There’s no magic curriculum to fix the nation’s reading crisis, but there is a powerful preventative measure that can get to the root of the problem: intentional, everyday literacy-building one child at a time. Too many parents overestimate what schools can do and underestimate the power of family habits. Reading for Our Lives offers practical, evidence-based tips to help parents take charge and launch kids’ learning. From the revised, updated paperback edition, here are five doable and impactful ideas:
- Set up your physical environment to remind you to nurture literacy. It’s easy for reading to fall by the wayside during busy days with young children, so set up your home to provide timely reminders. And even if reading becomes a daily habit, other key literacy-building activities can slip through the cracks—like teaching letters or playing with rhymes or alliteration. Hang a nursery rhyme mobile over the changing table, post an alphabet chart on the wall, put waterproof books by the bathtub, or stock conversation cards on the dinner table. Find your way to keep letters, language, and reading top of mind so you can nurture language and literacy at every turn.
- Use wordplay to raise your kids’ awareness of specific speech sounds. When kids struggle to hear and distinguish the individual sounds that make up words, they struggle with reading and spelling. The good news? Building this critical skill, called phonological awareness, doesn’t have to feel like schoolwork. You can make it playful and on-the-go! Sing songs like “The Name Game,” play I Spy with rhyming words, or even speak in pig Latin. Nursery rhymes help kids tune into syllables and sounds, and games like syllable-clapping and rhyming can be worked into everyday activities. As kids grow, amp up the challenge by blending or switching sounds in words as a game. Just remember to keep it light and fun.
- Help your child learn letter shapes, in addition to letter names and sounds. Kids don’t naturally distinguish between letters, numbers, and drawings—it takes time and practice. Start by pointing out letters in storybooks or daily life. Trace them with your finger and tell your child their names to build recognition. The research is clear: how you talk about letters matters. Describe the curves, lines, humps, and dots that form each letter, and you’ll get them well prepared for reading.. For example, you could point to a T, trace it with your finger, and say, This is the letter T. It has two lines, a long one that goes down, and a shorter one that goes across. The letter T says /t/.
- Boost your child’s language skills with Smart’s TALK Method. Verbal communication skills directly impact kids’ early learning and predict their school achievement down the road. The TALK Method—TAKE TURNS, ASK QUESTIONS, LABEL AND POINT, and KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING—can supercharge your child’s language and social skills. Take turns in conversation with little ones to build their vocabulary, comprehension, and overall preparation for reading. Ask simple questions about what you see around you (What’s that? Do you see the bird?) to draw them out, label (verbally—aka name) and point to objects to build their vocabulary (That’s an umbrella!), and keep the conversation going by connecting the moment to a story or experience (It’s raining here, just like in the picture!).
- Anchor literacy-building habits to your everyday moments. It’s easier to start doing something new (or more consistently) when you tie it to your existing routine. Reading for Our Lives walks you through a step-by-step process to create simple, effective conversation habits that build your little one’s brain connections and vocabulary. For example: After I hear my baby coo or babble, I will respond in a complete sentence. After I put breakfast on the table, I will point to and name the foods I’m serving up. Plus, the process works for any literacy-building habit parents want to establish, from wordplay and letter teaching to book discussion and spelling practice.
With these simple, everyday strategies, you can unlock your child’s potential and build the foundation for a lifetime of reading success!
Get Reading for Our Lives: A Literacy Action Plan from Birth to Six
Learn how to foster your child’s pre-reading and reading skills easily, affordably, and playfully in the time you’re already spending together.
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