Toddler Time

In storytime today we looked at the pictures in some of the books and talked about what was going on. We also related what was happening to the children's experiences. Having a dialogue about what is going on in a book is called dialogic reading. Dialogic Reading is part of Narrative Skills and helps build your child's language to make him more prepared to learn to read.

You can do the same thing at home when you and your child are sharing a book together:

• Ask questions about what is happening in the pictures and in the story.
• Relate the pictures to your child's own experiences. Ask questions to encourage conversation. You may answer for her, but always count to 5 to give her time to answer.

The books that work best for dialogic reading have clear pictures, a simple story, have pictures of things that are familiar to your child, show actions and detail and are interesting to your child.

Dialogic Reading helps develop vocabulary and narrative skills. Research shows that the best effects come when you do it with a child one-on-one.