OCR Text |
Show School ( ond j Home & J by Dr. Daryl J. McCarty W"-' Executive Secretary - Utah Education Association A in That box of Frosted Flakes may provide brain food for your child. "Tony the Tiger" and those other cartoon characters on cereal boxes may provide the first reading lesson for little Susan or Tim. Your small child may be sitting at the breakfast table one morning and ask you, between mouthsful of toast and jelly, what a printed word on the cereal box says. When you answer, the child may have taken the first step in learning one of life's most important skills-reading. You can do a lot to help your offspring get ready for reading before they're old enough for school. For one thing, you could read aloud to your child. Often. Youngsters love rhymes, rhy-mes, jingles and stories that tickle their imagination. And when you read to them, children sense that it's important import-ant to be able to say "written talk." Another way to show them reading is important: Let the children see you reading often. Especially Dad. Why Dad? Teachers tell me many more boys have difficulty difficul-ty in learning to read than girls. Why? One explanation I've heard is that little boys don't see many males reading and consequently don't attach enough importance to the skill. Some families take regular trips to the community library. Reading specialists suggest that you let your preschool child choose books. Don't do it for him. And don't force him to finish the book. After all. you don't read every word of every book you begin to read, do you? Words of advice from reading experts on Susan's first attempt to read aloud to you from a school book: Be an attentive and proud listener. Make it a casual, happy occasion, not a drill session. If Susan misses a word, don't interrupt to correct her. But to tell her if she asks what aw J is. If you get alarmed about lack of reading progress, don't snnit Susan or make her feel th. t si e's "dumb." Talk it our with her teacher, okay? Come join the fun. Make yours a reading-family. |