Dear Parents and Guardians:

Every issue of Ranger Rick Jr. includes stories about animals. This month you will meet some unusual ones—a bird that dances for its dinner and six animals that make surprising sounds.

Turn to pages 6–7 and show your child the photo of the reddish egret. Ask her what she knows just by looking at the photo. (It’s a bird with shaggy feathers; it has long legs, a long neck, and a long pointy bill; it spends time in the water.) Read the text on these two pages and then scan the QR code on page 6 to watch the bird in action. Read the rest of the article with your child. Ask what she likes best about this animal. Finally, scan the QR code on page 11 and encourage your child to get up and dance like a reddish egret.

On pages 16–21 you’ll find an article that showcases animals that make surprising sounds. Point to each of the six animals and point to each of the six sounds pictured across the bottom of the pages. Encourage your child to guess which sound goes with each animal and then ask why she made the choices she did. Turn the page to find out if she was correct and scan each QR code to hear the sound each animal makes.

Finally, have fun going on a digital scavenger hunt. Flip through the pages of the magazine and look for QR codes with a star. Scan those QR codes and watch the videos. Look for a word at the end of each video. Use those words to answer the riddle on the bottom of page 3.

I hope you and your child enjoy reading Ranger Rick Jr. together each month. It’s a great way to help reinforce the non-fiction literacy skills she is learning.

Mike Wilson, Founder

Prekindergarten Reading Encouragement Project
PREP – Helping childhood literacy one family at a time.
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