Top 10 Literacy-Related Resources by Heather Romain https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf This Padlet is created for the new parent/caregiver. I wish to share and support families through their journey of sparking flames in children through literacy learning! en-us 2018-12-04 00:24:18 UTC 2025-11-09 00:58:09 UTC hello@padlet.com Learning Socialization Through Face to Face Interactions romainheather_0059 https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311000503 Your new baby is beginning to make sense of the world around him/her, but the initial thing your baby is trying to make sense of is you! Babies begin to learn socialization at birth. Primary socialization in infants is a process in which babies quickly adapt to. Your baby quickly explores ways of communicating with you through their cry, in which you will innately begin to decipher how your baby's cries will indicate certain needs.  During the first year of life you are setting the stage for your child's language development, however, this may seem abstract because your child can't speak back to you. Don't think it's too weird to talk to your child as if you are talking to a four year old. Your baby is constantly attempting to grasp your facial expressions, your tone, your touch and your words. Continue to talk at him/her face-to-face and your baby's neural activity will be shooting like fireworks! A study by Lavelli & Fogel (2002) among an abundant of psychological research share that face-to-face interaction between a loving parent and their baby provide a foundation for communication, self-regulation, and language development. Moreover, research shows that during the early stages of lingual communication, sign language can help your child communicate.  "Signing intervention programmes improve language development, encourage parent-child bonding, reduce the frustration of pre-lingual infants and facilitate cognitive
development" (Johnston, Durieux-Smith, & Bloom, 2005). Explore the link provided below to find when the appropriate time for instilling sign language in your child would be appropriate.
-Go to the Information tab at the top of the website.
-Touch the Benefits, explore.
-Touch Research, explore the research to examine if teaching sign language to your infant will work for your family.
-https://www.babysignstoo.com/teach Explore this link to see how you can accomplish this learning opportunity with your baby!

