GOAL: Play with the World of Sounds

Continue DAILY face-to-face interactions babbling and cooing to and with your child.

DETAILS: Children continue to strengthen their communication skills through babbling, cooing, & crying. They also build onto their vocabulary, enunciating sounds that are spoken by fluent speakers in their language.

Begin with Focus Sound Level 0 moving to higher levels as your child builds their awareness.

Alphabet Letter Activities MAY be appropriate for some children at this age.

SPEECH MILESTONES: Please refer to the Speech Milestones information in Why It Matters for more specific details on speech development.

GOAL: Play with the World of Print

Daily “read” at least one children’s story sharing the fun of language with fluent reading and interaction.

DETAILS: Children’s stories presenting a young child to an array of Emergent Reader’s Literacy Skills, along with Concepts of Print, help build a strong literacy foundation.

EMERGENT READERS LITERACY SKILLS: Foundational building blocks to support the developmental reading and writing proficiency. These include the importance of illustrations and the sounds in our language. See Story Time Lesson Plan, Step 1 of 3, for specific details & ideas.

CONCEPTS OF PRINT: Main elements of the English printed language including that print carries a message, the handling & organization of a book. See Story Time Lesson Plan, Step 2 of 3, for specific details & ideas.

GOAL: Play with the World of Rhythm

Singing songs and rhyming words allow a young child to hear the language in a fun and lyrical way. These activities offer additional engaging methods to strengthen one’s literacy foundation.

Benefits of Songs & Rhymes:

• builds up Focus Sounds (phonemic awareness - distinction of sounds)

• strengthens memory & articulation

• enriches vocabulary

• increases listening skills

Check out the fun links to Rhymes & Songs.

GOAL: TALK! TALK! And more TALK!

Daily lots of face-to-face interactions with songs, rhymes, finger plays, actions, and real-life experiences.

DETAILS: Through a wide variety of hands-on activities, with talking as the KEY, emergent readers will build a strong foundation for literacy.

At this young age, surround your child with an assortment of activities. Many of the activities mentioned may not be developmentally appropriate at this young age, BUT involving them with talking and visuals as you complete activities, builds their literacy skills.