Early Literacy Practices (Talk)
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Talk
Introduction
Talking helps a child develop early literacy skills. Nurture your babbling baby into a talkative toddler by talking and reading to him often. Talking is also an excellent way to build his narrative skills. These skills are needed to help him with reading as he grows older.
Read aloud and encourage your child to read along with you. You can initiate conversations about stories by asking, “What do you see on this page?” or “What do you think will happen next?”
Recommended Activities
Dollars and Sense
Talking about the value of money is a great way to instil good financial habits in young children. Take the opportunity to introduce your child to important money concepts during your daily activities. For example, “I am going to pay $5 for the milk and bread.” Or “I have some extra coins here and I am going to save them in my piggy bank.”
Introduce younger children to the different coin denominations through a coin colouring activity. Place different coins under a piece of white paper and get your child to colour over them. Name and describe the coins as your child creates colourful coin impressions. Make the activity more challenging for older children by getting them to match a new set of coins to the correct impressions.
Create pretend money and engage in a role play with your child to introduce them to the basics of buying and selling. Set up an imaginary store with their toys and label them with a price tag. Take turns to be the customer and shop owner and use related words such as “price”, “expensive”, “cheap”, “more,” “less”, “pay”, “buy” or “sell”.
Adapted from Teaching Kids About Money: An Age-by-Age Guide
I Can Go Green!
How can you go green? Help your child to understand that they have a part to play in protecting the environment by talking to them about conservation and the impact we have on the environment. Describe the different ways to go green during their daily lives. For example, “Turn off the tap when you are brushing your teeth.” or “Let’s bring a reusable bag for grocery shopping so that we can reduce the use of plastic.”
As your child grows older, you can get them involved in sorting the trash at home into the different types of recyclables. Get them to create and decorate their own small recycling bins to keep them committed to the recycling activity. Make recycling more fun by going on a scavenger hunt in the park or beach and see how many recyclables you can collect.
Adapted from 19 Activities for Kids To Learn About Recycling
Safety and Me
Talk about personal safety early, regularly and clearly with your child. Use the appropriate language about safe and unsafe behaviours, people and situations. For example, “The pot is hot and you will get hurt if you touch it. Move over here.” or “The floor is wet. I do not want you to slip so please hold my hand.” Introduce the different safety precautions through discussions and fun activities.
Get started by filling a bag with safety props such as toy road signs, a toy phone and a plaster. Include pictures of safety workers such as a firefighter, a policeman and a paramedic. Take out one object or picture at a time and get your child to talk about it. You may ask, “How does this tool protect us?” Or “What does this safety worker do to help us?”. You can expand the activity by asking your child to match the safety workers to the tools they use.
For older children, create a giant map of a neighbourhood on a big piece of paper together. Include roads, pavements, crossings, safety signs, traffic lights and buildings you typically see in a neighbourhood such as a police station and a school. Get your child to place their toy vehicles and people at the correct place and explain their decisions. Spend some time talking about road safety, the different dangerous situations that can happen in a neighbourhood and the safety measures they can take.
Adapted from Activities That Teach Safety and Introduction to Teaching Road Safety and Lesson Ideas
Recommended Books
Title: Give It!: A Moneybunny Book
Author: Cinders McLeod
Publisher: New York : Nancy Paulsen Books, [2020]
Location: Early Literacy Picture Books
Call No.: English MAC
OverDrive Link: https://nlb.overdrive.com/media/5153403
In this delightful introduction to simple money concepts, an enthusiastic young bunny discovers how good it feels to use his allowance to help others.
Chummy longs to be a superhero. He wants to save the world–or at least Bunnyland–from dragons, so spending his carrots on a superhero costume seems like a great plan! When his grandma reminds him that there aren’t any dragons in Bunnyland, but that there are creatures that could use help, Chummy starts reconsidering the best way to spend his wad. This is the fourth book in the internationally acclaimed Moneybunny Books series that also includes Earn It!, Spend It!, and Save It!
Title: ABC Earth Friendly Me
Author: Christiane Engel
Publisher: Walter Foster JR
OverDrive Link: https://nlb.overdrive.com/media/5567777
ABC Earth-Friendly Me presents 26 things—from Action to Zero waste and everything in between—that eco-conscious kids and their families can do to help care for the Earth.
Pairing aspects of eco-friendly living with each letter of the alphabet, this durable board book is not only perfect for teaching young children their ABCs, but also for encouraging them to be aware of the impact they have on the environment.
The content empowers young children, showing them that even their small choices make a big difference. The engaging illustrations, fun rhyming text, and simple concepts introduce children to an eco-friendly lifestyle. To help, kids can plant flowers for pollinating bees, eat more fruits and vegetables, share or swap old toys, help their parents air-dry laundry, and learn about animals and their habitats.
Environmental terms throughout, such as “pollination,” “biodegradable,” “pollution,” and “preservation,” have easy-to-understand, kid-friendly definitions in the back of the book. A spread elaborating on additional things kids can do, such as riding a bike, creating a new toy from old stuff, and hunting for a unique pre-owned item at the thrift store, shows easy and fun ways to help out!
ABC Earth-Friendly Me shows that every member of the family—even the smallest one—can protect our planet Earth. This is the perfect book to inspire the next generation of eco-conscious kids, while teaching them the alphabet at the same time. Learning the ABCs has never been so green and so much fun!
With endearing illustrations and mindful concepts, the ABC for Me series pairs each letter of the alphabet with words that promote big dreams and healthy living.
Title: Rocket Says Clean Up!
Author: Nathan Bryon
Publisher: New York : Random House, [2020]
Location: Early Literacy Picture Books
Call Number: English BRY
OverDrive Link: https://nlb.overdrive.com/media/5275016
Plucky science-lover Rocket returns in another inspiring picture book about getting a community to notice the world around them, and, in this book, to CLEAN UP! their shoreline.
Rocket, is off to the islands to visit her grandparents. Her family loves nothing better than to beach comb and surf together…but the beach is clogged with trash! When she finds a turtle tangled in a net, Rocket decides that something must be done! Like a mini Greta Thunberg, our young activist’s enthusiasm brings everyone together…to clean up the beach and prevent plastics from spoiling nature. Perfect for fans of Rocket Says Look Up! and Ada Twist, Scientist, this book is for any youngster concerned about our environment. Rocket Says Clean Up! will inspire readers of all ages to dream big and tackle problems head-on.
Title: Be Careful and Stay Safe
Author: Cheri J. Meiners
Publisher: Free Spirit Publishing
Overdrive link: https://nlb.overdrive.com/media/657933
The world can seem so perilous, especially where our children are concerned. But even very young children can learn basic skills for staying safe in ordinary situations and preparing for emergencies. Without scaring kids (or alarming adults), this book teaches little ones how to avoid potentially dangerous situations, ask for help, follow directions, use things carefully, and plan ahead. Includes questions, activities, and safety games that reinforce the ideas being taught.
All synopses taken from the respective publishers. The book covers are the copyright of the respective publishing companies.
For more activities and book recommendations, click here.