News for the Very Young

(Ages 3-5)

Literacy development occurs in stages that are predicable but flexible even in very young children ages 3 to 5. As children move from one stage to another, their literacy skills become more sophisticated. Yet children are also prone to move back to previous stages -- not always due to inadequacy of experiences or developmental problems -- but to reinforce their skills and practice newfound strategies. Parents involving themselves in this development give children more resources (like the newspaper) as they move along the developmental path to literacy. Try these newspaper activities to encourage that development.

Developing Oral Language. Read to your child from the newspaper and use the pictures and new vocabulary to reinforce his or her understanding of the world. Expand on the stories and pictures in your own words and ask your child to "tell his or her story" using pictures from the newspaper.

Modeling Literacy Skills. Making time for reading and writing in your daily life as a parent will show your young child the importance of these skills. Demonstrate the utility of the newspaper by using the information from its pages in day-to-day activities. Cutting out coupons or taking part in community events advertised in the paper are two examples of modeling literacy skills using the newspaper.

Developing a Sense of Story. Read stories and discuss them with your children. While laughing together at a comic strip, cut out the individual boxes of one cartoon and ask your child to place the comic back in the "right" order. Stop while reading a story and ask your child to make up an ending; then finish the story and compare your child;s ending to the one from the paper.