February Tips & Nectar from the LEER Director

Dear Friends,

Winter can be hard, but reading makes it easier. Take advantage of the dark before daylight savings time by reading more. 

If you have kiddos who don’t love reading yet try these tips….

1) Start a Word Count program. Incentivize reading by keeping track of new words they’ve learned and after a specific number of new words, provide a reward. For early readers, this is probably less than 10 words, but as children’s vocabulary grows it could be as much as 25.

2) Make it fun. Come to the library with your reader and let us help you find books they want to read. Read them books that are above their reading level or just have great stories. This helps them gain vocabulary and look forward to what happens next. This not only helps them academically; it also calms them.

3) Ask questions before reading starts. Having conversations when reading with children helps them develop higher-level thinking and language skills, such as predicting, problem solving, or contrasting. 

While reading books aloud, ask the child questions and talk about the content of the story together before, during, and after reading:



• Use open-ended questions to ask the child to think about the book’s messages and what is happening.

• Ask the child to apply the book’s messages to the world around him by connecting events to his own life. 

• Ask more and more complex questions, so the child continues to build her vocabulary and language skills.

The Enchanted Forest of Reading at McCurdy

Remember, the Enchanted Forest of Reading is open Tuesdays from 3-7pm, and there is Preschool Story Time on Wednesday mornings from 9:30 - 10:00 am and Toddler Story Time on Thursdays from 10 - 10:30am.

We hope to see you soon!

Peace,

Kercida