This is Part 2 in a series about preparing children to read. If you'd like to read Part 1, go here.

As we discussed last time, reading is a lot more than just connecting written letters to make words. It is a process made up of four parts: comprehension, decoding, vocabulary, and fluency.

At first, preparing our children to be successful in all of these areas might seem overwhelming. Good news! There is one thing that you can do that addresses each of these things simultaneously. It's fun, takes no preparation or special skills, and you're probably already doing it!

Read aloud to your child. Do it daily. Here's 10 reasons why:

1. Reading aloud to your child is fun bonding time. Get a blanket, a few good books, and cuddle up to read. Even my daughter who is constantly on the move, will sit still to read.

2. Reading aloud to your child helps develop language skills. It gives them to opportunity hear the right way to use words and models how words work together to bring meaning.

3. Reading aloud to your child models that reading is fun. Children who enjoy reading, read more. The more they read, the better readers they become. Its a positive cycle, and one that you want to start early.

4. When your child hears you read aloud, you are modeling good fluency. You're letting them hear what it sounds like when good readers read.

5. Reading aloud to your child introduces them to new words and builds their vocabulary. Use the pictures in the book to reinforce new words.

6. Reading aloud to your child can teach new concepts about numbers, nature, cultures, and much, much more.

7. Reading aloud to your child demonstrates the importance of reading in everyday life. Read a variety of things as they come about in your day such as grocery lists, thank you cards, even TV listings.

8. Reading aloud to your child opens the door to building comprehension strategies. Talk about the story as you read, encourage your child to ask questions, make predictions together.

9. Reading aloud to your child begins to build print awareness. They learn how books work, how to turn pages, that you read left to right, and that the pictures add to the story.

10. Reading aloud to your child develops listening skills. Being a good listener is one of the most important skills we can teach our children. It will help them be successful in school, in relationships, and in their careers.

Now go grab your child, a good book, and READ!

This past weekend, we were the lucky recipients of a huge box of freshly picked organic apples. Its become applepalooza around here! We're making apple bread, applesauce, apple pancakes, and today a fun new art project: apple prints.

My daughter had a great time doing this, although she always loves it when we get paint out. It only took a few minutes to prepare for, and she spent quite awhile printing several pieces of paper. Here's how to do this fun and simple project.

Cut the core out of an apple. Save the side pieces for snack time.

Cut the core piece in half and remove all seeds.Dip the core in paint and stamp it onto paper. For best results, use just a thin layer of paint. Decorate your whole paper with the fun flower shaped print.

Looking for some fun books about apples? Here are some of our favorites.

Apples, Apples, Apples is the story of a rabbit family who goes apple picking and is packed full of interesting facts about apples. It includes a recipe for applesauce, an apple song, and is the source for the apple print idea we tried today.

How do Apples Grow is a non-fiction book that teaches all about (surprisingly enough) how apples grow. It includes labeled illustrations of the flowers, and the information is presented in a clear and easy to understand format.

Ten Red Apples is the rhythmic story of farm animals who take turns eating apples from a farmer's apple tree. It's a great book to practice counting backwards from ten, and kids love the rhyming text.

As parents, we all want our kids to be successful in school. It's no surprise that the key to this success is being a good reader. As an elementary school teacher, I can say firsthand that reading skills are integral in everything that happens in a classroom...writing, math, science, social studies...everything revolves around being a strong reader.

There are a lot of things we can do from the time our kids are babies to help them prepare for reading success. The first thing we need to do is expand our concept of reading. Many times we think of reading as being able to look at series of words on a page and saying what they are. This is just one aspect of reading.

Reading is comprised of four areas. Let's take a quick look at each, and later in this series we'll delve deeper into ways to develop these skills in your child.

Comprehension: The main goal of reading is gaining understanding from the words printed on a page. A child may be able to read every single word in a book, but if they get to the end and have no idea what the story was about, have they truly read it? I would say no. Comprehension is the key to reading.

Decoding: If we think about the alphabet as a code, then decoding is breaking that code so that we can form words from the letters. It's seeing the letters C-A-T and figuring out that it says "cat". Decoding is often what parents consider "learning to read", and while it is a vital component, it is just one aspect.

Vocabulary: Understanding the meaning of words allows you to understand the meaning of the text as a whole. Likewise, the more words that are familiar to you, the easier it is to decode those words. Having a strong vocabulary is a building block to all other aspects of reading.

Fluency: Have you ever listened to a beginning reader read aloud. It can be painful. The...d..d..dog...r.r.r.an..ran..up..the..hi..hi..hill. Fluency is the rate and accuracy the words are read. Better decoding skills leads to increased fluency. Higher fluency equals better comprehension.

As you can see, these four areas are very much connected. Each is vitally important to successful reading. While we are not necessarily trying to teach our kids to read at this age, we can start laying the foundation for reading success. Tomorrow we'll take a look at the #1 most important thing you can do to help your child prepare to read. Can you guess what it is?

Last week, I checked out a huge stack of books about fall. Most of them have yet to even be cracked open because my daughter chooses the same one every time we sit down to read together. I don't mind one bit. Her new favorite is my new favorite as well.

