A book is magical. It can take you back in time and into the future. It can transport you to faraway lands and to make-believe places. It can introduce you to famous figures and fantastic creatures. There are so many things a book can do. Perhaps the most magical of all is that it can help a child learn to read.
March is National Reading Month. It was founded to celebrate the birthday (March 2) of Dr. Seuss, the favorite author of millions of children. The goal behind the month-long celebration is to spark enthusiasm in children for reading, inspiring them to make it a daily habit.
At Kiddie Academy® Educational Child Care, literacy is an integral part of our Life Essentials® curriculum. Our teachers introduce books to even our youngest children in the infant rooms, based on research suggesting that reading aloud may be the most important thing caregivers can do to build the skills that are the foundation to future reading success.
“Reading aloud to children and exposing them to concepts of print in a Kiddie Academy classroom helps children make meaningful connections between written and oral language,” said Richard Peterson, Kiddie Academy’s Vice President of Education. “A print-rich environment and a classroom library stocked with a variety of literature are key components of a quality program. NAEYC (the National Association for the Education of Young Children) agrees that literacy learning for preschool children should focus on relationships between reading, writing, listening and speaking. A balanced, meaningful, and comprehensive approach to teaching literacy is the goal of Kiddie Academy.”
Each Kiddie Academy classroom includes a wide selection of books – picture books, informational books, big books, multicultural books, books in other languages, hardcover and paperback books, books by favorite authors and characters and Caldecott award winning books.
Recently we posted about letter recognition and its significance as a step in learning how to read. Our curriculum also details ways in which books are used to build reading skills. Our curriculum for 3-year-olds, I Can Do It, includes a suggested book list for each thematic unit. On the list are informational texts, fictional stories, classic literature and contemporary favorites. Our Ready, Set, Go curriculum for 4-year-olds focuses on favorite authors, such as Dr. Seuss, Mo Willems, Lois Ehlert, Denise Fleming and Ezra Jack Keats. The 5-year-old curriculum, On My Way, incorporates poetry, nursery rhymes, traditional poems, fiction, fairy tales, folk tales, tall tales, fables, trickster tales, and non-fiction biographies.
Peterson points out that early exposure to reading has a profound impact on a child’s academic success. “The American Academy of Pediatrics states that children introduced to books early on tend to read earlier and excel in school compared to children who are not exposed to language and books at a young age.”
In the spirit of National Book Month, here are some of the Dr. Seuss books Kiddie Academy recommends:
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