A - Z For the Little Nurse In Me

Introduce your child to some basic concepts in healthcare science and everyday functions of the human body. Their neurons will be firing on all cylinders as they uncover things about their own body they never knew! Teach them about the importance of washing their hands as you thumb though full-page illustrations of how yucky germs can make them sick. Empower them to drink milk, exercise, and play safely, to build strong bones and muscles and prevent fractures. Laugh together as they say "deoxyribonucleic acid", three times, as fast as they can, as you tell them what a "gene" is, and why they look so much like you!

I is for IMMUNE

"This means we are protected.
Safe from naughty germs
who do naughty things,
like make us sick and infected".

Through poetry, early readers learn about sound, develop a sense for speech patterns and rhythms, and build/strengthen tongue and lip movement necessary for speech. Poetry and rhyming is also an effective tool that helps children broaden their vocabulary through the pairing of similar sounding words, such as "chair" and "air", which also introduces them to phonetics. Children with mild to moderate speech delays benefit tremendously from hearing poetry as opposed to traditional stories with non-rhyming content.

"Poetry is "almost perfect" for helping children struggling with sounding out words. "It helps kids develop an awareness of language fundamentals... it's fun and a little different, kids learn without realizing it".

- Tim Rasinski, Professor of Literacy Education at Kent State University

"A children's poem brings the body into language through strong beats and sounds that evoke their sensory referents." and "...helps children manage their sensory environments, map and regulate their neurological functions...".

- Karen Coats, Director of the Center for Research and Children's Literature at Cambridge University

Encourage your child to create, to rhyme, and visualize the world as they see it! Rhyming takes the pressure out of reading and creates a fun experience for the student reader and the teacher! The natural rhythmic nature of poetry makes it easy to introduce new, unfamiliar words into your child's vocabulary. Poetry teaches children about pitch, voice, voice inflections, and volume. Lead by example, let your personality shine through and encourage your little one to do the same,