Some of Our Goals:
- Increase parenting knowledge of literacy strategies and the benefits of reading.
- Encourage family literacy and how to implement literacy activities in day-to-day lives.
- Promote pre-kindergarten school readiness skills.
Four versions of a one-hour workshop:
Each one-hour Family Storyteller workshop includes a story time with book-reading techniques and other literacy activities. A book and packet of materials go home with the parents and children so they can continue their reading and activities together. The four workshop topics include:
First Steps to Writing
In today’s world texting, swiping and typing are our way of life. Is handwriting still important? Yes! As a communication tool and basis for literacy, writing boosts brain development and builds academic success. Pre-writing skills (or writing readiness) are the fundamental skills young children need to develop before they are able to write. They include a child’s ability to hold and use a pencil, draw, write, copy, even color. Children as young as 2 years old begin to imitate the act of writing by drawing or scribbling. Research shows writing skills developed before school significantly predict later academic achievement.
Fun with Non-Fiction
Research shows that children prefer non-fiction (informational) books to fiction (story) books, though they aren’t typically chosen as early reading choices. Non-fiction comes in many forms such as newspapers, magazines, cookbooks and books on facts. Non-fiction is different from fiction because it requires reading for content and information, which is a skill used in daily life. Also, children are naturally curious about the world around them and reading non-fiction books builds on this curiosity.
Favorite Fairy Tales
Once upon a time… Fairy tales have been around as long as anyone can remember and are enjoyed through storytelling, books and movies. Popular tales were first published in the 1800s by the Brothers Grimm. Fairy tales are not just about a princess living happily even after, reading these tales offer many benefits and are important stories for childhood.
Phonics and Sounds
Young children develop phonics and sounds skills (phonological awareness skills) in the preschool years as pre-reading skills. Phonics is the relationship between sounds and written symbols and phonemic awareness is sounds in spoken speech. With preschoolers, focus first on the letter sounds, not the name of the letter. Once they understand the sounds of letters, teach the letters along with letter sounds (phonics). Parents can introduce phonics during reading, singing or play activities. Children learn the letter n represents the sound /n/ and that it’s the first letter in words such as nose, nice and new. A National Reading Panel found that early phonics instruction is the best way to teach children how to read.
Literacy Resources:
- Young children whose parents read them five books a day enter kindergarten having heard about 1.4 million more words than kids who were never read to, a new study found. Even kids who are read only one book a day will hear about 290,000 more words by age 5 than those who don’t regularly read books with a parent or caregiver.
- The brain develops faster than any other time between the ages of zero and three. Because of this, it’s important to foster literacy during the early stages of life.
- Children with richer home literacy environments demonstrate higher levels of reading knowledge and skills at kindergarten entry (Nord, Lennon, Liu, & Chandler, 2000)
Family Storyteller is one of many parenting programs and workshops available for families with young children. If you are interested in attending other parenting programs, including Everyday SEL and YOU, learn more by visiting Partners in Parenting.
