Use the Hanen strategy, “Shoot for the SSTaRS” to help your child learn the kinds of higher-level words that prepare them for school success.

Helping a child understand less commonly used words will have a big impact on their reading and writing abilities later on. In this Book Nook, we share some helpful strategies to introduce rare words to children and to ensure they really understand them. 

Did you know that engaging your child in a conversation about a story greatly increases the likelihood they’ll understand it? Read on for some tips to turn book reading into a conversation with the fun book, Not a Box.

One of the best ways to build your child’s understanding of stories is to relate what’s happening in the book to things your child already knows or has experienced. Come along for the ride as we look at this fun book about a Grandma with thirty grandchildren and learn some tips for building your child’s comprehension.

Rhyming books are one of the best tools for promoting sound awareness, a skill that prepares children for connecting the letters they see on a page with the sounds they represent. In this Book Nook, we share a fun Hanen strategy that you can use when sharing rhyming books with your child.

When you read with your child, how much attention do they pay to the words on the page? Do they realise that the written words play an important role in telling the story? Part of supporting your child’s early literacy is helping them understand that print has meaning. Use these tips to build your child’s awareness of print and lay an important foundation for reading and writing.

When you encourage perspective-taking during book reading, you not only deepen your child’s understanding of the story, but also build the skills that help them understand why the people in their own lives act or respond the way they do. Use the tips in this Book Nook to spark conversations about how we all see and experience the world differently.

A great way to deepen your child’s understanding of story is to encourage them to predict actions and events in the book. Take your child on an adventure with Gerald and Piggy while encouraging your child to guess what might happen next.

With back-to-school just around the corner for many, it’s a perfect time to share this fun story featuring Penelope the T-Rex and the classroom pet, Walter. Here are some tips for using this book to build children’s understanding of story structure – an important first step in story comprehension.