The Benefits of Reading to Your Child
Reading to your child helps build important early literacy skills that give kids a leg up in school
Reading to your child is a great way to spend time and strengthen your family bond. But it’s more than a pastime and more than something your child enjoys. Reading together helps to build early literacy skills and ensure future success in school and in life.
What is early literacy?
Early literacy is what children know about reading and writing before they actually begin learning how to read and write. Educators have identified six pre-reading skills that can help contribute to reading success:
- Liking books (a.k.a. Print Motivation) - Being interested in and enjoying books.
- Knowing the names of things (a.k.a. Vocabulary) - Knowing the name of things.
- Following the words on a page (a.k.a. Print Awareness) - Noticing print, knowing how to handle a book and knowing how to follow the words on a page.
- Knowing about letters (a.k.a. Letter Knowledge) - Knowing letters are different from each other, knowing their names and sounds and recognizing letters everywhere.
- Knowing the sound structure of a word - (a.k.a. Phonological Awareness) - Being able to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words.
- Describe things and tell stories (a.k.a. Narrative Skills) - Being able to describe things and events and tell stories.
How can you help your child?
Helping children develop these skills can be both fun and easy. Talking, singing, sharing books, and playing are all things you can do to help get kids ready to read. Have fun and share with your kids every day!
To learn more, we invite you to visit our Ready to Read! page.