I MPORTANCE OF E ARLY L ITERACY Laura Lee Wilson Head of Children’s Services Holmes County District Public Library

“The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children. This is especially true during the preschool years.” ~Becoming a Nation of Readers

S IX S KILLS TO LEARNING TO READ 1.Print Motivation 2.Phonological Awareness 3.Narrative Skills 4.Letter Knowledge 5.Print Awareness 6.Vocabulary

Children who enjoy books will want to learn to read

Notice the lack of red and green in the brain scan of the neglected child.

P RINT M OTIVATION A child’s interest and enjoyment in books Birth – 2 years: begin reading books, even to babies 2 – 3 years: continue reading to your child; let your child see you reading 4 – 5 years: make book sharing a special time; attend library programs

Any book that a child wants to read is promoting “print motivation”

P HONOLOGICAL A WARENESS A child’s ability to hear and play with smaller sounds of words Birth – 2 years: sing songs, say nursery rhymes 2 – 3 years: play word games with rhyming sounds 4 – 5 years: what word would you have if you took “hot” out of “hotdog”

“Most children who have difficulty reading have trouble with phonological awareness.”

Sheep on a Ship, has rhyming words that will encourage word play and “phonological awareness”

N ARRATIVE S KILLS A child’s ability to describe things and events, to tell stories Birth – 2 years: talk to your baby 2 – 3 years: ask open ended questions. “What do you think is happening in this picture?” 4 – 5 years: ask child to tell you what happened in a book in the beginning, middle and end

Learning words begins at birth and grows throughout a child’s life. Most children start school knowing between 3,000 and 5,000 words

Jump, Frog, Jump! allows children to predict what is going to happen next which promotes “narrative skills”

L ETTER K NOWLEDGE A child’s ability to name letters, knowing their sounds, and recognizing them everywhere Birth – 2 years: Help your baby see and feel different shapes (The ball is round) 2 – 3 years: talk about shapes - what is the same and what is different 4 – 5 years: write your child’s name, point out letters

By the time children are 2 years old, they understand words. You help your child learn new words by talking and reading together.

Any alphabet book will assist in learning “letter knowledge”

V OCABULARY A child’s ability to know the names of things Birth – 2 years: talk to your baby, encourage babbling 2 – 3 years: when your child talks add more details, read books 4 – 5 years: allow your child to express themselves through language, read books and have child retell the story

Research shows that children who have larger vocabularies are better readers. Knowing many words helps children recognize written words by talking and reading together.

“Vocabulary is learned from books more than from normal conversation with adults or children or from television exposure.” ~ Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children

Children will learn new “vocabulary” by listening to books read to them

P RINT A WARENESS A child’s ability to notice print, knowing how to handle a book, and follow the words on a page Birth – 2 years: allow your child to hold board books and cloth books 2 – 3 years: Point to words as you say them; hold the book upside down 4 – 5 years: Let your child choose a book, turn the pages, repeat words they are familiar with

Talking with children develops comprehension skills that will help them understand what they read.

Any children’s book that interests a child is good to use for reinforcing “print awareness”

Notice how different parts of the brain are used for different reading functions. Reading truly is a whole-brain activity.

Brain synapses are formed with new and repeated activities toward the beginning of life. Notice during the teen years, that those synapses that are not used through repetition begin to diminish.

W HAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP YOUR CHILD ? R E A D! Keep Books with Toys Speak Clearly Ask your toddler questions Visit the Library