Focus On Early Literacy Skills At Home and At School

Many times families will ask what their child needs to know and be able to do before starting school. Public education is for all students. We educate students regardless of ability level and strive to help them achieve success. While there are no requirements a child must demonstrate prior to starting school, there is certainly value in families understanding early literacy skills and the importance of reading with their children regularly at home.

Research is clear that when parents involve themselves with their child’s literacy development, their child’s academic achievement is significantly impacted. Simply reading with your child yields incredible outcomes. Students who read at home for only 10 minutes per day generally outperform 70% of all other students at the same age. When that number increases to 21 minutes of reading per day that percentage jumps to 90%. There is no doubt that reading with your child at home is beneficial to his/her academic achievement. Plus, the quality time spent bonding with your child is an added bonus!

Another question parents ask is what strategies will yield the best results when reading with their child. This list is by no means exclusive, but a way to support families to reflect on their practices and to incorporate some of the suggested items in their daily routine.

Read every night: make time to read to your child. Be their reading role model. Allow them to hear you be excited about the characters, plot, and theme in a story. Ask questions as you go. Talk to them about the story. Maximize other literacy opportunities by reading shampoo bottles in the bathtub, cereal boxes at breakfast, or quotes on t-shirts. Use grocery shopping as a teachable moment. Making your shopping list with your child is another real-life way to help them connect print and vocabulary. Read recipes aloud when cooking with your child. Read billboards as you are driving. Read aloud and think aloud. Children need lots of exposure to words so just read—EVERYTHING! These practices help create comprehension skills and increase vocabulary, two essential components of reading.

Be explicit: explain that we read from left to right. Discuss how pictures illustrate the meaning of the story. Use your finger to track the words you are reading so they see the print and hear the words. Notice and discuss how the letters at the beginning of the sentences are capital letters and that the various ending punctuation marks all have meanings. Talk about the sounds the letters make. Say things like, “this word begins with an S. S makes the sss sound.” Focus on the sounds letters make and not simply on identifying the letters. This practice strengthens phonics and phonemic awareness, two more essential components of reading.

Choose a topic to read that is interesting and on their level: students are more engaged if they are interested in the topic. If you are struggling to get your child interested in reading, find something they are passionate about and read about that topic to them. You can even read the same book over and over. This allows children to think more deeply about the book and lean new words with every reading. When you are reading new words, discuss the new words and their meanings. Another tip is to ensure the book is age-appropriate and on their reading level. We do not want books to be too hard or too easy, so ensure your child’s book is in a range that will meet his/her needs. You can ask your child’s teacher for their Lexile level which can be found on the AIMSweb report and then use www.lexile.com to “find just right books.” Reading what is interesting and on a child’s level, and reading it repeatedly, can help with comprehension and fluency, another component of reading.

Use titles to make predictions: ask your child what they think will happen based on the title/pictures. Stop periodically to discuss and ask questions as you read. What do you think about……. Or what would you do if…… This builds comprehension, the most important reading component.

Reading is essential for success and the focus in all public schools. Let your child’s school know how they can support you. During family activities at Finger Lake, we always share tips for how families can support their child’s academics at home. Ask your school if they offer parent literacy training. Check with the office about what family involvement nights look like, when they occur, and how you can be involved. Your school wants to support you and your family with reading. Please let us know what we can do for you!