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Current research has identified how children
develop pre-literacy skills from birth. Parents and teachers
with focused use of research-based activities and interactions
can support children 0-6 to build strong foundations for learning
to read and write.
Did you know?
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4 in 10 children experience reading difficulty.
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75% of poor readers in third grade will
remain poor readers in high school.
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Fluent readers begin school with better
verbal skills, phonological and letter awareness, familiarity
with reading, and broad background knowledge.
A key to changing these statistics lies in the relationships
between parents and children. Positive relationships and interactions
are the cornerstone for early learning. These relationships
impact the quality of the child’s early experiences
and provide the foundation for later success in school. It
follows that family involvement in a child’s life at
home and at school is a crucial part of early learning, and
especially language and literacy development. Naturally occurring
parent-child interactions support learning and are a step
on the pathway to literacy. Before children learn to read
and write, they learn to talk and understand the meaning of
words.
 In
family literacy programs, parents work to increase their own
skills in reading, writing, math, and oral communication so
that they can better support their children in school. Concurrently,
children attend quality early childhood programs focusing
on school readiness and early language and literacy development.
The goal is to support life-long learning and self-sufficiency
for families.
Renton Families That Work/Even Start is such a program. Parents
and children
attend school together daily. The program’s mission
is to build on strengths to improve family relationships and
support literacy. Language development is the focus of learning
opportunities and is modeled by all staff. Twice a week, families
have scheduled and planned opportunities to learn together
with their children. This is called Parent and Child Together
Time, or PACT Time. During these sessions, parents follow
the lead of the child through learning activities and are
supported by program staff. Take a look at a recent session:
The theme for the week was “the beach,” a topic
generated by the children’s  interest
and the hot summer weather. Parents jumped right in and a
field trip was planned and carried out for a trip to the “beach.”
The vocabulary overheard included the words: splash, picnic,
deep, far, and shallow. The children were also learning about
textures of the beach—rough and bumpy—and the
color blue.
Research shows that use of “rich language” enhances
children’s vocabulary and helps them to be more successful
readers. This theme was also carried out in the early childhood
classrooms by having:
- Wet sand in the sensory tables;
- Sand in the finger paint (blue);
- “Bubble Painting” with blue paint;
- a song, which was also in Sign Language, about swimming
in the water; and
- library books about the beach and swimming.
 Parents
and children often write together about a topic or make up
their own story. This experience gives value to the spoken
word as parents take the child’s dictation and allows
for modeling of the writing process. Children provide the
illustrations and the books are bound and added to the home
or classroom library.
Through every day experiences and supportive, positive interactions
and conversations between parents and children, children develop
the skills necessary to learn to read. These skills include
strong vocabularies, knowledge of the structures necessary
for a verbal exchange with others, and experience with the
rhythm and cadences of spoken language. These skills help
get children ready for school and help them to be more successful
learners.
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