]]> 2018-12-04 16:48:49 UTC https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311000503 Link to Face-To-Face Interaction Leading to Language Development romainheather_0059 https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311039675 This link highlights to importance of communication with you newborn, as well indicates the steps in which your child's development that you should encourage. ]]> 2018-12-04 17:52:29 UTC https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311039675 Instilling Musical Melodies romainheather_0059 https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311045060 You may quickly notice how your baby will react to a hymn, a melody, or a chant. There is a magical connection between music and infants that cannot go without encouraging. Moreover, it is believed that your baby has the ability to hear sounds in utero at 18 weeks. Your baby can decipher its mother's voice and on a musical note- "Can identify specific pieces of instrumental music" (Brandt, Gebrian, & Slevc, 2012). This is a stage in which many mothers will put head phones to their bellies so that their baby react to and explore the tranquil melodies. 
Songs and babies go hand-in-hand. A person will sing to a baby to get a reaction from the baby. It seems innate in us all, doesn't it? Research proves that music and songs are what we need to be encouraging in infants. Brandt, et al. (2012) suggest that "Infants learn the musical information of speech both by being spoken and sung to directly and by “overhearing” other language and music". What's more is these researchers have also proven that repetition in songs are are the most appropriate language learning strategy to use through music. Hence, we cannot be reinventing the wheel when it comes to the nursery rhymes, riddles and childhood songs we all know and love. Here is a link that provides the best childhood repetition songs to know and love!]]> 2018-12-04 18:01:26 UTC https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311045060 Introducing your baby to literacy books! romainheather_0059 https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311828856 As you noticed in the title of this article I did not write, "Teaching your baby to read". Do not fret about the popular demand to have your child read prior to preschool, it is not developmentally appropriate. Batten Lewis (2015) states that children below the age of four simplify the structure of complex words which makes it hard for them to sound out words, and go from one word to another. What you can begin to focus on at a young age is introducing your baby to board books. Board books offer a great amount of exploration for your infant, from illustrations and textures, to responding to amusing text that you frequently read to your baby. Moreover, board books are thick and durable for your baby's busy hands and mouth. Over time, your baby's brain will respond more to the pleasures of books and being read to which will result in a more advanced interest in text during the formal reading instruction process in pre-school. At the infant stage, research suggests that you should read to your baby about 3-5 times a day (Batten Lewis, 2015). Although this may seem like a lot, it is a really good way to keep that face-to-face interaction and encourage babbling. Babies will want to reach and touch the book and even discover it with their mouth, this should be encouraged. As your baby and books grow with each other, by the age of 12-35 months, your baby should be able to:
-Handle a book
-Turn pages
-Finger-sweep
-Tell the difference between print and pictures
-Name letters
-Associate letters with sounds
-Read from the top of the page to the bottom
-Read words from left to right
-Learn and make new sounds
-Differentiate sounds
-Extend vocabulary
-Listen actively
-Develop writing skills
(Batten Lewis, 2015).
Infant books that I recommend:
-Animal 123 by Jonny Lambert.  This interactive book is full of animal surprises under each flap. This book supports literacy through its interactive flaps by grasping your baby's attention, introduces animals, has bright and colourful illustrations and is a board book suitable for infants.
-Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown is a nice way to transition your child into sleep. It highlights a series of animals and items in which the child in the book dismisses to sleep. The illustrations are cool coloured and appropriate for night time. In my experience of putting infants and toddlers to sleep, this one is a favourite.
Book Collections for ages 2+
-Eric Carle is a brilliant juvenile author. His books are famous for being introduced in pre-school for their interactive and relatable content. There is also the art aspect that you can build upon after the text has been read. It can spark your child's creativity and inspire him/her to become more involved with books! Moreover, Carle's books are generally animal related and children identify well with animal characters.
https://shop.scholastic.com/parent-ecommerce/books/the-eric-carle-gift-set-9781442488854.html
-First 100 Box Set
This box set is perfect for your young child when they are developing speech. The board book pages illustrate and contain one word describing the illustration. These are general words, animals and shapes that every child prepares for before preschool.
https://www.amazon.ca/First-100-Board-Book-books/dp/0312521065/ref=lp_10968635011_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1544113380&sr=1-4
Read the link provided for more insight into what type of book your child will enjoy at specific ages. ]]> 2018-12-06 14:49:29 UTC https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311828856 Scribbling as the Initial Stages for Print! romainheather_0059 https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311895208 Scribbling is an innate desire to put a coloured tip on a smooth surface (Baghban, 2007). At around 14 months old, your baby will want to explore the mysteries of putting marker to paper. When your baby sees that they are in control of illustrating a mark on the paper, sheer joy comes from within. A study done with 15-18 month olds saw that when they were given markers with a coloured tip and a paper to scribble with, the toddlers were found laughing and babbling but when they were given markers with no ink being transferred to the paper, the laughing and babbling stopped (Baghban, 2007). Baghban (2007) argues that the cognitive awareness that the toddler is in control of putting marks on the paper is critical to the child's sense of self. At this age, your child has no intent in conveying a message, he/she is simply enjoying the pleasurable actions of pushing marker on paper and leaving behind a product of their work. Later on, your child will begin to develop a scribble that has a meaningful intent. This stage is referred to as "controlled scribbling". They will know that symbols on a page are supposed to have meaning, such as people or items. This is when they will describe what they have drawn for you, even if you can't decipher it for yourself.
It is important to encourage these stages. Scribbling is the initial stages for writing. This is when you get to encourage proper grasping of the marker/pencil. A great way to correct an unnatural finger grip is by lying the pencil down then having your child pinch the bottom of the pencil (above the lead) and push it back to have it sit in the fatty part of the bottom of your child's thumb. Additionally, below is a link to finger grips if your child needs the extra thickness.
https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=pencil+grips
Moreover, scribbling is the initial stages of letter writing. By the age of 3, Batten Lewis (2015) states that your child should begin to scribble as a way of writing, making some forms that resemble letters. Then, as your child becomes an expert in scribbling, they will want to attempt the next stage, which is labelling. With your help, they will begin to write letters and eventually words to describe their writing]]> 2018-12-06 16:32:06 UTC https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311895208 Stages of Writing romainheather_0059 https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311917293 Click here to open the developmental stages of writing.]]> 2018-12-06 17:09:01 UTC https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311917293 Alphabet Trays! romainheather_0059 https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311923748 Idea credit of Rosalind Zimbalatti.]]> 2018-12-06 17:19:44 UTC https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311923748 How you can make an alphabet tray! romainheather_0059 https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311930464 Letter recognition activities for your child can be purchased in a variety of forms. There are foam letter, magnets, books, puzzles, iPad apps etc... These are all great options to introduce your toddler to letters and each are equally as valuable and playful for your child. As your child reaches pre-school, introduce the alphabet in a visual way. A less expensive way to accomplish this is by creating an alphabet tray. Buy a tin (usually all magnetic) cookie (new or second-hand) and some magnetic letters. With a sheet of parchment paper, write the alphabet with marker around the tray and double up the vowels. In the centre, make a line. At the beginning your child will just want to place the letters over the marked letter as a matching game, which is great. Over time, have your child recognize that there are some letters that stay above the centre line, and some that "go fishing". This playful way of recognizing how the alphabet is organized will have your child flourishing in Kindergarten! (Follow the two links bellow for further instruction on creating an alphabet tray).

