Training Guides for the Head Start Learning Community:
Emerging Literacy: Linking Social Competence to Learning
Module 4

Setting the Stage for Literacy Explorations

Talk with your child.

• Watch and listen to your child. Pay attention to words and gestures. Respond to what your child does, says, or asks.

• Talk about what you are doing, what you did, and what you plan to do. Ask your child about his ideas and suggestions.

• Tell stories about your childhood. Describe your favorite toys, friends, games, and holidays.

• Record your child's history on tape or in a family album. Talk about the day your child was born or adopted, where her name came from, what she liked to do when she was a baby.

• Listen patiently when your child tells a story. Ask questions to help him tell the whole story in the order in which events took place.

• Give your child interesting experiences to talk about. Young children find everyday errands and routines interesting, especially when they do them with favorite adults.

• Start reading aloud today; no child is too young to be read to.

• Read at the same time every day, perhaps after dinner or at bedtime.

• Read when your child asks you to.

• Read in a special place such as a comfortable chair, and in all parts of the home and outdoors.

• Read your child's favorite books over and over.

• Read books you like that introduce new words, ideas, places, and people.

• Relax and let your child set the pace for reading. Have your child turn pages, repeat words, point out letters, and look for details in pictures.

• Stop often to talk about the pictures, answer questions, and ask, What do you think will happen? Where would you go? What are they doing?

• Ask your child to read aloud to you. He can retell a favorite story, make up a story to go with a wordless picture book, or follow along on a tape.

• Point to letters and talk about the sound they make.

• Make books come alive; change your voice or add sound effects.