Appreciation and Knowledge of Books and Stories

I Know What Happens Next! How Your Child Can Use His Knowledge and Past Experiences to Make Predictions

During this stage of story reading, you might start to feel like your child isn't listening to you. Does he try to flip pages to get to his favorite part? Does he say the next line of the story before you can get to it? Stay patient; this is very natural at this age! Between his growing knowledge and memory, he's remembering more and more of his favorite stories. But because he is also starting to understand the ideas of context and relating past events to new information, he's also starting to be able to make predictions. You might ask him what he thinks will happen next in your story, but he may also jump in with “The bunny is hiding in the bushes!" or “I think the puppy will find the bone!" This is a very exciting way that he can understand the world, the fact that certain parts are predictable, but also that we can be surprised when something predictable doesn't happen.

Has your child achieved the following Appreciation and Knowledge of Books and Stories developmental milestones yet? If yes, check off all of the skill(s) he has already mastered to date.