What is Early Literacy? Early Literacy is what children know about reading and writing before they can actually read and write. Research shows that children get ready to read years before they start school. There are six early literacy skills that parents can incorporate into their children's daily life. These six skills are: Vocabulary, Print Motivation, Print Awareness, Narrative Skills, Phonological Awareness, and Letter Knowledge. More detailed information about these six skills is available at http://multcolib.org/birthtosix/elitskills.html/

You can help your baby, toddler and preschooler learn important skills now so they can become good readers. There are many simple and fun ways to do this. We invite you to bring your child to Library storytimes, which utilize research-based techniques to build early literacy skills. This newsletter will help you extend storytime benefits by including book-related fingerplays, crafts, and other activities.

This issue features the literacy skill known as Phonological Awareness. This is the ability to hear and play with similar sounds in words, which helps children sound out written words as they begin to read. You can foster your child's phonological awareness skills by reading stories that rhyme, Mother Goose rhymes, poetry, books with animal and other types of sounds, and songs in book format. Below are a few books that contain rhyming text.

Here is a mitten, (hold up one hand)

a snug, fuzzy one, (rub palms together)

with a place for my fingers (wiggle four fingers)

and a place for my thumb. (wiggle thumb)

Here are two mittens, (hold up two hands)

a colorful sight. (move hands back and forth)

One for the left hand (hold up left hand)

And one for the right. (hold up right hand)

I'm a windshield wiper

(bend arm at elbow and hold fingers up)

This is how I go

(swing arm back and forth)

Sometimes I go fast, sometimes I go slow

(faster, slower motions)

in the rain and snow.