Tough...though...thought...through...thorough...

Those words look similar, but they sound different when we read them. Some letters of the alphabet even look alike to young children. There isn't much difference between "b" and "d." Because there's so much hard work involved in learning to read, one of the most important tools a child can bring to that task is wanting to read.

Reading Readiness throughout the Neighborhood Series

Throughout the Neighborhood series, there is encouragement for children to enjoy and appreciate words, books, reading, and stories -- sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly.

Here are some ways the Neighborhood opens the door to reading readiness:

• Mister Rogers helps children know there are many different ways to get ready to read.
• Mister Rogers encourages children to listen carefully and look at things closely, things they will need for distinguishing sounds and alphabet letters.
• "Reading" pictures in a book (talking about the pictures or telling a story from them) draws children into books even before they're able to read words.
• Being able to "read" symbols and sign language gives children experience at decoding, which helps them understand that alphabet letters are symbols for sounds and words.

Mister Rogers tells children, "The best way to learn to read is to learn words that you really love. Y-O-U, there's a good word. You are someone people can really love."

Supporting Reading Readiness in Child Care

In child care, you have many ways to nurture children's reading readiness. You give children such a boost for their pre-reading skills when you give children an environment that is rich in different kinds of meaningful print materials (books, magazines, catalogs, menus, phone books, etc.) and one that is rich in sounds (balanced, of course, with silence).

When you begin with nurturing the children and valuing their ideas in their play and drawings, and add to that your own contagious love of books and interest in printed words, you're helping them want to be readers.

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