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Hello, I’m glad to be here with you representing the Catawba County Library system. My name is Donna Fox and I am a Library Service Specialist at the St. Stephens Branch library. We are one of the seven library branches located throughout Catawba County. Newton is the main library for our system.
I am here to talk to you about the importance of early childhood literacy. According to research there are six pre reading skills that children must learn in order to learn to read. Every Child Ready to Read @ your library is a project of the Public Library Association and the Association for Library Service to Children. A series of workshops have been developed to train library staff on early literacy. Several of the youth service staff in the Catawba County Library system have taken this workshop and are implementing this training in our preschool story times. We provide this information to parents, care givers, child care facilities and also in a blog that can be accessed through the Catawba County Library website: www.catawbacountync.gov/library. I am glad to be able to share this information with you at this time.
What is early literacy? Early literacy is what children know about reading and writing before they can actually read and write. Research shows that children get ready to read years before they start school. The best teachers for your preschool children are you the parents. You know your child best. They will be the most receptive to learning when they are in a good mood. You know them best when it comes to judging their moods. You can teach them reading skills in ways that are easiest for them. Take every chance you have to read with your child, talk about stories, sing songs, and play word games. Children learn best by doing things.
A quote from “Becoming a Nation of Readers”, states that: “The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children. This is especially so during the preschool years.” We offer several preschool and toddler story times on different days and times at our seven libraries and have staff on hand to assist parents with book selections and how to navigate the library.
There are six skills that preschoolers need to learn for early literacy. They are Vocabulary, Print Motivation, Print Awareness, Narrative Skills, Letter Knowledge, and Phonological Awareness. I know that this may start to sound like it is complicated but it is very easy to break down. Most of you are doing this with your child already, but just didn’t know what it was called. I will briefly explain what each of these six skills are.
Narrative Skills are being able to describe things and events and tell a story. You can tell your child stories, ask them to tell you about something that happened today, read books together, help them to understand that a story has order (first-next-last), read books more than one time, and switch rolls – have them tell you the story and you be the listener.
Print Motivation is being interested in and enjoying books. Take your child to the library, make reading together a special time for the two of you, and let your child see you reading.
Vocabulary means knowing the name of things. When you are with your child talk about what is going on around you and about how things work and about feelings and ideas. Read together every day. Research shows the children who have larger vocabularies are better readers. Knowing many words helps a child recognize written words and understand what they read.
The skill of Print Awareness is noticing print, how to handle a book and how to follow the words on a page. Point to words as you say them, read out loud any labels, signs, lists, menus, etc… Let your child hold the book and “read” to you. If you hold a book upside down see if your child can tell you how it is suppose to be held. If a child is comfortable with printed language they will feel comfortable with books and understand that print is useful.
Letter Knowledge is being able to tell that letters are different from each other and knowing the name of each letter and the sounds they make. You can write your child’s name using magnetic letters, clay, sand, pudding, etc… Point out and name letters when reading books, signs, and labels. Knowing the name and sounds of letters helps a child figure out how to say written words.
The last but surely not the least is Phonological Awareness. This skill involves being able to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words. You can ask your child if words rhyme, dog & cat or cat & hat. Say rhymes and make up silly rhymes. Sing songs, songs have different notes for each syllable in a word. Read some poetry and make up some short poems. Most children who have difficulty reading have trouble with Phonological Awareness.
Every parent can have a big role in helping your preschool child develop literacy skills that will help them to become readers. Remember that there are many resources available to you in the community, the public library being one of them. Children need to know how to read by third grade to be able to keep up with the demands of their curriculum. If we can develop a love for reading at an early age, children will become lifelong readers. For your school age child remember that the Catawba County Library system offers a summer reading program to help keep their reading skills fresh during the summer break. This year’s theme is “Be Creative @ Your Library” You can access a listing of upcoming events or read the Every Child Ready to Read blog, through the internet at www.catawbacountync.gov/library. I hope to see you soon at the library. In the words of Dr. Seuss: The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go. Give your child the world with a good early foundation in literacy.
Thank you.
