Dear Parents and Guardians:
Each Ranger Rick Jr. magazine provides many opportunities for children to improve their knowledge and skills. In addition to reading the stories and looking at the pictures, you can use this month’s magazine to help your child learn letters of the alphabet and to practice his or her drawing skills.
Turn to page 14 and show your child that the word penguin starts with the letter P. Ask her to find the four other animals with a name that starts with the letter P. After your child finds the four animals–polar bear, pelican, porcupine, and pig–have her name the other animals and tell you the first letter of each animal’s name. If she is not sure of the animal or the first letter of the name, write the animal’s name and see if she can identify the first letter. Animal names start with E–elephant, R–rabbit, S–sheep, T–tiger, W–whale, and Z–zebra.
Write the entire alphabet–A to Z–in capital letters on a blank piece of paper. Then ask your child to find as many of the capital letters as they can in the magazine. For example the cover has A, page 2 has B and C, page 3 a D, page 4 an E, and page 5 an F. (The only capital letter that can’t be found in the magazine is V.) Repeat this letter-finding activity with lowercase letters. Your child will probably find this much easier. Every lowercase letter appears somewhere within the magazine.
For a second activity this month, provide paper and crayons for your child to draw pictures of animals they see in Ranger Rick Jr. This is a good way for children to use their imagination and improve their fine motor skills. The examples on the right are from page 33 of the magazine. On that page you will find information about submitting a drawing to the National Wildlife Federation. They publish children’s drawings in the magazine and on their website each month.
Have fun reading and drawing with your child this month.
Mike Wilson, Founder
Prekindergarten Reading Encouragement Project
PREP – Helping childhood literacy one family at a time.