6 Activities That Promote Early Literacy Using Silly Sally by Audrey Wood

Silly Sally is one of many delightful, rhythmic and rhyming books by author Audrey Wood. Have you read it with your child? If not, remember to first do a picture walk through the book to "read" the illustrations on each page. Use prediction to talk about the animals hiding on the pages and what actions they are performing. "Who is hiding in the far away meadow?" As you read the text, your child will want to read the predictable and rhyming text with you as you enjoy the antics of the animals, Silly Sally and Neddie Buttercup.

The following are important activities to do with your child that focus on different skills associated with early literacy development which involve listening for and playing with sounds.

1. Ask your child to think of other words that begin with the same first sound in Sally - sandwich, song, sister - remember not to ask about the letter "s", instead the first sound in Sally
2. Make up tongue twisters using words that begin with the first sound of Sally: Silly Sally sees six slimy snakes; Silly Sally sings silly songs
3. Make a rhyme about a new animal: "Silly Sally went to town walking backwards upside down; On the way she saw a mouse, a silly mouse he jumped over the house.
4. Make new rhyming words for the animals in the story - if your child is new to rhyming make the rhyming word for him and have him repeat the rhyming word dog/log/hog; loon/moon/soon, etc.
5. Act out the actions of the animals and repeat the text as you act it out
6. Engage your child in the text by pausing to allow your child to complete the phrase or echo the last word you say in the phrase

Stop by at Audrey Woods website for print outs of the characters
http://www.audreywood.com/pages/Books/SillySally/Activities.html
http://www.audreywoodauthor.com/?p=48
Susan