Day 5

Fun Fact for the Day: Did you know that for most of history, reading out loud was MUCH more common than reading silently. It was the monks who first made known the art of reading silently. So, why in school have we slowly done away with read alouds? If you ask any reading specialist, they will tell you that read alouds are a very important component of any reading program. Yet, it is the first thing left out of the day when our day becomes busy with "teaching." Reading aloud to your baby is critical in the development of their imagination. Babies who are read to from an early age tend to go through the developmental stages quicker. Why? When we read to our baby, they begin to see the world as more than what they can touch at that exact moment. I remember when my daughter was about 18 months and I saw her acting out a scene from one of her favorite books while she was playing. She had now made that transference from what she was hearing and seeing in her books to what she was doing and that became her new reality.

Tip of the Day: So, of course reading should be an important part of your daily routine. Most of us have some sort of story time before bed. I want to encourage you to involve your child in choosing the book or books that they want to read. I went to a workshop that showed research to support that at the infant/toddler level, a baby/toddler has the attention span to listen to one age appropriate book (let me know if you need resources on how to find age appropriate books) per how many years they are old. For example, my daughter is 4 years old, so we read 4 books a night. This is true up until the age of six. What if you don't have a lot of money to buy a ton of books. Books can get expensive. Another great way to activate this same response from the brain is to tell stories. This is completely free! Take turns telling what will happen next in the story, children LOVE this.

Sign for the Day: This is a shocker... "book"
This sign is a noun/verb pair. If you use a double motion it means book. If you use a single motion it means "open book." If you reverse the motion by starting with the hands open and then closing them, it means "close the book" or "close your books."