The Value of Take Home Literacy

Becoming literate should be an enjoyable, exciting, and fun journey for a preschooler to undertake as they study the world around them. However, many children find themselves falling behind when they reach the kindergarten and primary grades because they were not read to enough by parents or caregivers during their early years. This can occur in lower-income homes that cannot afford as many books and forms of print to keep around the house. When a child isn't exposed to enough print, they are not getting that jump start they need in order to have an easy time learning how to read in school.

One way that preschools combat this problem is by creating take home literacy bags. Children are able to borrow books they are interested in from the classroom and take them home to be read with a parent. This is a wonderful way to encourage parents to get involved in supporting their child's literacy, and it leads to new and interesting stories being told in the household. These take home literacy bags help to support preschool literacy and make it so more children enter kindergarten and elementary school ready to be successful at reading.

As a parent, it is important that you take advantage of this great resource! New books are regularly being brought into your home to enjoy and experience with your child. Considering how important read-aloud time is (see this post), it is up to you to support your child's journey through early literacy. If your school does not offer a take home literacy program, try bringing it up with your child's teacher to see if it will work for your classroom. Happy reading!

Reading Aloud to Children

Reading aloud to children is a valuable part of early literacy for the preschool child. I recently listened to a Read Aloud Lesson by Mem Fox that discussed not only how important reading aloud is, but how important it is to read aloud well. She says that the more engaged the children are when being read to, the more interested they will be in books and pretending to read. This is such a great way to enhance your child's early literacy, and it can be a very fun experience for the reader as well!

An important aspect of being a good storyteller is using the words on the page to guide the way you read. Instead of just idly reading through the words on the page if you have already told this story a hundred times, think about what you can do to keep a child interested and invested in the tale. One suggestion that Mem Fox has is to speak a little faster in times of drama and excitement, and to speak slower when building suspense or indicating sadness. You can also use a higher voice to express excitement and to voice smaller characters. A lower voice will help you portray frightening parts of a story or big loud voices for giants or large animals. These small changes in your storytelling will help the child get a feel for the story past simply hearing the words. It may also keep you engaged with a story the tenth time through as you think of these storytelling techniques!

Literacy is Cultural

In class today we read a short article about three major ideas behind research in the field preschool literacy. My group read about how literacy is a cultural practice, and I found it very interesting. One thing that really got me thinking was the fact that all families are literate in their own ways, either culturally or based on where they live. Just because a child does not know what we call literacy in schools does not mean that they are illiterate! I think it is important to know each child's background in order to help them transition their literacy at home into successful literacy at school.