A story is always a great place to start!

research-based, teacher-created,
screen-free, reading-readiness activities aligned with high-quality picture books
for children ages 2 - 6.

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Did You Know…

Reading to your child for just 15 minutes a day exposes your child to over one million new words each year.
Longitudinal studies have shown that oral, not reading vocabulary development in early childhood has lasting effects on various aspects of life, including educational attainment, employment opportunities, and overall cognitive functioning.
Regular exposure to rich language environments, reading aloud, and engaging in meaningful conversations with parents contribute significantly to a child's vocabulary growth.
Preschoolers that are read to early on tend to perform better academically throughout their school years.

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Go On…
Take a Peek!

increase vocabulary

deepen understanding
arouse curiosity
explore new places
examine characters
build self-confidence
create connections
build a strong foundation for learning

Our Beyond the Book Resources show you how to get the most out of each additional reading and begin building a strong foundation for learning.

Each title includes resources that…

Do you find yourself reading the same story over and over again?

3 Easy Steps

Vocabulary growth is directly related to school achievement.

The size of a child’s vocabulary upon entering kindergarten is a strong predictor of reading readiness.
Vocabulary helps children to think, learn, and understand.
Expanding a child’s knowledge of words provides unlimited access to new information.
Expanding a child's vocabulary makes it easier to build new understanding based upon previous knowledge.

Read it Again focuses heavily on vocabulary acquisition for the following reasons:

Beyond the Book

Read it Again uses the repeated reading of a great story followed by a wide variety of little-to-no prep activities that align with and add further understanding to each title's early literacy concepts.

The infographic to the left highlights the types of activities that you might find within each resource download. Click HERE for more in-depth information on each type of activity.

We refer to this use of multiple activities aligned with a single story as "Layered Learning."

Layered learning teaches a child to learn from and make connections related to one story and later to other books, experiences, and events. Making connections is a critical strategy designed to help students understand what they're reading now and throughout their education.

What is Story-Based Play?

Story-based play is play that stems from and aligns with a great story. You set the stage when you read your child a great story (we feature many) and provide the toys (you probably already have the basics on hand).

Once everything's in place, start by reading the book a few times and completing a few activities from the story's Beyond the Book download. After that, present the toys you've gathered or purchased, step back, and see what happens.

Familiarity with and a fondness of the story will make it easy for your child's imagination to take over. The toys become actors or props, bringing forth learning without your child ever realizing what's happening. It's play…story-based play.

There are no plans. You don't plan to play. Play is powerful because it just happens. Simply provide the toys and allow the play to evolve on its own.

The link below takes you to the collections of toys that align with each of our Beyond the Book titles.

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