CHILDREN AGES 0-2

• Experiment with language by making sounds that imitate the times and rhythms of adult talk;
• Delight in listening to familiar jingles and rhymes;
• Play along with games such as peekaboo and pattycake;
• Begin to name familiar objects out loud;
• Participate in making the sounds of animals they see in books.

• Read simple picture books together and talk to your child about what you see;
• Tell your chills stories and talk about daily events and routines;
• Talk, sing, chant and do fingerplays.

CHILDREN AGES 2-3

• Enjoy listening to rhymes and songs, doing finger plays; looking at books;
• Understand that their written name signifies something special that pertains specifically to them;
• Scribble enthusiastically.

• Share books that include repeated rhymes and sayings;
• Encourage your child to listen to sounds, words, rhymes and poems;
• Look at and read picture books together;
• Provide simple art materials for drawing and scribbling.

CHILDREN AGES 3-4

• Delight in conversation and being listen and responded to;
• Recognize examples of print in their environment;
• Knowing that writing is a form of communication;
• Know that people read for a purpose.

• Play word games to reinforce following directions, listening and speaking;
• Provide a rich variety of reading materials;
• Choose picture books that are age appropriate, with clear story lines;
• Point out words on signs or in your child’s environment that begin with the same letter of your child’s name.

CHILDREN AGES 4-5

• Realize that reading moves left to right and top to bottom;
• Learn that print rather than pictures, carries the meaning of the story;
• Pretend to read;
• Recognize some names and letters.

• Read aloud daily
• Involve your child in playful experiences with print;
• Write down your child’s spoken stories;
• Encourage your child to write their name and other familiar words;
• Encourage your child to participate in activities, such as cooking and make grocery lists that involve reading and writing.

CHILDREN AGES 5-6

• Sound out some words;
• Enjoy writing and giving written messages to others;
• Begin to write words they hear;
• Enjoy reading favorite books, simple predictable books and books they have written;
• Attempt to do their own writing, using invented and standard spelling.;

• Encourage your child to see him or herself as a reader;
• Support the love of books by reading together and sharing favorite stories;
• Encourage story dictating so your child can practice writing.;
• Involve your child in reading signs, recipes, cereal boxes, maps and other print used every day.
• Introduce simple chapter books.