Another pre-reading skill that parents and caregivers can help very young children develop is Narrative Skill.  This is the ability to describe things, to tell events in sequence, and to retell stories.  Books with repeated phrases that tell a cumulative tale help children get the idea that things happen in sequence.   Plenty of repetition and opportunities to re-tell or make up their own stories help to cement this skill.  Have your child draw his or her own pictures and tell the story.  Narrate your own day as you go through it and your child will pick it up from you.  Have fun with it!

We held the first of our 7 planned programs for the “Make A Splash at Your Library” Summer Reading Program this past Thursday.  Lillian from the Nature Museum at Grafton enlisted the aid of the children present to build a watershed.  The kids had a great time taking their watershed from bare land, adding rivers and tributaries and mountains, then seeing how what they created affected how they could “develop” the watershed.  Lillian talked with them about the affects of different actions and how we can all take steps to protect our real watershed.  Next week on Thursday from 3-4PM we will have a program on Amphibians.  Join us for the fun!

Another aspect of early literacy is vocabulary, or knowing the names of things.  Children need to know the meaning of the words to understand what they are reading.  If a child has heard a word before it is easier for them to sound it out when they begin to read. Children pick up vocabulary from conversation but it is also important to read to them, as books and stories use many more words than we use in regular conversation.

Join us at the library at 7PM with your portable craft.  Enjoy fun company, get help, inspiration, bring completed or in-progress work to show and tell!  We have rug-hookers, crocheters, knitters, quilters, cross stitchers, and even once, a chain mail creator!