Dear Parents and Guardians:
Every month Ranger Rick Jr. magazine has wonderful animal pictures for you to talk about with your child. However, with a little imagination there are many other ways to use the magazine content to help your child learn. Below are two suggestions that you can use to reinforce your child’s understanding of letters and numbers.
Turn to page 2 and ask your child to find the number 6 in five places. (It can be found in the list of contents, next to the picture of a cat, as part of the year 2016, in the small print in the upper right corner, and in the telephone number at the bottom of the page.) What other numbers can he or she name? Does your child recognize two-digit numbers, such as 12, 20 and 24? Four-year-old children should be able to count to 30 or more.
You can also use page 2 to practice recognizing letters of the alphabet. How many times is M or m used on this page? (Find it in month, some, MARIE, Mail, times, Flamingo, and other words–for a total of 16.) Can your child find the first letter of her or his name? Letter recognition and knowing the alphabet prepare children for reading.
Who doesn’t like a kitten or family cat? Teaching a child about the variety of animals helps her or him understand the diversity of life. Use the Hello, Kitty! article on pages 6–11 to talk about how not all wild cats are the same. Caracals and servals have different ear shapes that improve their hearing. Fishing and sand cats have special paws that help them swim or walk on hot sand.
Enjoying Ranger Rick Jr. each month will help your child learn numbers and letters.
Mike Wilson, Founder
Prekindergarten Reading Encouragement Project
PREP – Helping childhood literacy one family at a time.