Sesame Street Beginnings: Talk, Read, Write

Main Menu

Welcome

Welcome to Sesame Street Beginnings: Talk, Read, Write!

This bilingual, multiple-media program, developed by Sesame Workshop and generously funded by The Prudential Foundation, provides the tools you need to help your child along the exciting path from listening and speaking - to reading and writing! These Parent Pages offer activities, information and tips for making literacy a fun part of your everyday life together. Sesame Street Beginnings: Talk, Read, Write! has been reviewed and endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

You are your child's first and most important teacher

Literacy begins with the simple things you do together every day - like just talking with one another, looking at books or reading signs.

Read to your child every day. It is the most important thing you can do to help him develop a love of books and nurture new literacy skills.
Look for times to listen, talk, read and write together as part of daily routines.
Let him see you reading and writing and share what you are doing as often as you can.
Include other family members in making every day a reading and writing day.

The home-school connection

When you share your experiences and ideas with your child's preschool teacher or caregiver, you can play an even more important role in her learning.

Communicate with the teacher as often as you can. Share your child's favorite words, books and activities from home, including things she reads, writes or draws.
Ask the teacher about favorite activities and books at school, and get ideas for things to try at home.
Make the teacher aware of any language, other than English, that you speak at home or are most comfortable using. Together, find ways to share ideas and materials in that language.
Try to take part in activities in your child's classroom, such as reading aloud, sharing family stories and songs, or teaching words from your home language.
Speak with your child's teacher if you have questions about her literacy development. If you have serious concerns, you might also want to discuss them with your doctor or healthcare provider.

Talk

Listening together

Your loving conversations help your child develop language skills and learn new words and their sounds. When he feels that important adults are listening to him, he will want to keep communicating. This listening and speaking leads to reading and writing!

Pay careful attention when he has something to say. Wait for him to finish his ideas before you respond.
Remember that hearing and learning more than one language at a time is not confusing for young children.
Read stories and poems or sing songs with fun words, sounds and rhymes that repeat, including favorites in the language you speak at home.
Play with words that rhyme with his name or start with the same letter, or clap out the syllables or sounds together.
Take a listening walk together around the house, or around the block, to find things that make sounds. Pretend you are that thing and make its sound together. Ask your child to draw pictures and help him to write down the names of the things he heard.

Keep on talking

The more chances your child has to talk with caring adults, the more likely she will use language in new ways.

Talk together during daily routines such as cooking, doing laundry or shopping
Ask questions and help her learn how to put her own questions into words.
Have conversations while reading together or watching favorite television shows,
Repeat and add to what she is saying. Speak clearly and use full sentences.
Make simple puppets together out of socks or small paper bags and have them talk to each other or tell a favorite story together. Write down what she tells you and read it together.
Use the language you are most familiar with when talking with your child. This may be a language other than English.

Read

Reading together

Reading with your child will get him on the road to loving books and reading. Remember, every child learns to read in his own way, at his own pace. Enjoy the times you can explore reading together!

Reading aloud to your child every day make the biggest difference in helping him learn to read.
Exploring the library together will help him learn about different kinds of books and to become excited about reading. Start off by getting a library card for your child and open a new world of reading for him.
Exposing him to a variety of print can make reading part of his everyday life. Use signs, books, letters, magazines, the computer or other items where print is frequently used.

Everyday reading

Choose a special time to read together every day.
Look for words aroung the house or neighborhood that you can read - on cereal boxes, recipes, signs, etc. Talk about the sounds in familiar words.
Write down, word for word, what she says about pictures or experiences and help her "read" them back.
Help her to name words or pictures in magazines. Working together, cut, paste and label them in a homemade book.
Your child's name is one of the first words she will read. Write it in lots of places.
Keep books handy for her to look at by herself and let her pick out books for you to read. It's okay to read a favorite book over and over.
Pick a favorite book to read together. Let her turn the pages and point to words and pictures she recognizes or can read. Ask her to draw a picture of a favorite thing from the book and label it with her words so she can read them back to you.

Write

Writing together

Writing is another way for your child to represent things that have meaning to him. It is an important part if learning to read -- and it starts with scribbling!

Learning to make letters is only one part of writing. Your child needs to experiment with writing to learn what print and writing are all about.
Writing letters and words backwards, on two lines, or with parts missing or misspelled is normal for a young child. It shows that he is trying to make sense of words while writing. You can offer help if he asks.
Seeing his own words being written down helps your child to understand print. Let him tell you what to write.

Everyday writing

Have paper and markers, crayons or pencils available for scribbling, drawing and writing.
Create your own book together. Help your child decide what the book will be about by completing the title "My Book About _________" on the cover. Cut out squares together and let her draw something in each square. Write down her words for each picture and staple the pages together to create a book.
Make a game of labeling things around the house. Let her help write the words.
Plan a special meal or cooking project together and write a shopping list of the things you will need. Your child can write or draw each item.
Hang up a copy of the alphabet with pictures to help her remember the letters and sounds as she practices writing.
Support all her efforts to write her name, letters or words in her own way. Let her have fun with the writing.