5-4-3-2-1 Early Childhood Tips for Today: Reading Together

• Read: Find opportunities to read everywhere, point out letters, familiar words and pictures in books and sign-boards. Use the child development principle of serve and return – it involves a back and forth conversation between you and the children, where you listen, then build and extend on what the children say or do.
• Ask children simple questions about the book you read together, make predictions as you read and act out the stories through dramatic play.
• Tell stories and encourage the children to narrate their stories. Talk to the children about putting the things that happen in the story in a logical order.
• Sing rhyming songs – pause before a rhyming word and ask the children to fill up the blanks.
• Reading Routines: have set times to read together. Read to the children only when they are calm and ready to listen. Read books and stories that are developmentally aligned.

• "Pete the Cat" by Eric Litwin: Pete the cat in his white shoes, change they do from reds to blues! Pete the cat moves and grooves, hmm what color are his shoes?
• "No David" by David Shannon: The author was 5 years old when he wrote this autobiography. Little David is told ‘no’ for all his misbehaviors. All he hears his mother say is ‘No David”.
• "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" by Bill Martin Jr. & John Archambault: A told B, and B told C, Letters racing, one, two three! Will there be room for A to Z, Up they climb the coconut tree! 
• "Goodnight Gorilla" by Peggy Rathman: The author weaves a story entirely through pictures.  Children identify the animals as the zoo keeper says goodnight to his animals while the gorilla unlocks every cage.

• KidsHealth: Story Time for Preschoolers
• Reading Rockets: Choosing and Using Kids' Books
• National Center on Cultural and Linguistic Responsiveness: Quick Guide: How to Use Bilingual Books

Points to Action Research

• EdSource: Study says reading aloud to children, more than talking, builds literacy
• National Association for the Education of Young Children: Reading Your Way to a Culturally Responsive Classroom

Sesame Street: B is for Book (with Pharrell Williams)
A book can take you anywhere or make you anything. So grab a book and join Pharrell on a trip to Egypt or on a search for buried treasure, and discover all you have to do is read.