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What is Early Literacy?
Early literacy is everything children know about reading and writing before they can actually read and write. Early literacy is a baby who chews on a book or seems to know which way the book should be held or how to turn the pages from right to left, a toddler who wants his favourite book read over and over, and a preschooler who "reads" a familiar story to you from memory.
Early literacy skills begin to develop in the first 5 years of life. Your child's likelihood for success in school depends on how much he or she has learned about reading before entering school. Your child's early experiences with books and language lay the foundation for success in learning to read.
Early literacy is not the "teaching of reading."
“You are your child’s first and most important teacher” but the most important thing a parent can do to foster early literacy is provide an atmosphere that's fun, verbal and stimulating, not school-like. The focus should not be on teaching, but on the fun you're having with your child - offer your child plenty of opportunities to talk and be listened to, to read and be read to, and to sing and be sung to.
No rote memorization, no flashcards, no workbooks and no drills are necessary. Children who are exposed to interactive literacy-rich environments, full of fun opportunities to learn language, develop early literacy skills.
As parents you are the key to your child's success in learning to read. When you read, talk or play with your child, you're stimulating the growth of your child's brain and building the connections that will become the building blocks for reading. Brain development research shows that reading aloud to your child every day increases their brain's capacity for language and literacy skills and is the most important thing you can do to prepare them for learning to read.
“If parents understood the huge educational benefits and intense happiness brought about by reading aloud to their children, and if every parent…and every adult caring for a child…read aloud a minimum of three stories a day to the children in their lives, we could probably wipe out illiteracy within one generation.” (Fox, M. 2001. Reading Magic)
Six Early Literacy Skills
Young children need a variety of skills to become successful readers. A panel of reading experts has determined that six specific early literacy skills become the building blocks for later reading and writing. Research indicates that children who enter school with more of these skills are better able to benefit from the reading instruction they receive when they arrive at school.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary, knowing the names of things, is an extremely important skill for children to have when they are learning to read. Most children enter school knowing between 3,000 and 5,000 words.
Help develop your child's vocabulary by reading a variety of books with them, both fiction and non-fiction, and by naming all the objects in your child's world.
Print Motivation
Print Motivation is a child's interest in and enjoyment of books. A child with print motivation enjoys being read to, plays with books, pretends to write, asks to be read to and likes trips to the library.
Encourage print motivation in your child by making shared book reading a special time, keeping books accessible, and letting your child see that you enjoy reading. Explain how you use reading and writing in everyday life.
Print Awareness
Print Awareness includes learning that writing in English follows basic rules such as flowing from top-to-bottom and left-to-right, and that the print on the page is what is being read by someone who knows how to read. An example of print awareness is a child's ability to point to the words on the page of a book.
Your child's print awareness can be encouraged by pointing out and reading words everywhere you see them - on signs, labels, at the grocery store and post office.
Narrative Skills
Narrative Skills, being able to understand and tell stories, and describe things, are important for children being able to understand what they are learning to read. An example of a narrative skill is a child's ability to tell what happens at a birthday party or on a trip to the zoo.
Help your child strengthen their narrative skills by asking them to tell you about the book, instead of just listening to you read the story. Encourage your child to tell you about things they have done that have a regular sequence to them.
Letter Knowledge
Letter Knowledge includes learning that letters have names and are different from each other, and that specific sounds go with specific letters. An example of letter knowledge is a child's ability to tell the name of the letter “B” and what sound it makes.
Letter knowledge can be developed by using a variety of fun reading or writing activities, like pointing out and naming letters in alphabet books, picture books, or on signs and labels. For babies, talk about the shape of things, and for preschoolers, try drawing letters and pictures in the sand.
Phonological Awareness
Phonological Awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate the smaller sounds in words. Phonological awareness includes the ability to hear and create rhymes, to say words with sounds or chunks left out and the ability to put two word chunks together to make a word. Most children who have difficulty in reading have trouble in phonological awareness. Strengthen phonological awareness by playing fun word games with your child.
Sources: http://www.multcolib.org/birthtosix/earlyliteracy.html, Karin Mackenzie
“Rhymers will be readers…if children know eight nursery rhymes by heart by the time they are four years old they’re usually among the best readers by the time they’re eight.” (Fox, M. 2001. Reading Magic)
For some fun activities and websites to enhance what you are doing at home visit: www.yourbeststart.ca and click on the Literacy tab.
For more information contact-
Karin Mackenzie, Early Literacy Facilitator
46 Salls Street (Red Rock Public School)
Box 284
Red Rock, ON P0T 2P0
Phone: 807-886-2340
Fax: 807-887-0570
Cell: 807-887-4330
Email: shawbiz%23ca|kmoeycbb
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