With the help of Elgin Parents and Teachers and Early / Formative Years Team (Curriculum Services), here's a list of activities you can do with your child at home.

• listen to the radio,TV, live performances, for stories, songs , plays...
• borrow cassette and / or video tapes of stories and/or documentaries
• borrow games on CD for your computer 
• sing songs, listen, locate and identify sounds in the environment
• take time to explain meanings of unfamiliar words and world events 
• play sound / word / spelling games: rhyming words, opposites (grand-petit), synonyms (beau, joli), words that begin or end with the same sound, identify silent letters
  
• have books and other print material in your home
• join the Public Library to borrow books, tapes, videos, records, CD ( list borrowed items)
• vary the types of books that you read to yourself and with your child (science fiction, poetry, mystery, humour, non-fiction, legends, folktales, books that focus on Canada and other countries and cultures)
• vary the ways you read to and with your child: 1) take turns-sentence, paragraph, page, 2) read together (choral) 3) whisper 4) silly voice 5) note the punctuation
• gather and use information from a variety of sources ie. use a picture, dictionary, newsletter encyclopedia, thesaurus, graph, map, poster, schedules, sign, label, recipe, menu, 
• talk about and use book features (table of contents, index, glossary, title page)
• have your child write the notes to the teacher---you sign and date them
• write notes and create cards (reminders, to-do lists, instructions, grocery lists, invitations)
• write letters to the company that makes your favourite cereal or candy or to your favourite author, sports personality, relative, friend in different cities, penpal (mail, e-mail) or...
• encourage diary writing, keep a personal dictionary of interesting or important words
  
• use newspapers / magazines to find words / letters / pictures and use them to create poems, stories, mystery letters, books (alphabet, color, rhyming, riddle of the day, joke)
  
• supply special paper and / or stamps as gifts
  play / create word games ie Scrabble, Clue, Spill and Spell, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, do crossword puzzles
  
• write a poem about someone special as a gift, or write new words for familiar songs
  
• write labels for things in the home ie. clock, chair 
  
• list or use a word of the day (week-end), collect signs, logos, word stickers, cards, badge