May 15

May 15 Why read?

Photo by Stephen Andrews on Unsplash — Photo by Stephen Andrews on Unsplash

When my daughter started kindergarten this year, I had to fill in a form saying what I expected her to learn at kinder during the year. I had a small list of hopes, including getting along with others and becoming more independent. I thought my answers were so standard that the question seemed almost redundant. What I didn’t count on is the number of parents and carers who listed ‘learning to read’ as one of their expectations. It turns out that one of the reasons the form exists is so the kinder teacher can manage parent/carer expectations because the reality is a very small percentage of children will be ready to learn to read when they start kinder.

So if most children aren’t ready to learn to read until age 5 or older, why is reading to them from birth so important? There are so many reasons but I’ll just list a few:

Enjoyment - most people working in education (from daycare through to high school) will tell you how much their students and little ones love to hear a story. It can engage even the most energetic child and is a superb way to help them wind down.
Connection - Reading together is a special time of bonding for parents/carers and little ones. It can help them build a closer relationship and increase social and emotional learning.
Audience skills - Children learn to listen, understand and respond if/when required. These are extraordinarily important life skills your child is learning on you knee reading a book. Amazing!
Print conventions - For young children, this can simply mean they learn which way to open a book, and how to hold it the right way up
Alphabet knowledge - They learn that letters on a page have meaning

These might seem small but as I focus on early literacy in upcoming posts, I’ll paint a picture of all the small things we do at home which combine to set up our little ones for success in literacy and life.