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Preschool- 2nd graders have more supplemental educational choices than ever before and while a varied and diverse program is wonderful, basic building blocks like Reading English and Comprehension get over looked or taken for granted.

Strong, confident early readers give our kids a gateway to a more nuanced education. Without these early reading skills, children may feel “behind, confused or slow” and school becomes a chore instead of a challenge.

If your child does not like to be read to at night, or groans when it’s reading time, here a few tips to make reading more enjoyable. Reading should be fun, full of movement and laughter. When reading is fun, children are learning.

**Work on recognizing letters and sounds

**Work on matching upper and lower case letters

**Recognizing simple patterns like blue-green-red and then repeat

**Work on rhyming sounds (Hat, Cat, Mat, Sat/Hot, Not, Cot etc

**Practice scissor cutting (adult supervised) Cutting lines, squares and zig zags

** Build hand muscles by using clay, play dough, and beads

**Scrunch paper bags with your kids and then smooth them out

** Practice following 3 directions at a time

** Practice working at a task for more than 15 minutes at a time

**READ TO YOUR KIDS before bed. Every night!

Reading should be a fun gateway to adventure and world’s unknown. By making learning fun and full of movement, our kids feel like they are playing and a child that is playing isn’t worried about making mistakes or doing it wrong.

Shannon Clarke has a degree in child development, has taught Preschool and Kindergarten and is the founder of the Reading Rascals individualized reading program for children. www.readingrascals.org