importance of reading Archives - Early Learning Childhood Education

16/08/201817/08/2018

What’s your favourite childhood book?

Book Week is coming up from 18 – 24 August, bringing the perfect time to focus on the incredible benefits and positive impact of books and reading on people young and old.

A special childhood book can be a beacon of joy throughout your entire life. Think about your own early years and you can probably recall one or more books that have stuck with you ever since. To celebrate Book Week, why not get educators to share a favourite childhood book with children at your centre?

Three reasons we love reading

1. Literacy is vital

Learning to read and developing reading comprehension are essential skills for life. If you can encourage a love of reading and books in children, you are giving them one of the most valuable tools possible.

2. Reading benefits other areas, like numeracy

Researchers found that reading provides benefits to a child’s overall education, not just literacy. Even formal tests showed higher scores for children who were read to more often at age 4 and 5, including improvements in numeracy!

3. Books are full of knowledge

Reading books doesn’t just improve your ability to read — books are full of knowledge and facts that enable children to learn just about everything! In fact, for a child who isn’t overly interested in books, start with books on their favourite subject to spark their interest.

Three books with a positive message

If you need some extra inspiration for new books to try in your centre, here are just five that are not only a great read but also have a really positive message embedded within them:

The Way We Have Fun: This book isn’t just about a family holiday — it tells the story of a family who takes off on a family trip armed with devices like smartphones tablets and laptops. But only when these ‘essentials’ go missing do they realise where the real fun is!

The Rainbow Fish: A beautifully illustrated story that takes the reader on a journey to discover the true meaning of beauty and friendship.

Little People, Big Dreams: This series of books takes you through the stories of the lives of some of the world’s most amazing and inspiring people, such as Marie Curie or Mother Theresa. Educational and full of inspiration!

Make Book Week a time for your centre to focus on the importance of literacy and the magic of reading for children and adults alike!

We look forward to finding out more about your favourite books, so share them with us on our Facebook page.

05/04/201805/04/2018

Celebrate stories this World Book Day

A favourite childhood book can stay with you for a lifetime. Most of us have memories of a story that we couldn’t get enough of from when we were children, and World Book Day is all about celebrating stories and the love of reading.

World Book Day takes place each year on 23 April. Dedicated to promoting reading, it is the perfect chance for centres to create a theme around books and literacy in centres.

Literacy is an important part of early childhood education and World Book Day is another avenue for us to support children’s early literacy skills. Encouraging children to get reading, writing, listening and speaking while taking a play-based approach can help children in countless other ways.

Developmental benefits of early literacy

When early childhood education supports children in developing their early literacy skills, there are many other benefits for their development, such as:

Brain development
Emotional awareness
Self-expression
Empathy
Multi-sensory development
Reasoning ability
Vocabulary building
Improved speech
Enhances concentration
Improved memory
A foundation for future academic success

Providing a book-positive environment

There are many ways we can incorporate books, reading and story-telling into early childhood education more. Here are a few to inspire you:

Your own library or reading space

Depending on the space available, we believe all centres should at least have a reading space or corner. This should be set up for the optimal enjoyment of books! Comfortable seats or cushions and plenty of book options to choose from. A mini library could be wonderful if space allows.

Library excursions

A visit to the local library is a must for children. Not only are there thousands of books to browse and select from for free, there are also many fun activities run through community libraries that could work for small groups. Definitely worth investigating and planning a local library trip.

Book bags

Send a book bag home with a different child each day or week and ask children to bring in one of their favourite books to share. Children love the novelty and get to consider which story they want to have read to their peers in a different setting than usual. A simple cotton tote bag or environmental shopping bag will do the trick!

Let this World Book Day inspire you to consider the many benefits of reading in early childhood education!

Share your ideas with us on Facebook too!

13/08/201513/08/2015

The Gift of Reading – Celebrating Children’s Book Week

“Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift.” —Kate DiCamillo

This year the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) will celebrate its 70^th Anniversary from Saturday 22 August – Friday 28 August 2015.

Researchers have proven what parents and educators have intuitively known all along – the more often you read to your children from an early age, the greater the positive effect on their reading and thinking skills. The study shows that there is an important role for parents/ educators in the development and educational performance of children. This early-life intervention seems to be beneficial for the rest of their lives. (More information about the research can be found here: Reading to Young Children: A Head-Start in Life

We all want our children to grow up with a strong grasp of literacy and numeracy, to have vivid imaginations and to enjoy curling up and getting lost in a book.

A recent article by Lori O’Keefe, published in the American Academy of Pediatrics, 5 Benefits of Reading To and With Your Kids, explains how reading together makes a difference.

Build Relationships: Sharing the experience of reading a book together allows parent and child to create deeper bonds between them. Snuggling up with a book is a great way to spend time together and creates a unique, shared experience even as kids get older and ‘grow out of’ cuddling.
New Experiences: When kids read, they get to experience new situations before they encounter them in real life. If a child is scared about attending kindergarten, reading about it beforehand can ease the transition. It’s also a great way for kids to experience diversity and branch out from the environment and culture they were raised in. Reading about and relating to the experiences of other people is extremely helpful in the development of empathy.
Improved Communication: Reading together allows kids to be exposed to an increased vocabulary, speech patterns and enunciation. This superior command of language also affords children better communication skills.
Improved Concentration: Sure, kids don’t typically like to sit still and listen, but by reading to them, parents can help their children learn to focus and discipline. Story time rewards kids for stronger self-discipline, longer attention spans, and better memory retention. No one wants to miss “the good part” because they were squirming!
A Lifetime’s Love of Books: It’s never too early to start showing kids the joy to be found in a book.

Children’s Book Week is a great time to discuss books and encourage children to read more. Another way to celebrate is to dress-up as characters and act out favourite books verses in character. This allows children to really be involved and engage in dramatic dress-up play.

To incorporate craft and reading together here is a great list of costumes and craft activities children of all ages can be a part of : Kidspot, Pinterest and The Book Chook.

To read more about the importance of reading to young children click here: https://www.earlymoments.com/promoting-literacy-and-a-love-of-reading/why-reading-to-children-is-important/

To see the list of winners and shortlisted books click here: http://cbca.org.au/awards.htm

Make sure you check your local paper for Children’s Book Week activities near you.