Why we encourage the alphabet?
Learning is all about scaffolding. Scaffolding is a process when adults guide the child's learning during critical times of development (Groves Gillespie & Greenburg, 2017). Because you are an expertise in the alphabet, by guiding and encouraging your child to learn the 26 letters with the alphabet tray in order and tackling that tricky L, M, N, O, P, you are scaffolding the child's learning to master the alphabet like you!
Your child will be ready to commence the first steps of reading after he/she has recognizes and can sound out letter. A good way to encourage this is through an alphabet book, but also you can encourage letters and its sounds through conversation with your toddler. For example, your child can say, "Boat", your response, "Yes, boat, boat starts with B". Moreover, your child will quickly begin to put the familiar words from the texts in which you read to him/her and letters together. When your child is getting ready for pre-school, start having the child write out their name. They will quickly begin to learn which letters belong in their name and in the names of their family member is you want to further their ability to recognize. ]]> 2018-12-06 17:30:08 UTC https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311930464 Bring your child outside to explore literacy! romainheather_0059 https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311934104 Children love being outside! There is fresh air, open space and a lot of opportunity for exploration. Because a lot of literacy learning takes place indoors, we would hate to dismiss the outdoors an an opportunity for emergent literacy learning. Ways that you can bring letter recognition, word writing, print awareness and so much more outside is through the following:
-Chalk. Chalk is an old writing tool that never gets old. Provide your child with some sidewalk chalk and wait to see what they create. During this time, you can promote both drawing and writing. Large sidewalk chalk additionally allows your child to try writing at the early stages. By holding the large chalk in their whole hand, they have more control over attempting to mimic a letter.
-Watercolour Markers. Try watercolour markers with your child in the snow during the winter. Use the same techniques as the chalk as your child draws and labels their work.
-In the sand. Finger drawing in the sand is fun for children AND adults. You can start doing this with your 3 year old because it is good for fine motor control. You can even bring this one inside by filling up a sand table, don't forget to cover the surrounding floor with plastic. Another idea with the sand is hiding items that match a picture and label card. Show your child the card with the text on it and have them find that item in the sand.
-Read to your child outside. Bring a blanket outside, get cozy and read a nice storybook, especially one that identifies itself with the outdoors. Here are some great books recommended by McMahon & Wellhouson (2005).
Playground antics
~Arthur and the Recess Rookie by Marc Brown
~Hot Cha-Cha! by Josephine Nobisso
~King of the Playground by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
~On Top of the World by John Prater
~Queen of the Playground by Alexis O’Neill
~What Are You Waiting For? by Cynthia L. Copeland
~Getting along
Enemy Pie by Derek Munson
~How to Lose All Your Friends by Nancy Carlson
~Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell
~Hooway for Wodney Wat by Helen ~Lester
~Nature’s wonders
~Circle of Seasons by Gerda Muller
~Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
~The Fall of Freddie the Leaf by Leo Buscaglia
~In the Land of Fairies by Daniela Drescher
~It’s Spring by Samantha Berger
Last Snow of Winter by Tony Johnston
~Night Sounds, Morning Colors by Rosemary Wells
T~he Reasons for Seasons by Gail Gibbons
~The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons
~Sky Tree: Seeing Science Through Art by Thomas
~The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
~Summer Is by Charlotte Zolotow
~Sun, Snow, Stars, Sky by Catherine Anholt

