The Preschooler

Making Predictions

As parents, we would love to be able to predict how our children will do when they enter kindergarten, high school, college, or even the career world.  However, since most of us do not have a crystal ball lying around, we rely on the fact that we do the best we can to prepare our children for what lies ahead.  When our children are three- or four-years-old, our focus tends to be on getting them ready for school.  And since reading is vital to their success, pre-reading activities can go a long way in preparing them for more difficult reading skills they will learn down the road.

As children begin reading, they often focus all of their effort on sounding out words and forget to think about the meaning of what they have read.  To help them practice this skill even before they learn to make the connection between letters and sounds, help them predict what will happen next.  Simply by asking questions like, “I wonder who lives in this house Snow White found?”, will get your child thinking about the events that are taking place in the story.  Making predictions is a strategy children will use once they are able to sound out words, and teaching them how to do this ahead of time will give them an advantage when they begin reading.

Although as parents we often wish for that crystal ball, it simply isn’t possible to foresee the future.  However, helping our children with pre-reading tasks such as these can help us predict that our children will experience success in the world of reading as they grow and learn.

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Written by BRWI Staff on July 8, 2009