Early Literacy Skills for Preschoolers

By: Ms. Lace,  Preschool Teacher

Early literacy is a current trend in the colourful world of early childhood education. This focuses on helping children to develop the skills they need to become successful readers in the future. Exposing young children to letters, sounds, vocabulary, and retelling of stories prepare them to build a strong foundation in literacy skills. 

Here are some basic concepts to jumpstart and expose your child early to literacy:

1. establish eye-hand coordination.  It helps to track the movements of the child’s hands with their eyes, which is essential for reading and decoding. This is beneficial to understand that words are read from left to right and top to bottom.

2. storybook/book orientation. This is a nice way to allow the child to be familiar with what they are reading. Knowing the proper position (right-side up), start to read the front cover, flip the pages and have a preview of the pictures to boost their enthusiasm.

3. Finger-point reading. This is one of the common practices for Early literacy that helps to understand that printed words carries meaning and makes sentences.  

4. rhymes and sounds. An enjoyable way to develop phonemic awareness. Children love singing songs and action movements. 

5. letter case recognition. Learning and playing with letters helps children to recognize identify and spell their names.  Research has shown that this frequently leads to a child’s interest in sounds and in reading.

Reference: https://www.northeastohioparent.com/education/pre-literacy-skills-for-preschoolers/