Early Literacy at Home

I am fortunate that I get to see 5 of my nieces and nephews often and end up watching them at least 1 time a week.  Their ages span from 2 to 9, so we are at various points on the literacy spectrum.  One of the things that we did this summer is to create our Summer List of various activities that we want to do.

What I like about this is that it addresses different levels of literacy.  With the 2 year olds, I am showing that words have meaning.  We are working on letter knowledge and we read the list as we decide what activity to do next.  The 5 and 6 year olds add their own activities to the list.  They may not always be spelled right, but they are sounding out their words as they write them.  Plus, they are reading items already on the list and adding their names to what they want to do.  The 9 year old is more like an adult.  She can read and write already so she is a good example for showing the younger kids what to do.

We make one of these lists every summer and hang it right on our refrigerator.  It is a lot of fun for all of us!  Plus, as the adult, it helps me to make plans.