Dear Parents and Guardians:
This month’s Ranger Rick Jr. can stimulate your child’s interest in reading. Here are some ideas on how to enjoy time together with the magazine.
1. Read different articles from the magazine over several days for 10 to 15 minutes each day.
2. Sit so your child can see the pictures in the magazine.
3. Read the title of the story to your child and skim through the story before starting to read.
4. Use different voices and vary your tone as you read the story. Don’t be afraid to ham it up a bit! In “Ricky and Pals” (pages 20-23), Bizzie Beaver could have a deep male voice, while Mrs. Cardinal a sweet, high sounding voice.
5. Use the repetition and sound effects in a story to hold your child’s attention. For example: on page 15 you can imitate the frog sounds and have your child repeat the sound “Kreck-ek, kreck-ek, kreck-ek, kreck-ek!”
6. Ask the child questions about the story. For example, when reading page 9, you might ask, “What do you think this pelican is doing in the water?”
7. Encourage your child to find letters or numbers. Using the Table of Contents on page 2, have your child point to a word that starts with the same letter as the child’s name or your name. If your child is four years old, have him or her point to the number 4. Ask your child to name the other numbers in the Table of Contents
8. Read with inflection, and lots of it. Show how words can have spirit, even though they are printed
on a page.
Make reading Ranger Rick Jr. fun for both you and your child.
Mike Wilson, Founder
Prekindergarten Reading Encouragement Project
PREP – Helping childhood literacy one family at a time.