Holly DiBella-McCarthy's Blog: Raising Kindergarten Ready Kids, page 5

Question Answered: How to Help my Kindergartener Learn to Read?

Hello, thank you for asking this very important question! It is wonderful that you want to help your child become a fluent reader. The very best place to find books to help with phonics practice starts with your child's ...

Build Pre-Reading Skills in Young Children Using Picture Books

You have a new picture book! You are excited to read it to your class or child in the early stages of developing reading skills. You are sure they will love the story, the illustrations, and spending quality time with yo...

Help Your Kids to Love Reading

When you inspire your kids to love reading, you provide a gift that will enrich their personal and professional lives for years to come. Even though teachers play an important role, parents are a child's first teachers. ...

Celebrate the Magic of Pretend Reading

It is cause for celebration when a young child pretends to read before they gain the skills to read words. Imitating reading a book means a child understands that each book holds a new adventure. Pretend reading indicates the child is beginning to grasp that the letters in books hold meaning; and all those words combined deliver important messages. Pretend reading also reinforces predictable reading building blocks such as:
books all open the same, pages turn right to left, each page has a purpose, pictures help to tell a story, print holds meaning, print is read left to right, stories have a beginning, middle and end, and actions can be predicted to name a few.
Pretend reading will happen if a child is read to. Children are wired to want to imitate what adults do. Motivation to pretend read to an adult, sibling, pet, or stuffed animal is one of the first steps in learning to read. Pretend Reading is super magical when it begins to happen, enjoy the moments, and celebrate!
Why Read to a Pet? Read all about it at https://www.hollydibellamccarthy.com/

10 Activities to Build Your Kindergartener's Self-Confidence

Everyone can benefit from more self-confidence. But very young children need some guidance as they learn to believe in themselves. As adults, we can help our children with the important task of developing self-confidence...

9 Benefits of Taking a Daily Nap

Napping gets a bad rap. Many people think that napping during the day is for young children or older people, or animals. Some may feel napping is a sign of weakness, or laziness. We can all agree that napping is common a...

Why Change Language from Negative to Positive Expectations?

Sitting in the waiting room across from this sign I experienced a flashback to dozens of teacher trainings I facilitated. When leading staff development sessions or working with teachers-to-be in my university classes, I...

Mom Advice

Trees Don't Move!

Know When a Craft is Too Hard for Your Young Child

I wanted to post a blog ���10 Heart Crafts for Young Children.��� I started preparing weeks ago. I had all my old preschool teacher books, thousands of articles at my disposal on the internet, and memories of all the crafts ...

WHY Read to the Dog?

While facilitating an IEP meeting for a student with a learning disability���