NEWS FROM THE CLASSROOM

Early Literacy and Love of Reading

News from the Preschool classroom

March 20, 2022

Literacy skills, in early childhood education settings, encompass much more than helping children learn the alphabet, recite nursery rhymes, and begin to write. While it is true that one of the major tasks of early education is helping children acquire the skills which will help them become readers.  While there are many methods to help teach these skills, the love of reading and the desire to learn to read are not always as easy to teach at school. While these feelings about reading can and do grow at school, they usually begin to develop as a child has many positive and meaningful interactions with language, stories, and print at home with their parents and other caregivers.  These warm and positive experiences with reading aloud at home will help set the stage for additional positive literacy experiences at school.

Literacy experiences begin with in a child’s life long before they can even speak.   They begin with the wonderful little conversations which adults have with children when they are infants, and which hopefully continue to take place every day of a child’s life.  These conversations might involve every-day topics, but they might also include silly rhymes, poems, jokes, and songs. As a child grows, they will have experiences with the spoken and the printed word in many formats, including commonplace activities such as reading labels, restaurant signs and toy catalogs, and making shopping, packing or other lists.  These experiences are all important, however, one of the most critical (and most enjoyable) ways to support early childhood literacy is reading aloud with a child.

Reading aloud supports the cognitive development of a young child in several meaningful ways.    Quality stories have the ability to draw children in and hold their attention while their brains are experiencing the vocabulary, syntax, sensory images and rhythmic flow of their native language. Stories can help develop a child’s knowledge base, expand their interests, and begin to make sense of the world in which they live. Stories can also introduce children to people whose lives and cultures are very different than their own. Additionally, there are many excellent stories which can help children understand and cope with challenging life experiences such as bullying, racism, divorce and even death.

So, while you are snuggled up in the evening with your child reading their favorite story (yet again!), remember that you are doing much more than helping them prepare for bed; you are providing their brains with vital experiences which will not only help them succeed at learning to read, but you are helping to prepare them to LOVE it!

For more information about literacy in early childhood, you might enjoy the following article:  Early Literacy: Policy and Practice in the Preschool Years

 

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