In the development of children, reading during early years is very crucial. As they enjoy books and read stories, their ability to understand words, use their imagination, and develop their speech increases exponentially. Plus, it really doesn’t hurt if your child deems reading their favorite pastime.
Teachers, parents, and reading programs like the Dicker Reading Method play a huge part in the development of young children’s reading skills. Because the more kids experience books, the more they gain interest and passion for them. Reading is so much more than just another hobby or a quiet time sitting in a cozy corner.
Reading is the foundation of all learning. It develops spelling, listening, writing, literacy and social skills. Also, from the moment you learned to read, you’ve been reading everyday.
Kids and Reading During Early Years
Young kids need to experience books. They need to understand and enjoy stories, rhymes, songs, etc. as they listen and respond to them with enjoyment and curiosity. This promotes the value and pleasure of reading and encourages an interest in reading books throughout school, and then later on in life.
As educators, parents, and guardians, it’s nice to know that there are pre-k reading tutoring programs available. Also, there are plenty of books that feature interactive pages (pop-ups, lift-the-flaps, noisy pages, pictures with textures, etc.) that really get toddlers and babies to engage in the storytelling and stay riveted.
During the first five years of life, children develop far quicker. For this reason, they are called the foundation years, because they form the building blocks for life. They set your child up for future success.
Throughout these years, if they attend a nursery or pre-school, their progress is being monitored to see if they’re growing into their learning as they should be.
Early Childhood Literacy Milestones
Below, let’s take a look at the various stages where your kids need to be closely monitored to witness their milestones and see how far they can reach in terms of literacy.
- 8-20 months: Children demonstrate an interest in holding and looking at books around this time. They learn what books are and turn the pages while looking at pictures.
- 16-26 months: Around this time, kids can identify their favorite books and the stories they want to hear you tell. They also recognize and mimic actions from favorite stories and songs. To encourage this, let them join in one storytelling. Let them tell the story with you.
- 22-36 months: By age 3, children are capable of filling missing gaps in stories that they’ve heard repetitively. They know their favorite books and they can even help you tell the tales.
- 30-50 months: When they’re 4 years old, kids recognize a story, know the title, tell the story, and even anticipate endings of the story. They can join in on rhymes as well and recognize words that mean something to them. Their attention spans are also longer, and they can hold books correctly, and turn pages all by themselves.
- 40-60 months: At around 5 years old, your child can remember and speak words that rhyme with 3-letter words. Their imagination and their vocabulary lets them tell their own stories and create their own songs. Story time means you don’t just read them. It’s way more interactive.
Reading at School and at Home
Usually, kids start school at around 4-5 years old. Around this time, it’s likely they’ll be capable of recognizing letters, understanding words, and have fairly good listening skills. They can also deal with changes in routine. Typical school day in reception features routine and structure, although it still does involve plenty of free play.
Fun group tasks involve reading and acting out the book together. Imagination runs wild in young children. Most kids and even adults love to sit down and get comfy where they can free their mind and travel into their story book.
But because there are plenty of books to read and enjoy, there’s not enough time in a single school day to discover all there is to enjoy with reading. Support from educators and parents with reading at home is just as important as a child’s development.
So in addition to reading tutoring while they’re in kindergarten, take some time to share books together. It’s more than just entertainment. This develops their concentration and understanding of the language as well.
It’s never too early to start sharing books with your child. And now is as good a time as any.
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This Article is credit to AL Gomez, founder & digital marketing specialist of Dlinkers. He has contributed to a variety of online publications including SemRush, Business.com, and Yahoo.
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