Educators stress importance of reading to kids from birth

BY BILL BRADLEY

Getting tots and children exposed to reading early is the key to their future success said educators at Literacy Night at Queen Elizabeth Public School on Dell St. Thursday (Nov. 23).

“The purpose of Literacy Night is to inform parents of the best strategies to use at home when they are reading with their children,” said Jane Davey, principal of  Queen Elizabeth.

“By teaching parents the kinds of strategies we use here as teachers they will be able to support their kids at home. That way the children get the same message at home and at school,” said Davey.

Children should be read from the time they are born, Davey said.

“The research says that the sooner you start reading to children the more aware they become of reading. It may sound unusual that you would read to a newborn child but research indicates that the tone of voice, a soothing caring kind of bonding between parent and child, really works. So that's when you should start,” she said.

Increasing literacy skills is a priority with the Rainbow District School Board said their literacy specialist Christine Kosior-Nicholson.

“As our world is becoming more evolved we need to be very literate especially to be able to access information on the new technologies  like the Internet. Also in the modern work environment employees are expected to be multi taskers, to be able to process information quickly, so high literacy skills give workers an edge and keep their businesses or organizations competitive,” said Kosior-Nicholson.

Children like to be read to, Davey said.

“For a five-year-old, I would recommend reading to the child five to 10 minutes an evening, as they get older then 15 to 20 minutes but always recognizing that it is fun and enjoyable such as nursery rhymes and fairy tales,” said Davey.

For more information, Kosior-Nicholson recommends literacy games for kids at www.dotolearn.com and www.rainbowschools.ca.