Read the link below for many more ideas!

]]> 2018-12-06 17:36:37 UTC https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311934104 There is more than just the story being told in a picture book. romainheather_0059 https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311934426 Picture-books are one type of multimodal text; the meaning of the whole involves the weaving together of multiple modes, including the linguistic (written text), visual (illustrations), spatial (evident in the design, layout, and composition), and gestural (found in the positions and movement of the illustrations) (Martens, Martens, Doyle, Loomis and Aghalarov, 2012). 
Additionally, your child can gain from many different modes of communication through literacy books. Children learn that books represent meaning by speaking, drawing, through symbols, reading and music. You and your child can experience multimodal literacy through online literacy sites, such as Storyline Online and Epic Books. 
]]> 2018-12-06 17:37:06 UTC https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311934426 Support your child's literacy learning through play! romainheather_0059 https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311934491 Up to the age of four, your child's development has relied on learning through a lot of play. The Ministry of Education (2017) argues that, "Play is an intrinsic, evolutionary, and synergistic activity and its value in young children’s learning has long been recognized". Drama is a great way for children to take on a new identity, using language and gestures of someone else they have identified. Dramatic play additionally allows the child to draw from books that they have read and practice their writing. Moreover, dramatic play teaches self-regulation and social skills amongst friends. 
Do not be shy to create some dramatic play items with your kids. This could expand on your child's autonomy and willingness to play with the items.

]]> 2018-12-06 17:37:14 UTC https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311934491 Notice it, share it, never forget it. romainheather_0059 https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311934819 At three years old, your toddler is busy noticing a plethora of information within his/her surrounding. Building upon literacy skills and knowledge can additionally be scaffolded by the parent introducing the child to environmental print. Environmental print awareness "Is defined as surrounding noncontinuous
print that fulfills real-life functions and that appears in a variety of fonts, shapes, and sizes
and generally in capital letters. For example, toy brands such as Legos, restaurant names such as McDonald's large M (Neumann, Hood, & Ford, 2013). Neumann, et al. (2013) additionally state that during a study, coaching parents to draw their child's attention to environmental print, and focusing on words and letters that are embedded in the print and speak to these attributes were more successful in fostering early emergent literacy. 

]]> 2018-12-06 17:37:50 UTC https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311934819 Building on social and emotional development through books. romainheather_0059 https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311935110 Your child will experience many times when he or she feels confused and frustrated within. As the child leaps over their terrible twos and threes, sometimes you find yourself dealing with a terrible fours stage too. A way to correct this behaviour is by having many open conversations about what emotions and feelings are through storybooks. Additionally, Garner and Parker (2018) argue that the role of picture-books as an important source of emotion related information for children and parents. Your child may feel frustrated because they cannot find ways to describe what they are feeling. By using picture books with emotion-based words that help the characters describe how they are feeling, your child will gain on vocabulary and understanding of how to self-regulate.
Here is a link of great emotion-based books for you and your child:

]]> 2018-12-06 17:38:25 UTC https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/311935110 romainheather_0059 https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/312442084 2018-12-07 23:06:45 UTC https://padlet.com/romainheather_0059/o0agz4gb8glf/wish/312442084