ECHO March 2020 20KRK017 March Newsletter | Page 2

Share stories at mealtime. Provide prompts like:
“Tell us what your teddy did today”. Alternatively,
randomly select from ideas for characters, problems,
and settings, for example: “Tell us about an inquisitive
mouse lost in a library”. Oral storytelling provides a
bridge to written stories.
Record on your phone or write down your child’s stories. Turn them into a book,
animation, or slide show (with an app). Children will see the transformation of their spoken words
into written words. These stories can be revisited to reinforce learning of words, story structure
and grammar.
How to be a
Talking, Reading, Writing,
Viewing and Listening
FAMILY
Literacy involves meaning-making with materials that humans use to
communicate — be they visual, written, spoken, sung, and/or drawn.
Definitions vary accordingly to culture, personal values and theories. 
Literacy is not just about reading to your child. It’s the adult-child
interactions that are also very important. 
These interactions need to be lively and engage children with the text-in-hand. Alphabet toys
and phonics programs alone offer little to develop literacy, as they focus on a code without
contextual meaning. Words, and their letters and sounds, are best understood when seen and
applied in everyday experiences, driven by children’s motivations.

There are several practical things parents can do to encourage broad literacy and learning in
early childhood years.
Talk about their experiences. For example, prompt them to describe something they have
done, seen, read or heard about. Research shows children’s oral language supports their literacy
development, and vice-versa.
Guide literacy in your children’s play, following their lead. For example, help them
follow instructions for making something, or use texts in pretend play, such as menus in play about
a pizza place. Children will engage with various texts and the purposes they have in their lives.
Books, books, books. For babies and toddlers, start with
durable board books of faces, animals and everyday things with
few words that invite interactivity (e.g., “Where is baby?”).
Progress to more complex picture books with rhyming language.
Talk about personal links with the stories and ask questions (such
as “I wonder what will happen next or where they went to”) as
these will support comprehension. Look to the Children’s Book
Council for awarded quality children’s literature.
Talk about words children notice. Be sure the words make sense to children. Talk about
what words look like, what patterns, letters and sounds they make. This builds children’s word
recognition and attack skills, and understanding of what words in context mean.
Involve your children in activities where you use literacy. For example, if you make shopping
lists or send e-cards, your children could help create these with you. Explain what you are doing
and invite children’s participation (e.g., “I’m looking at a map to see how to get to your friend’s
house”). Children can meaningfully engage with and create texts and see the place these texts have
in their lives.
Don’t wait. Read what you are reading aloud to your newborn. Children become attuned
to the sound of your voice and the tones of the language you speak as their hearing develops. Above all, be sure the experience is enjoyable, playful, and encourages children’s active involvement.
Literacy should be engaging for your children, not a chore.
[ 2 ] [ 3 ]