Go Beyond the Alphabet Song

• While many young children have a rote understanding of the alphabet by learning the ABC song, they often lack the ability to identify each letter and recognize letter sounds. Help your child develop a more meaningful and rich understanding of letters by emphasizing what each letter looks like, sounds like, and showing letters forming words.
• Write out the alphabet on a large piece of paper. Then, have fun starting each day with a different "Letter of the Day!" Begin with the letter "A" by circling it, describing the way it looks, and repeating the letter sound. Go on a "Letter Hunt" throughout the day and search for things that begin with the "Letter of the Day." For example, encourage your child to look for as many "B" foods as possible while you're at the supermarket. Remember to emphasize the initial letter sound: "B...B...Bananas! B...B...Beans!" Your child can also look for the "Letter of the Day" in books, magazines, or different rooms of the house!

Explore Letters and Words Everywhere!

• Letters and words are everywhere! Just be on the lookout throughout the day. On your walks to school or through the neighborhood, label and talk about any print that you notice on signs around your environment like "SCHOOL," "SUBWAY," or "RESTAURANT." Point out and describe each letter and word you see.
• Help your child develop language and a love for words by exposing her to a variety of print rich materials such as books, poems, nursery rhymes, labels, recipes, and child-friendly magazines.
• Involve your child while making shopping lists, writing letters, or filling out birthday invitations. Talk out loud about the letters and words you write. Encourage her to help by drawing scribbles or pictures.

Use Words, Words, and More Words!

• Developing a rich vocabulary at a young age helps children become more successful readers and learners. Expose children to new words, words, and more words every day! As you go about your daily routine, have fun conversations using lots of words to describe all the things you see and do together.
• Have fun playing with words and language with your child! For example, play a rhyming game together by listing words that rhyme with "ball." You can say, "ball, fall, wall, small... crayon!" Recognizing this silly mistake can be a very funny and exciting activity for your child. Allow them to correct you and then think of a word that does rhyme with ball!
• Allow your child to hear you use words repeatedly in many meaningful ways. This can help him understand and remember new words and what they mean. For example, if you're introducing the word "predicament," they need to hear the word "predicament," what it means, and the word used in various predicaments. If it's raining outside and you don't have an umbrella, you could say, "This is a real predicament!"
• Learning new words is more effective when you build on words your child already knows. For example, after seeing the word "STORE" outside, talk about what a store is: "It's a place where you can go to buy something." Then, with your child, explore other kinds of stores are in the neighborhood (e.g. hardware store, food store, shoe store, toy store, book store, etc).
• There are so many wonderful words to learn and exploring words through categories makes it easy! Categories provide a way to link words together. For example, when investigating the word, transportation, you can explore all the exciting words in this category - cars, buses, planes, trains, trucks, bikes and boats! When you link words to categories your child will learn that all these things have something in common. They are all used to help people get from one place to another! Other child-friendly categories include jobs, animals, family, food, containers, and clothing.

Bring Books to Life!

• Reading books together provides wonderful opportunities for your child to hear new words, learn about the world, and discover the power of language. Sharing books at an early age can also help your child build vocabulary as well as their love of reading!
• Make story time a special part of your child's daily routine. Introduce the book by talking about the book cover. Encourage your child to look at the picture and think of what the book will be about. Read the title then begin the book. Take your time so your child can get the most out of each page. As you read, point to the text from left to right. Pause to label and describe the pictures, letters, and words. Be expressive with your voice and actions. If a picture shows two frogs hopping through the woods, pretend that you are both frogs hopping and making "ribbit" sounds!
• Ask who, what, when, where, why, and how questions as you read. For example, "Who is this?...What do you think will happen next?...Where are they?... Why does she look so happy? How did that make him feel?" When the story is over, continue the discussion by talking about the story: "What was the story about? What was your favorite part of the story?"