Dear Parents and Guardians:
You can see animals in your neighborhood, at the zoo, and on the pages of books and magazines. This month’s Ranger Rick Jr. has photographs and illustrations of 40 different kinds of animals—some familiar and others that are less common. Children can have fun turning the magazine pages to locate different animals. Ask a child to find an ostrich (page 5), a chipmunk (page 14), a crab (page 16), a skunk (page 21), and a pony (page 31). Have the child read the page numbers to practice number recognition.
Help your child learn how to use a Table of Contents. Turn to page 2 and ask your child to look at the columns of text under the “Look Inside” heading. Explain that the words on this page help us find things in the magazine. Point to the line “24 Nosey Monkeys” and ask your child what that means. Then have your child turn to page 24 to see if his guess was correct. Repeat the activity with other items in the Table of Contents.
Explore with your child how animals shown in Ranger Rick Jr. are alike and different. Turn to page 6 and explain that all animals have noses, but not all animal noses are the same. Some animals, such as the wild boar and the weevil, use their special noses to find food. Other animals use their noses for different purposes. An elephant use its nose to squirt water, and a saiga’s nose filters dust when the animal breathes. Ask your child how she uses her nose. Breathing, smelling, sneezing, and holding glasses are all good answers.
Please read Ranger Rick Jr. or a children’s book to your child
every day.
Mike Wilson, Founder
Prekindergarten Reading Encouragement Project
PREP – Helping childhood literacy one family at a time.