I had so much fun chatting with literacy expert Sam from Andrell Education about how to promote literacy/reading development for preschoolers and primary aged children.
Here is a summary of the key points from the literacy chat video:
- Oral language development starts early through play, sounds awareness, and social interactions. This builds phonemic awareness - the ability to hear and manipulate sounds.
- Reading instruction starts with phonemic awareness, then adds letters (phonics), speed/fluency, vocabulary, and finally comprehension. Kids can get stuck at any stage.
- Modeling, mistakes and peer teaching help kids learn best. Teachers should sing, dance, and be silly to engage kids.
- Conversations during daily activities build vocabulary much more than passive screen time. Talk before writing helps kids put thoughts on paper.
- Fine motor activities like opening containers and crossing midline while playing develop skills needed for writing.
- The 30 million word gap around school entry is widening. There's also a gap from primary to secondary with academic language.
- Sensory aspects like books' touch and smell matter. Reluctant writers do better with functional "how-to" writing at first.
- Teachers need calming strategies too. Oral language development is being impacted by less adult interactions and more screen time. Bring back games, songs, rhymes.
For more support in the area of literacy, contact me about my 1 hour team coaching program.