Page 52 has tips for Print Motivation, or getting your child interested in books. Once again, we are
trying to make these fun and seamless activities. The children shouldn’t feel like they are being forced
to learn, and you shouldn’t feel like they are being forced to teach. If you make it a part of your
everyday routine, building your child’s reading readiness is easy! (Go over each of the tips.)
Now, we are going to do the activity from page 9 and we are going to make our own ABC album. This is
really easy to do. Just staple 26 bags together (we only have five today), and let the child start collecting
pictures of things that begin with each letter. Write the letter in permanent marker on each bag. You
don’t need to buy magazines in order to do this activity! We are actually going to use advertisements
and junk mail. Really, the only cost is the zipper bags.
This game goes with every skill. You get Letter Knowledge as they see the letter on the bag. If you talk
about the sounds the letter’s make, that’s Phonological Awareness. They get Print Motivation because
they are creating their own “book,” which will soon be a favorite. It also helps with Print Awareness
because they see the letters, and they can also collect words that contain the letter. If you make up a
story to go along with the pictures with each letter, that’s Narrative skills. And, finally, you are teaching
Vocabulary. Vocabulary is probably one of the easiest skills to work on because preschoolers have a
very limited vocabulary. Almost everything they see is new! For instance, if they find a picture that they
don’t recognize they may ask, “What’s this?” so they know what bag to put it in. You can say, “Oh,
that’s a NECTARINE. Listen. It begins with the letter n. N-n-n-ectarine!”
Now, choose which letters you would like to find, and start hunting!