Fun with Letters!

Letter knowledge (the ability to recognize upper and lower case letters, know letter names, and the sounds they make) is one of the six early literacy skills children need to have in order to learn to read. It is also the most important early literacy skill used to predict a child’s success in learning to read.

Come see how learning letters can be fun! The library will be hosting Fun with Letters, a workshop for parents and children ages 2 - 5 to enjoy together on Wednesday, March 1 at 10:00 a.m. This workshop will show parents how to use the five early literacy skills - reading, writing, talking, singing, and playing - to help children learn letters and letter sounds. Register online at wclibrary.info, in person at the Centerville Children’s Desk, or by phone at 433-8091, opt. 3.

If you can’t attend the workshop, here are a few fun ways to help your child develop letter knowledge:

· Start with the letters in your child’s name. These are the most important to them. Write your child’s name where he can see it (magnetic letters on the fridge, etc). Point out the first letter of your child’s name anywhere you see it.
· Write your child’s name on heavy cardboard so he can trace it with a finger or a crayon.
· Sing the ABC song.
· Play with letters - magnetic letters on the fridge, blocks with letters on them, and foam letters in the bathtub.
· Read alphabet books.
· Hide magnetic or foam letters around the room. When your child finds a letter, ask her to name it or say the letter sound.
· Let your child scribble or practice writing a few letters.
· Play with shapes and point out shapes around you.

Guest post by Allison C. 

R is for Robot: A Noisy Alphabet Book

R is for Robot: A Noisy Alphabet, by Adam F. Watkins, is not your average alphabet book. Rather than presenting an object for each letter, the letters are represented by sounds as some funny-looking, noisy robots gather together all 26 letters to form the alphabet. You and your little one will have a ball making all of the silly sounds like “ahoogah,” “kapow,” and “ratatattat.” So, if you’re looking for a good alphabet book to share, you won't go wrong with this one!

Sports Illustrated Kids Rookie Books

For all of the mini-athletes out there (or children of sports-loving parents), we’ve got some new non-fiction books that are part of the Sports Illustrated Kids Rookie Books series by Mark Weakland. And, I must say, they’re pretty fun. The first one, Football ABC, goes through all of the letters of the alphabet using football terms. Not only does each letter represent a football word—action, ball, coin toss, and so on—but with each word comes a description that is really helpful in learning about the sport and building vocabulary. For instance, the F page says: “F is for fumble. Uh-oh! When a player drops the ball, it’s a fumble.”

Hockey Counting is set up similarly. In this one, it follows the numbers 1 through 12 and provides hockey lessons and photograph descriptions on each page. For number 6, it says: “Each hockey team is allowed six players on the ice at a time. Five skaters and one goalie wait patiently for the game to begin.”

And if all that wasn’t enough to sell you on these books, there’s more; they both include a glossary, an index, a list of other suggested titles about football and hockey, and information about a website that has links to other sites (researched by the SI staff) related to the books. Not too shabby, eh? And apparently if you spend too much time with that hockey book, you start speaking like a Canadian… J

A...B...See?

Teaching letters to a child isn’t always the easiest of parental endeavors. In fact, it can be nearly impossible at times. Since kids learn differently, there’s no one, foolproof way to teach them. Hopefully, though, some of these tips will make your job a little easier:

- As you begin teaching letters, start with the first letter of your child’s name and then continue with the first letters of other meaningful words—mom, dad, your last name, siblings’ names, etc. Kids learn best when what they are learning relates to them.

-Rather than quizzing your child on letters in a book, point out different letters as you’re reading. Kids can pick up a lot through this method, and it’s far less stressful for them.

-As you go through the day, point out different letters you see (on road signs, at the store, on food labels, in books, etc.). Encourage your child to participate in finding letters, too. This is a great way to pass the time in the car.

-Feel free to skip around when reading alphabet books. They are great resources to help teach letters, but you don’t need to read them as you would a typical book. Try letting your child pick out which pages to read and discuss.

-Play a game in which you have your child think of words that start with a certain letter. Start with words that begin with the first sound in your child’s name, and go from there. Research indicates that it’s best to teach the name and sound of a letter together.

-Come in and check out our adorable alphabet table in the children’s room! Kids love singing the alphabet while walking around the table, pointing out the different letters (and we love watching it!).

-Find these books and more on our "All About the Alphabet" booklist:
 Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr.
 ABC, Baby Me! by Susan Katz
 Take Care of Me from A to Z by Harriet Ziefert

K-k-kick!!

My two-year-old niece, Charlie, just got a huge alphabet mat for her playroom. Before getting the mat, she’d learned a few letters (C for Charlie, M for Mama, etc.), but within days of having it, she became obsessed with letters and learned them all. I’d like to think it’s because she’s inherited all of her aunt’s genes and is a prodigy, but in reality, she loved learning the alphabet because it was made into a fun game for her.

Rather than drilling her on letters, which is not too much fun for most kids, her parents make the letter-learning exciting. Her mom will say: “Charlie, find the h for hop—h-h-hop.” Charlie locates the h, picks it up, and hops up and down with it in her hands, giggling the whole time. Next, it might be: “Okay, now find the k for kick—k-k-kick.” Charlie hunts down the k, pulls it from the mat, and kicks it across the room. She’ll quack like a duck when finding the q for quack. When she has to find “D for Daddy” or “J for Joey,” her very handsome newborn brother, she carries the letter to the appropriate person and gives it to him.

This fun game, that Charlie LOVES to play, is doing some pretty wonderful things for her growing brain. Letter knowledge is a hugely important pre-reading skill, for obvious reasons. And, research indicates that it’s best to teach the name and sound of a letter together. So, just the addition of the k sound in “k-k-kick” is really beneficial. The fact that she can pick up and hold the letters really helps her learn their shapes, too. In addition, kids learn best when what they are learning relates to them. So, when Charlie can associate a letter with a person, action, or object she likes, it helps her remember it.

If you’ve been struggling teaching your little one letters or are getting ready to start, give this game a shot. If you don’t have an alphabet mat, a letter puzzle or magnetic letters can serve the same purpose. The key is to make it fun and relatable. So, k-k-kick away!

All The Awake Animals Are Almost Asleep

Everyone loves a cozy bedtime book. Whether children or adults, we take great pleasure in climbing into bed and snuggling under the blankets to read, especially at this time of year. And when the volume we bring with us is especially worthy of our attention, all the better.

Children’s book veterans Crescent Dragonwagon and David McPhail have teamed up and produced one of those rare gems in All The Awake Animals Are Almost Asleep. As with so many books about bedtime, a child is not quite ready for slumber, but mother gently encourages making an attempt anyway. She lovingly points out that every creature has a time to be awake and a time to sleep, and proceeds to describe a number of familiar (and some not-so-common) animals’ methods of getting cozy for the night.

The beautiful alliterative text doubles as an alphabet book, punctuated by McPhail’s warm, soothing ink and watercolor illustrations of baby and adult animals finding their night’s resting place. Each does it in a uniquely personal way ~ “Frog just floats, letting her feet flop until they find firm footing near the ferns”, and “Otter, overcome, is out in the ocean, rocking on and on, oh-so-gently”.  Sweet but intelligent poetry begins and ends the story, and my guess is that children will want to hear it again and again, hoping they can make it to the last page before finding their own eyelids heavy with sleep. Guest post by Bridget W.