Pretend Reading

A few months ago I listened as The Pea pretended to read a book in her bed during nap. She said, "Once there was a princess. Then a dragon came and Rhhhhaaaaaa! Then he flew around the world really really fast. Then, Ronald, you are mess! The end." It was so cute! And I was super excited that she was pretending to read because it is so much more than another cute thing that my daughter did. Pretend reading is actually a very vital part of the process of learning to read. It is the first stage of Literacy Development. The Pea was showing that she has been paying attention during these last 2 1/2 years of storytime. By using the story language "Once upon a time", "The End", "Then..." we can see that she acknowledges that stories have special words in them, that are different than the way we speak. When pretending to read, The Pea often changes her voice to show dialogue. It's usually this funny, throaty kind of voice that sounds like a cross between a monster and an old man. Regardless, this change of voice shows that she understands that we use expression in our voice when reading dialogue. Children usually use the pictures to help them know what's going on in the story, as the Pea did when pretending to read The Paper Bag Princess. This skill is important for comprehension as children develop their reading abilities. You may notice your child replicating the sing-song type voice like you use when pretending to read stories such as "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?" by Bill Martin Jr & Eric Carle. This shows they understand that this book has a rhythm to it that not all books have.

You can encourage your child to pretend read by asking them to read to you, a stuffed animal, a sibling, or even a pet. You can read to your child a wide variety of books that include storybook langauge, dialogue, and rhyme. You can draw your child's attention to the illustrations by talking about the pictures. You can read wordless books to your child that require the use of picture cues to determine what the story is about. Good Night Gorilla is a great wordless book.

So, next time you hear your child pretending to read, celebrate silently as you are witnessing early literacy taking place! It is so much more than just cute!

Keep reading!
-Kate