FAQs About Preschool and Early Literacy Development
Posted on: 5 May 2022
How can a high-quality daycare center help your child develop early literacy skills? You're a reader—and want your toddler or preschooler to follow in your footsteps. Take a look at what you need to know about preschool education, early literacy, and your child's development.
What Is Early Literacy?
If this is your first child or you're new to childcare services and pre-kindergarten programs, you may need to learn more about early literacy. As the name implies, early literacy development includes beginning early reading, writing, and language skills.
Even though these areas will eventually include chapter books, book reports, and more, right now your child only needs to learn the basics. Instead of independent reading activities or writing by themselves, early literacy in the daycare classroom includes age/developmentally appropriate learning ideas. These help young children to create a foundation that they can build on in kindergarten, elementary school, and beyond.
What Early Literacy Activities Will Your Child Try At Daycare?
There is no standard or universal answer to this question. Instead, the specific early literacy activities depend on the school, the teacher, and the curriculum. Again, these won't include the higher-level lessons you would expect to see later in your child's education.
Daycare early literacy activities may look like play. Toddlers and preschoolers may act out a play, engage in book-based dress-up activities, draw with crayons and markers, create art based on a story, or play with puppets. To learn more about the early literacy lessons in your child's program, talk to the early childhood educator or the school's director.
What Books Will Your Child Read in Daycare?
Story-time or book reading activities are central to early literacy lessons. A high-quality early childhood classroom should have a book or library center/area and plenty of opportunities for the students to explore reading materials. The books the teacher chooses should have easy-to-understand words, engaging illustrations or photos, and plenty of print. The content of the books may follow the classroom lesson themes or include areas that interest toddlers and preschool-aged children.
Why Is Early Literacy Important?
More specifically, why do toddlers and preschoolers need to engage in early literacy activities? Along with creating a foundation for future learning, early literacy lessons can help the young child to develop cognitive abilities such as memory, critical thinking, and problem-solving. These skills can help your child to get a jump start on their education. This means your child won't need to wait until they are in kindergarten (or later) to start reading, writing, or using language to communicate their thoughts and feelings.
Share