Many of you have a collection of books for your child or children, and you probably read these books once, twice, or 27 times if your child requests it. But, did you know you can modify any book for any grade level or age, and get more out of those books than you might have thought possible. Everyone in your family can benefit from these helpful hints that can put your child ahead of the learning curve at school. The following is a synopsis of how you can use any short story–I chose my book, Monster Mas–and ways you can maximize your child’s learning!
Birth -3 years old
Children at this age are very visual and are attracted to bright colors, so you want to get a book with vibrant illustrations. You can do a simple picture walk by displaying the pages to them slowly so they can look at the entire illustration. For example, you might point out specific pictures to give examples of emotions, nouns, verbs, colors, etc. Using page two in my book, Monster Mas’ mother looks sad, you can tell help your child recognize when someone looks sad. You can also have your child show you a sad face (2-3 years old). Pointing out these kinds of things helps your child develop predictive skills, recognize colors and build their vocabulary.
Baby Enjoying Illustrations
4-6 years old
With This age group you can read any 32 page formatted children’s book to your child. I would preview the book before and look for hard vocabulary words and any educational material that may be unfamiliar to your child. For example on page 7, Monster Mas goes through the times tables as part of a class routine. You can easily replace this part with addition or subtraction facts or any other relevant math topic they are learning. You can use white tape and cover sections of the book and write relevant topics dependent on your child’s needs.
adapting material
7-9 years old
At this age, children should be able to read almost any picture book. They can learn new vocabulary words by using context clues. They can enjoy any sarcasm present in the story, such as the case in the story, Monster Mas. Since this story was created as an educational tool for parents, teachers, and counselors, there many activities listed on my website at Monstermas.com under the educational tab. You can use these strategies with any book.
10-12 years old
Children of this age still like picture books if they have cutting edge visuals. The problem is that they finish the book too fast. One suggestion to extend their time with a book is to tape a sheet of copy paper over each page of writing. Then tell them to create their own story using the pictures. You will see how creative they get, and they can share their story with the family or with other classmates. I would love to see what the kids come up with in the Monster Mas book on the pages where he unleashes his ‘Fartnado’ and when Monster Mas turns into a rock star.
adapting content
Using all of these strategies will extend the life of your books as well as help your child’s cognitive growth.
