You want your child to have a strong social and academic start. Playdates and team sports provide fun social interactions, but fitting in academics is hard. Since the critical thinking and analysis skills developed through the language arts disciplines of reading, writing and vocabulary will serve your child well in advanced math and science, too, it’s well worth the effort
Reading Skills
At the very least, your child needs the skills to comprehend the information they receive and to craft a meaningful response.
- Ability With Narrative. The first step to writing clearly or working through a problem is being able to think sequentially. Start by asking your child to tell you what they did that day. At first, you’ll get a looping recitation of events. With time, they’ll tell you what happened in a clear narrative. Then, ask questions to encourage them to notice and share details.
- Recognizing Story Structure. Once your child has mastered sequential storytelling at its simplest, you can play some story structure games while driving or at the dinner table. You start a story, then have the other people with you continue it, one section at a time. Playing this way keeps everyone focused. Providing a detail that fits with the story helps them recognize which details “belong.” You can also give your child an ending to a story and ask them to tell you what happened at the beginning and middle.
Writing Skills
There’s a lot more to writing than knowing how to hold the pencil and where to put the period.
- What Belongs in a Paragraph. One of the biggest “jumps” in writing occurs when kids move from one sentence to a paragraph. You can tell your child that a basic paragraph is five sentences (Opening, Support1, Support2, Support3, Closing) and find yourself looking at a blank stare. Give them an example, too, like, “I love pizza. It’s got gooey cheese. I love ice cream, too. I like cones best. Pizza is great,” and your child will “get” what works after just a few!
- Prompt to Opening. Another big hurdle for most kids occurs when they are asked to write a paragraph from a prompt. Playing a game to turn prompts into opening sentences is simple and fun. It also helps your child organize their thoughts and get that paragraph written without a lot of trouble.
Vocabulary Skills
Your child’s ability to comprehend what they’re reading in a report or a work of literature depends on their working vocabulary. If your child often says that something is “very X” or “almost y,” there’s a gap to fill.
- No More Very-Almost. Make vocabulary into a game by introducing several words that are degrees of each other. For example: cool, cold, frigid. Have your family line up in a number line. Help your child equate “a little cold” with cool, “cold” with cold, and “very cold” with frigid by seeing it this way.
- Concept Vocabulary. For most of what we read, a general understanding of the meaning of a word is enough. Your child doesn’t need to know the definition of “tent” to follow a story where someone pitches a tent; what they need to know is that “tent” is included with the concept of house. Play a game where kids name the concept for a word. Or put cards for more than one concept in a pile and have them sort the words by concept.
As your child gets older, you can spiral up on these basic skills, providing them with the support they need as they become avid readers, confident writers and word lovers.
Gina Hagler is a freelance STEM writer and author. She also provides parents with family-friendly language arts ideas and materials at KidWrite!
