Holiday Baking!

Looking back to my younger days, I fondly remember the time I spent with my aunt making cookies on Sunday afternoons. Baking is an excellent activity you can do with your child to help them prepare to learn to read, among other things.

For younger children, pouring ingredients into bowls and mixing help them understand the concept of cause and effect. They learn to understand the concept of "hot" when something hot comes out of the oven.

Baking helps children learn new vocabulary. Your child can try new foods to expand their palate. Also, baking serves as a fun way to explore mathematical concepts like quantity through measuring and counting. Your child will learn about the concepts "more" and "less". They can learn to read print by matching words in recipes to words on store containers like "eggs", "baking powder", "suagr", and so on.

Bake something special with your child today. The recipe can be as simple as rice krispy squares. Spending time with your child doing something they will enjoy is something that they will remember for the rest of their lives.


Do you have a simple recipe you can share?

Name printing

The most important word to your child is their name. For this reason, your child's name is a great place to start with letter recognition and eventually, printing. Recognizing and writing one's own name are not only important skills, but they are also something your child's kindergarten teacher will appreciate!

Practice doesn't have to be boring! Here are some fun suggestions on helping your child learn to print their name.

- Start by talking about the letters in your child's name. Does your child know all the letters? Make sure you talk about the sounds the letters make. ("Sarah starts with the sound Ssssss, just like snake. Can you hear it? Ssssssarah...")

- Make sure your child knows how to form the letters in their name. Talk about circles and lines in letters. Once they know how to make the letters, practice by having them make the shapes of the letters with their fingers. For example, they can write the letters in the air, on the floor, on your back, in water in the tub, in rice, shaving cream, flour, playdough (using stamps), or by tracing sandpaper letters with their fingers.



- Your child should feel comfortable holding writing implements in his or her hand before he or she will be able to write. This takes strength! Help your child build the muscles in their hands by engaging them in fine motor skills like cutting, playing with playdough,
using icepick tongs to sort,playing with lego, and so on. Once they have build up some strength, encourage them to practice using chalk, paint markers, and smelly markers (washable of course).



- Encourage your child to take pride in their name. Show them it is important. Label their belongings with their help (lunch containers, clothes). Give them plenty of exposure to their name in their world.

Please post any suggestions you have on helping children learn to write their name.

Make Up Your Own Story

Becoming known as an "author" can be a very motivating reason to write. Perhaps that is why so many elementary school teachers have created an "author's chair" in their classroom.

Make your child feel good about writing by:

- helping them talk and write about what interests them
- letting them see that writing is important to you
- praising their attempts to write
- displaying samples of what they write (you can do this on your fridge or by placing their homemade books in your home library).

Shown your child how books often have pictures and words. Something From Nothing by Phoebe Gilman is a great book that nicely separates the pictures and text (see below).



Encourage your child to write a book just like the way Something from Nothing is formatted (with the pictures above and the words below). You can even design a template for them like the one shown below to give them structure. Not only will this be a fun activity for your child, but it will also help build their awareness of print. By separating the pictures and text, the child is called to take notice to the print below.

SEEing print

Children also need to see lots of words in print and to watch other people write. You can provide such experience for your children by:

- helping them write their names on their pictures and belongings - "Sandy, you make an 'S' and I'll make the rest of your name"
- reading books to them
- writing messages to them - "Today is your birthday!"
- writing down what your children tell you about their drawings (you can help them make books by writing down a story to go with the pictures they have drawn)
- pointing out letters and words on street signs, food containers, store fronts, etc. - "Let's look for signs that begin with 'S'"
- letting them watch you write letters or shopping lists \

Below are some books where children can see print (aside from the text in the story).



Bunny Cakes by Rosemary Wells



Chester by Melanie Watt



CLick, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin



More book ideas will follow this week, but be sure to suggest a title if you know of one.

More on feelings...

This posting was inspired by this article about colour, happiness and depression: Different Colours Describe Happiness vs Depression

My Many Coloured Days, by Dr. Seuss, is a beautiful book that uses colour to express feelings. By reading and discussing this book with your child, you can help them understand that we all have moods. Our moods can change day to day, and that`s ok.

The book is also a great tool for talking about print awareness. Print awareness is noticing print everywhere.The text is written to reflect the illustrations/moods.

Here are two previous posts I wrote on print awareness.

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign

Point them in the right direction...

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign

Print is all around us on signs, labels, storybooks, newspapers and magazines. Seeing print and seeing how adults react to print helps children recognize why print is important. Children with print awareness can begin to understand that written language is related to oral language.

Print awareness is ranked among the best predictors of early reading achievement as well as a child’s future reading abilities. Most children become aware of print long before they enter school. Some researchers have found that children as young as 2 years old can read environmental print. Environmental print is the print that is all around us everyday. Some examples include print on license plates, road signs and labels on the packages of the food we eat. Other researchers have shown that children often read signs rather than their print (like the McDonalds logo when you’re driving in a car).

Regardless, the ability to understand print doesn’t just happen. Children learn about print when adults and other children point out letters, words and other features of the print that surround children. When children understand “how” print works they will feel more comfortable handling books and be more likely to succeed in reading.



On the road to print awareness
Here are some indicators that a child is well on their way to an awareness of print:



- noticing print everywhere
- knowing how to follow the words on a page (left to right and top to bottom)
- knowing how to handle a book (how to hold it in their hands)
- knowing that sentences start with capital letters and end with punctuation marks
- knowing about authors’ and illustrators’ names
- knowing how to identify the front and back cover of a book

I mentioned some places adults can find environmental print to point out to children - license plates, road signs, and the packages of food we eat.

What are some examples of environmental print you use to draw a child's attention to print?

Point them in the right direction...

Did you know that 95% of children’s attention goes to the pictures in the book?

When you’re reading, use your finger (or a pointer) to sweep under words you have read. It will show the child that you are reading the text, not the pictures.

Here are some great ideas for pointers you can use.

**Flyswatters** (with different sized holes)



**Chopsticks**

**Unsharpened pencils**

***Old Wooden Spoons**

**Witch Fingers**



**Rulers**

**Old Car antennae**

**toothbrushes**

**Bubble Wands**



**Stir stivcks**

**Plastic flowers**

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Books shown above are:
Today is Monday by Eric Carle
Goodnight, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
Something from Nothing by Phoebe Gilman
Is Your Mama a Llama? by Deborah Guarino