Read it LOUD! Reading Readiness

Read it LOUD! celebrates parents for the many things they do as their child’s first and most important teacher. From the moment she is born, all the talking, sharing stories and rhymes, singing and reading aloud you do helps develop your child’s emergent literacy skills. This happens every day in small, but meaningful ways: You tuck him in bed at night and read a bedtime story. You hold hands before crossing the street and say, “Let’s look both ways first.” You sing Row row, row your boat to her in the tub. You play pat-a-cake and I spy. You hug him. You eat together and talk about your day. You name everything when she points and asks “what’s that?”

Every time you and you child have a conversation, you are taking vital steps toward opening the wonders of the world to him and are helping develop important language, literacy and listening skills that will get him ready to become a reader.

There is no one moment when a child is magically ready to read. Literacy skills grow and develop a little at a time as children gather and build knowledge about the spoken and written word. To start the process of your child becoming a reader, help him develop language and pre-reading skills beginning at birth by talking, singing, writing, playing and reading aloud together. Learn more about the building blocks of early literacy and the science of reading below.

Try Get Ready to Read!, a 20-question research-based screening tool from the National Center for Learning Disabilities. Your 4-year-old child’s score will show if his pre-reading skills are weak, strong, or somewhere in between. Activities and resources to improve those skills are also provided. The tool is also available in Spanish.

Building Blocks

What can you do to help your child build a foundation for reading? If you are talking, reading, singing, writing and playing together, you’re off to a great start! The resources below can help you understand more about why these activities are important to your child’s development and give you ideas for helping them build the skills which will eventually help them become readers.

Preparing Preschoolers for Future Reading Success

This tip sheet from Nemours BrightStart! helps parents understand early literacy development and how to recognize any problems that might challenge future reading success.

Early Literacy: Six Skill Areas

The Birth to Six resources from the Hennepin Public Library in Minnesota link book suggestions to skill areas necessary to help your child get ready to read.

Getting Ready to Read: Family Activities

Available in English and Spanish, this collection of articles from Colorin Colorado will help you use storytelling, rhymes, music and more to strengthen reading and language skills.

Reading and Language

PBS Parents will walk you through your child’s language and literacy development birth through age eight and provides resources to help you support literacy development at each age and stage.

Understanding the Science behind reading

The Science behind Reading and Early Childhood Development Want to understand more about your child’s brain development and the science of learning to read?

Reading and the Brain

In this PBS special from WETA’s Reading Rockets, learn what scientists have discovered about how our brains work when we read.

Building Baby’s Brain: What Parent’s Can Do

This fact sheet from Better Brains for Babies shares important information about early brain development and offers tips for parents who want to build their babies’ brain power.

Developing Early Literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel

The full report of the National Early Literacy Panel addresses issues of instructional practices for young children so that parents and teachers can better support emerging literacy skills.

The Science of Early Childhood Development

Get the brain basics of early childhood development from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University.

Brain Research May Point to Changes in Literacy Development

This article from Edutopia provides a fuller understanding of how brain structure can help better determine how—and when—each child will best learn to read.