1. Books in book bags are “levelled” books and go step-by-step as children understand more about reading.

2. Children are encouraged to “read” at their own level as they learn about print. They might read from memory, sweep left to right under the words, or try to point to each individual word. When they can do the latter, the concept of word is then developed.

3. Book Bags give children more exposure to books and reading.

4. “Easy-reads” are quick for parents to read with their children and easy for the children to read over and over again.

5. Books are patterned (I see a flower. I see a butterfly. I see a chick) after real language and once the children learn the pattern, they can usually continue to read the book themselves.

6. These books have pictures that help the children predict the words. Learning to use “clues” while you are reading is very important. This strategy is called using picture clues.

7. The text in these books is “book language” which is different than speaking language, and so children build familiarity with the way things are said in books.

8. Once the concept of word is developed (see #2 above), children can be taught to look at the features of the word such as the sounds of letters or word chunks.

9. Also children can be taught and learn to use grammar and meaning to predict words.
Grammar - “I made a snowman” or “ I mad a snowman” (made - verb, mad is adjective, so "made" is correct)
Meaning - “ I rode my horse” or “I rode my house” ("horse makes sense; "house" does not make sense)