Earlly Literacy Aside--Explain: Welcome. Today we are going to have stories that have elephants in them. [Show elephant puppet] I am also going to highlight vocabulary as a fun way to help your child get ready to read. The more words they know, the easier it will be for them to understand what they read and also to make sense of words as they sound out words.Early Literacy Aside--Example: Very young children learn the names of things they see or see pictures of, like elephant, flowers, mouse. As they get older they understand words for feelings and concepts like sad, happy, good, bad, big elephant, little elephant. And older still, they understand words for ideas like brave, kind, mean. These are examples of ways you can develop your child's vocabulary daily in a fun way. You can use books to help develop all levels of vocabulary. Listen to some of the words as I read our next book. Read No Matter What Early Literacy Aside--Empower: The library has many books with opposites, feelings, and other concepts to help you have fun with vocabulary development with your child. Books from naming items to talking about ideas. Just ask us for some suggestions.

Submitted by Jeanenne Robinson, Public Library of Charlotte and Mechlenburg County (NC)