[Insert the name of your library and/or your library’s logo here.]

Fun with Science & Math

for Parents and Children

Reading is essential to school success.

Start now to help your childget ready to read.

Learning to read begins before children start

school.

Goals for Today’s Workshop

• Overview of the program’s values & ECRR’s six pre-reading skills

• Review of best practices for building those skills

• Activity ideas and book recommends

• Tips for engaging children in early literacy activities

• New Orleans Public Library and community resources supporting early literacy

Five Little Speckled Frogs

Five Little Speckled Frogs (Hold five fingers (frogs) on top of your other arm

(log))Sat on a speckled logEating the most delicious flies.

Yum! Yum! (pat tummy)

One jumped into the pool

(jump a finger off the log into the pool)Where it was nice and coolNow there are Four

green speckled frogs (Hold up four fingers)

Keep counting down until there are no more speckled frogs!

Why are parents so important in helping

their children getready to read?

You are your child’s first teacher.

You know your child best.

Children learn best by doing, and they love doing things with you.

Core Values of Program

Reading is essential to school success.

Children become “ready to read” between 4 and 7 years old, but becoming “ready to

read” starts at birth.

Being ready to read begins before children

start school.

You are already doing activities to help your child be ready to read.

Six Skills for Early Literacy

Print Motivation - I Love Books

Print Awareness - I See Words

Phonological Awareness - I Hear Words and Sounds

Narrative Skills - I Tell Stories

Vocabulary - I Know Words

Letter Knowledge - I Know My ABC’s

Five simple practices help childrenget ready to read.

Help your child get ready to read

with simple activities every

day.

Why Science and Math?

Learning about the world helps children get ready to read.

The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking. —Albert Einstein

Children can learn important knowledge about how the world

works through simple science and math

experiences.

Trussell-Cullen (1999) defines

nonfiction as a way to “document

and celebrate the real world–and

that means everything about the

real world that is actual,

observable, recordable,

demonstrable, and

experienceable” (p. 2). Journal

for the Liberal Arts and Sciences 13(2), Spring 2009

Let’s explore nature!1. Question: Do objects under a magnifying glass look

bigger or smaller when you look through it? Do objects look bigger or smaller as you move closer and further away?

2. Predict: Before you look, make a guess. What does the word ‘magnify’ mean?

3. Experiment: What happens to the object if you move your eye away from the magnifying glass? What happens if you move the glass up and down? What happens if you move far away from the object

4. Observe: Watch how the object appears as you move and as the glass moves.

5. Conclusion: What does a magnifying glass do??? What does your eye do to objects as you move closer and further away???

Learn About the World

What is the scientificmethod?The scientific method is away to ask and answerquestions by makingobservations and doingexperiments. What are the steps?1. Ask a question.2. Make a guess about the answer.3. Do an experiment.4. Make observations.5. Draw conclusions.

Why can I see my breath when it is cold?

How do trees get a drink of water?

How much is one-half of something?

What is your question?

Start with questions.

Help your child learn how to learn.• Encourage your child to

ask questions.• Talk about possible answers.• Look for answers together: talk, read, and write!

Sing songs that play with science & math concepts.

Let’s sing “Dem Bones”

Math helps children talk and learn about objects

and ideas.

Let’s learn about…butterflies.

Let‘s learn.1. Look.2. Talk.3. Read.4. Draw and write.

Read Information or Factual Books

Read about topics that your children

find especially interesting.

Research finding: Children's experiences with the world greatly influence their ability to comprehend what they read. Reading involves comprehending written texts. What children bring to a text influences the understandings they take away and the use they make of what is read.

Background knowledge about the world is built from a child's experiences.The more limited a child's experiences the more likely he or she will have difficulty comprehending what is read.

Early Literacy: Policy and Practice in the Preschool YearsBy: Dorothy Strickland and Shannon Riley-Ayers

www.readingrockets.org

Use math to describe, compare,

and draw conclusions.

Play around with math.

More math adventures.

Let’s have more fun with math!

Math concepts are easy toinclude in everyday conversation.

How many are there?Which one is the largest?

Which one looks like a cone?Can you put them in order from smallest to largest?

Help your child:• Count• Measure• Sort• Compare• Order

Explore the world with your children every day

Learn together by:• Exploring new ideas.• Digging deeper.• Asking questions.• Experimenting.• Drawing conclusions!

Let’s Play with Static Electricity

Your home can be a learning center to help

your child get readyto read.

Make your home a learning zone!

See Handout: Fun Science Mixtures at Home

The New Orleans Public Library helps children get ready to read.

We have weekly story hours at most branches. Bring a friend to story hour.

Come to future Every Child Ready to Read classes

for parents and children.

• Fun with Stories• Fun with Words•Fun with Letters

We also offer PrimeTime Family Reading Time, a six-week literacy & discussion program for families with children ages 6 to 12.

ONLINE @ neworleanspubliclibrary.org

Hours (vary by location)Monday through Thursday: 10 am to 7 pm

Saturday 10 am to 5 pmFriday: 10 am to 5 pm Main Library, Central City

Friday: 9 am to 5 pm King Branch

The New Orleans Public Library has been dedicated to promoting reading since 1896.

Thanks for Coming.

Keep Coming Back!