FAQs

Reading aloud for at least 15 minutes a day, starting at birth, is a small investment with long-term benefits that can profoundly affect a child's future.

Read it Again works to expand vocabulary, improve comprehension, strengthen imagination, and build a lifelong love of reading.

Regular reading and re-reading of books help children develop a love not only for books but also for accessing new information.

Reading aloud to young children enhances language skills and promotes cognitive development.

When chosen carefully, children's books can expose a child to diverse cultures and perspectives.

1. Once you've purchased and downloaded your Beyond the Book Resources file (subscribe or buy an shop for a title online), download the file and locate a copy of the story.

2. Take a little time to get familiar with all the great ideas within your download.

3. Decide what follow-up activities you'd like to tackle over the next few days and gather any required supplies.

4. The first step, of course, is reading the story. I like for my first read with a child to be uninterrupted. It's just about the story, with no hidden agenda or predetermined plan for learning.

5. Follow up your first reading with an activity from this file.

The activities are not in any particular order, but the comprehension questions are easy and don't require preparation. Starting with the picture flashcards is an easy, hands-on activity.

6. Try to find time to reread the story…two to three times (if not more) over the next week.

It's even okay to read a book multiple times in a single day... we encourage it!

You want your child to love the book and want to hear it again and again.

7. Try to follow up each of your readings with one of the activities from the download.

It's within this layering of reading and follow-up activities that the real magic begins to occur.

● One Great Story

● Multiple Readings

● Fun & Educational Follow-Up Activities

Possibly, but teaching your preschooler to read shouldn't be tackled too early or before your child is ready. First, get your child excited about learning!

Experts say most children learn to read by age 6 or 7, and some may learn much earlier.

However, a head start on reading doesn't mean your child will stay ahead as he progresses through school. Abilities tend to even out in later grades.

Instead, focus on spending time together while reading aloud. This will strengthen your bond and allow your child to see that reading is a positive experience.

If you force your child to learn to read, he may also develop a negative attitude toward learning.

A robust vocabulary improves all areas of communication — listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Vocabulary is critical to a child’s success for the following reasons:

● Vocabulary is directly related to school achievement.

● The size of a child’s vocabulary in kindergarten predicts the ease with which he will learn to read and, more importantly, whether he will be able to comprehend what he eventually reads.

● Vocabulary helps children think and learn about the world.

● Expanding a child’s knowledge of words provides unlimited access to future learning.

Absolutely not.

As a rule and for the best outcome, we would like you to try and complete at least 3 or 4 of the activities provided.

Read through your entire Beyond the Book Resources file and choose a few follow up activities you feel comfortable completing with your child. The level of prep required for each activity varies.

In the top left corner of each of the “writing” pages, you’ll see a note that addresses this concern.

In the most simple of terms, you are the scribe and your child is dictating what should be written.

No.

The basic recall or remember questions are where most preschoolers are working. However, after reading the book multiple times and discussing the story, try going further up the pyramid.

Start conversations around the more difficult questions and model how you would answer a question. Don’t push too hard… all the questions don’t need to be answered.

We are not definitely not fans of forcing a child to learn to read, we want your child to simply view learning as something that’s enjoyable and rewarding.

Keeping this in mind, begin by using the picture cards for the activities. Later you could use a small number of the word cards and talk about beginning letter sounds. Or, group all the cards that have the same ending sounds… this could be done with the picture cards first and later the words cards.

Conversely, you could decide to not use the word cards at all. You are the expert on your your child!