It’s really fun!

Setting the Stage for Success!

I have 2 GOALS when reading with children. You can, too.

    1.    To foster a love of books, stories and reading. (That one is obvious.)

    

    2.    To build vocabulary:

•     Studies have shown that a child with a strong vocabulary makes a good reader.
•     We want all the children to eventually become independent learners.   A strong vocabulary is essential to becoming an independent learner.
•     Many of the students you encounter in the Headstart or kindergarten class have not had the advantage of having  parents who have read to them daily,  or engaged in  high quality conversations with them,  or provided other rich language building experiences. So when they enter kindergarten, they  have weak vocabularies. The size of a person’s vocabulary plays a direct role in reading comprehension, academic achievement, and lifelong learning.  This is because  it is harder for them to learn new words, and so they quickly fall behind in school. So you can really HELP these students by using your time with them to build their foundational (basic) vocabulary that their parents did not provide,