Print is Everywhere!

Last Tuesday evening, Amy Kukla returned to Pride and Joy Daycare for a parent workshop, again focusing on the print awareness module. Amy explained that print awareness is knowing that print is everywhere and knowing how to follow print on a page. Parents learned tips on little ways in everyday life to help their children become more aware of print, such as making a list together with kids before going shopping, and pointing out the signs of different stores that you shop at, including the sale signs and the words on different items once in the store.

To help kids learn to follow print on a page, Amy shared tips parents could use when reading a book together with their child, including pointing out the words on a page as they are read aloud, and encouraging the child to help turn the pages, to teach him or her how to handle a book and that in English we read from left to right.

Amy encouraged parents to have fun as they explore the world of print with their children, and suggested fun print awareness activities to do together, such as making a photo scrapbook of pictures taken on a "scavenger hunt" of print in the community - photos of familiar street signs, the signage of neighborhood stores, etc. Print is everywhere - have fun exploring it!

Learning How Books Work...

Last week, Amy Kukla read for two storytime sessions at Pride and Joy Daycare. This time, the focus was on print awareness. Reading to a group of 1-2 year olds (above), Amy tracked her finger under the words as she read them aloud - this is to help children begin to understand that the words printed on a page have meaning. At the end of the session, she passed out books to the children just to build their experience in knowing how to handle a book and turn pages.

During her session with the 3-4 year olds (right), Amy began to open a book upside-down. The kids caught her right away - a great sign that they have an understanding of how books work. Reading logs were passed out at both sessions - children can keep track of the hours they read or are read to, earn points and redeem them for prizes at the Library. Both sessions were kept fun and exciting by starting and ending with a sing-along, as well as short playtimes with toy rattles and a flannel board that tied in to one of the stories. Above all, reading should be FUN!

Stay tuned - later this week, Amy will share more print awareness tips at a parent workshop at Pride and Joy, to show parents how to jump start their children's reading at home.