Fletcher and the Falling Leaves tells the darling story about a fox who is worried when his favorite tree starts to turn brown and lose its leaves. Although his mom reassures him that it's just autumn, Fletcher tries all he can think of to help the tree keep its leaves. In the end, he accepts defeat and goes home worried about his leafless tree only to find it more beautiful than ever the next morning when the winter frost sets in. I actually got chills the first time we read this book as I turned the last page. The illustrations are beautiful, the story is engaging, and it does an excellent job of teaching about the changing seasons.

Using this book to build early literacy skills: Sequencing
One of the key comprehension strategies is summarizing, and a major component of that is retelling the sequence of events in a story. This book has a very simple plot perfect for practicing this skill. You can do this a few different ways.

Draw. Have your child draw a series of pictures to show the main events of the book.

Act. Reenact the story with your child. This is a great story to act out because there are very few characters. Even if it's just the two of you, you'll have plenty of cast members.

Talk. Have your child tell you the story in their own words. Ask probing questions to help him or her recall the main events.

Model. Use playdough or clay to make Fletcher and his tree. Use the models to recreate the story.

What great books are you and your children reading this week?

The Fall is such a great time of year for craft projects because of all the beautiful natural materials available to us. Brightly colored leaves, vibrant pumpkins, luscious apples...it's all so inspiring!

My idea of a good craft project is one that uses materials I have on hand or can find easily, doesn't require me to spend the night before prepping, and is completed at least mostly by my child rather than myself. In other words, I like simple.

Here are some fun and simple craft ideas to welcome in this beautiful season.

Adorable Acorn (This site is one of my new favorites. She has MANY great fall ideas.)

Autumn Placemats

Crinkle Tissue Paper Corn

Fall Leaf Stained Glass Art

Fingerprint Trees (Use red, yellow, and orange for the leaves.)

Magic Leaf Prints (Science and Art in one...love that!!)

Paper Plate Pumpkin

Tissue Paper Fall Leaves

Here in the Pacific Northwest, the constant state of drizzle has set in. Gone are the days of afternoons spent at the park, and here are the days of trying to get creative with the abundance of time spent indoors. Sure, it's fun to head out for some puddle jumping, but sometimes you just want to stay warm and dry. And because our kids' energy level doesn't change with the seasons, it's important to build some physical activity into our days. Exercise is not only important for health, but also for moods. Here are some simple ideas for getting lots of exercise while playing inside that require no special equipment.

Dance. Turn on some upbeat music, clear a space on the floor and start wiggling and jiggling! Not only is this great exercise, but you just can't help laughing and having a great time while doing it.

Build an obstacle course. This is always a big hit in our house. We lay out pillows to jump over, move furniture around so there's room for somersaults, and build towers to climb over. The further you place the obstacles from one another, the more running is involved.

Move like animals. This one builds imagination and gets us moving all at the same time! We sing a song as we walk like every animal you can imagine. Even if we're not sure how a particular animal moves, we have fun making it up. Here's the song:

This is the way a ______ moves,

_________moves, ________ moves.

This is the way a ______ moves,

To keep their bodies healthy.

Following directions. I started doing this when I was pregnant and just too tired to move. I give my daughter a list of directions to follow such as, "Run to the front door, jump 3 times, touch the bottom stair, then sit on the couch." It sounds simple, but it keeps her entertained for a very long period of time and helps her get her energy out while learning to follow a series of directions.

Mall walking. Leave the stroller at home and hit the mall for some walking. The change of scenery is fun for everyone, and many malls also have indoor play areas for kids.

Indoor playgrounds. Many community centers have "indoor playgrounds", open gym space with all sorts of things for kids to play with. The one we attend has slides, huge foam blocks for building, tunnels, foot powered cars, and much more! When we need to get out of the house, this is a great option for us.

How about you? What do you do to help you and your kids get exercise while indoors?

Fall is definitely in the air. The mornings are crisp, the leaves are turning vibrant red, and it's actually dark at bedtime. I love this time year.

I knew fall had officially arrived this weekend when my house was filled with the smell of freshly baked pumpkin bread. Grace loves helping in the kitchen, and making this bread together was the perfect way to start our day. When we delivered a loaf to her grandparents, Grace beamed with pride at the bread she had made.

I'm not disillusioned enough to think this bread is actually good for us, but pumpkin is a nutritional powerhouse. It is high in fiber, potassium, and beta-carotene, which recent research has shown helps prevent many diseases including cancer and heart disease. When I buy canned pumpkin to use in recipes, I always get the large cans so that there is plenty leftover. Whatever I don't use in the recipe, I freeze in ice cube trays for later use. These little cubes of orange goodness can be reheated and stirred into oatmeal or applesauce along with a sprinkle of cinnamon to make delicious and highly nutritious meals.

Looking for more things to do with pumpkin? I love this craft idea and will be trying it as soon as I can pick up a small pumpkin. And check out all of these creative uses for one pumpkin.

Pumpkin Bread
Makes 2 loaves or 4 mini-loaves

3 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 cups canned pumpkin
2/3 cup water
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 eggs

Sift flour, soda, baking powder, salt, and spice together. Combine the pumpkin and water in a small bowl and set aside. Combine oil, sugar, and eggs in a large mixing bowl and beat for 3 minutes. Stir in flour mixture alternating with pumpkin mixture, beating after each addition until batter is smooth. Pour batter into greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 60-90 minutes for large loaves, 40-50 minutes for mini-loaves, until a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy!!

What things say "Fall is here!" to you and your family?