Pre-Reading Skills are a bundle of skills that helps young kids to read successfully later in life,when they start schooling. These skills are mainly categorized into 6 different parts.
They are as follows :-
1. Print Motivation
Exposing our child to books from a very early age,even when they are babies can be very helpful. Showing them that books are fun and reading is a healthy habit to have. We can do this by Reading Aloud to them and Model Reading. Model reading means showing them that books are an important part of our(parents) life. If the child sees you reading everyday, it’s very possible that he develops interest in books and tries to imitate you. Because children learn by seeing around than by asking / forcing them to do.
2. Vocabulary
Vocabulary is essential to learn any new language and to be able to read and write in it. For young children, we can develop this by following activities :
A. Knowing the names of the things – Wherever you are and whatever you are doing,start there. If you are eating food, tell the names of food items on your plate. If you are in a garden or park,tell them the names of trees around or playground equipments. If you are in a hospital, show them different rooms, tell them about doctors, nurses,helpers,patients etc. Show them and name the equipment used in a hospital. If you buy a new toy, name the parts of the toy. In this way, keeping it simple but learning and developing vocabulary as you go. Ofcourse, books come in handy too, to name objects and pictures in it.
B. Narrating the situations – Showing and reiterating that is happening in any given situation is narrating it for them to understand. For example, if the child is upset about something, just narrating the situation and telling them what happened and how you felt and how the child is feeling, can help the child to process those feelings and emotions. In turn,giving them the option to narrate back to us,opening up a dialogue between the child and you. Other example would be, if you’re reading a book and a situation has come where the characters need to take some action, ask the child of they were the characters in the story what could have they done, would it be different or same. Ask them to narrate the same story again or make up new stories.
C. Picture Talk – For this activity, picture books come in very handy. Picture talk is basically reading pictures and narrating them to the child.
D. Answer Wh-Questions – When reading through books, ask your child about what is happening in the story, who are the characters in the story,where is the story taking place etc. Asking questions and responding them is an excellent activity for comprehension skills.
3. Print Awareness
Print awareness means knowing the parts of the books like the cover page,title, author, etc. It also means to teach them how to care for the books,how to open and close the book, how to turn pages. It also includes telling them that we read from Left to Right.
4. Narration
As said earlier, narration is being able to narrate the situation,and or stories. Being able to repeat a story or make up on their own. This can be done by repetitive reading the same book again and again,and by using predictable books.
5. Letter Knowledge
Knowing letters in Alphabet, and knowing the sounds of every letter. Pointing out to letters in the books while reading and in our environment when we are out and about.
6. Phonological Awareness
Phonological awareness means knowing and recognizing that words in any spoken language are made up of small parts. For young kids,these skills can be developed through activities like Rhyming, Nursery Rhymes, and Picture Comprehension.
Hoping that this piece of information will help you understand what exactly is pre reading and how to develop those skills at home. I hope to encourage you all and share whatever knowledge I have gained and have been practicing with my daughter. Do let me know if you have any further questions or queries, in the comments below.
Thanks
– Deevyanka
– Deevyanka
Wow! This is such a helpful post to understand the basics of pre reading & these tips will surely help me in future.Thandn for sharing.
Being a parent of small kids, I always think of inflicting good habits in my children and reading is one of them. These tips are going to help me a lot.
I guess I have to start following tbese religiously. Nowadays we hardly read books for kids
It’s important to focus on kids’ reading skills from their initial years. Your article is a wonderful parents to guide them for the same. Must read for every parent.
This post is so very helpful to me. My 3yo has started playschool and is more curious than ever about each and everything around her. She loves picture books and I read our to her too.
Thanks for jotting these points down, will surely share with my mates whose kids are in the pre-schooling stage!
You have shared a good topic indeed. This topic is really helpful for parents who want to admit their kids on high school.
This is definitely very important and beneficial for kids
This is a must read post for all the parents 🙂
That’s a very good post, good to see you advocating the importance of reading in kids. So many people need to read this!
wow, i didnt know all these. some yes but not all. thanks, i am actually trying to inculcate reading in my kid. some of the above will come in handy. 🙂