Dr. Seuss Celebration Marks Start of National Reading Month

Treasure Forest Elementary students had some very special visitors to help them celebrate the start of National Reading Month and Dr. Seuss’ birthday this week.

Members of the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation Young Professionals Group read Dr. Seuss books to 3^rd graders at the school in honor of the author’s birthday and the annual National Education Association’s (NEA) Read Across America Day.

In addition to their reading aloud activities, the Foundation provided each 3^rd grade classroom with a set of Dr. Seuss books for their libraries. Books will be used for reading aloud in class and literacy development. Reading aloud is shown to strength literacy skills for listeners and readers alike and research indicates it may even help predict a child’s later success with reading and writing.

Other early skills closely related to later success with reading and writing:

·        Alphabet knowledge—the ability to name letters and the sounds they make

·        Phonological awareness—the ability to hear and manipulate the sounds of spoken language (such as hear the beginning sound of a word)

·        Rapid letter or number naming—the ability to quickly name letters or numbers

·        Rapid object or color naming—the ability to quickly name random series of colors or objects

·        Phonological memory—the ability to remember spoken information for a short period of time

·        Writing letters or write a student’s own name—the ability to write single letters in isolation, or write their own name

#Every Child’s developmental journey has its own pace. No matter what age or level your student, you can help foster important skills with activities that suit his or her current abilities and interests. A great resource for parents is SBISD’s ReadyRosie. Click here for more information about this resource.