Reading Interactively With Your Child by Isolating Specific Words in the Story

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Labyrinth_front coverWe have suggested ways for you to read interactively with your child: Here are a few more ideas.  Have you ever noticed when reading a Lima Bear Story, like The Labyrinth, that certain words are written in a different way from the rest of the words? The reason for this is to draw attention to the word, usually a more challenging word, so that the child will notice it and ask about it.  You can use these special words as an opportunity to “extend the learning.”

**First read the book all the way through with your child

**Go through the book again but this time, have your child point out the words that different from the rest.

**Ask your child to identify how the word is different:

**Is the word bigger or smaller?

**Is it a different color?

**Ask your child to guess why she thinks the word is different

** Have your child say the special words in the story in the way he thinks the author intended for them to be read.

**Talk about how the words could be said differently to express different emotions

**Ask your child to try come up with different word that could be used that would have a similar meaning

In The Labyrinth, some of the special words are “cheered,” “twists and turns,” and “glowed.” You can see what we mean by “special words” from this small sample. They are bit more descriptive, a bit more challenging, a bit more cool.  Please share any ways that you have discovered to “extend the learning” as you read interactively with your child!

 

 

 

Reading to Your Child Is Fantastic But Do You Know Why?

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Tom&GranddaughterOnLapWhy Reading Your Child Is a Good Thing to Do

We know that you intuitively know that reading to your child is a good thing. Here at Lima Bear Press we love to share ideas for HOW to read interactively with your child, thereby increasing the learning.  But do you know the reasons WHY reading aloud to your child is so important?  The United Through Reading organization outlines a few of the many benefits of reading aloud to your child.

UnitedThroughReading.org tells us that:

Reading aloud with children is a powerful educational tool which:

  • Nurtures the self-esteem of children
  • Instills the joy of reading at an early age
  • Strengthens the bond children need with their families while preparing them for academic success
  • Plus, research shows that reading aloud to children appears to be the single most important activity for building earliest emergent reading skills

Page4_Cave MonsterA Child’s Self-esteem Can be Increased When a Parent Reads Aloud to Him/Her

We know that YOU did not need a reason to read with your child but it nice to know the wonderful benefits that can result when you do. One of the most intriguing benefits to reading aloud to your child is the building of self-esteem.  It makes sense, though, that a child’s self-esteem can be increased when a parent reads a loud to him.  Think about it for a second.  Not only is the child learning vocabulary and language skills, he is also recognizing that time spent with him is time well spent.  How powerful is that? She learns about behaviors and how to respond to situations which can be a huge ego boost to a youngster in social situations.  He is armed with new skills that he can pull out and use at will. Can you think of more way a child’s self-esteem may be increased?