Charlotte Corrigan
Give Your Child the Greatest Gift: the love of reading.
Reading underpins everything; it develops the mind; it is one of the main building blocks in
education. Even babies are fascinated by books; it starts at a young age. Babies like to flip
through the pages of a cardboard book or a different textured book. Toddlers, on the other
hand, learn to label the animals and characters they see in a book. And older toddlers, and
pre-schoolers, like nothing better than to sit and listen to a story from their favourite teacher
or their parents.
But why is this simple such an important stage of your child’s development?
1. Phonological development. Through reading a book to your child, your child will
start to develop their sound system. They will learn about plosive sounds (b, d and
b). They will hear you say a word like ‘bear’ and start to mimic this way of speaking.
Plus, some books rhyme and this can help them to understand different types of
sounds. Furthermore, they start to understand the smallest units of sound phonemes
and morphemes (how these sounds added together may words). Poetry, songs and
rhymes can also help your child to learn new words and enjoy participating in these
activities.
2. Phonics. Reading helps your child to recognise words. They start to put the
phonemes and morphemes together and start to understand word patterns. Whole
reading schemes, such as the Oxford Reading Tree, have the characters created to
help your child develop language. Even the character Biff (her actual name is
Barbara) is created through using the fricative sounds to help your child learn to
develop the ‘f’ sound.
3. Interaction equates to cognition. The simple act of discussing a book with a parent
can help to develop a child’s language skills. Through reading a book, the child may
have a conversation with their parent and understand about the importance of
taking turns.
4. Learning new words. Through reading a book, your child will acquire new lexis
(words) they will learn the difference between a sheep and a cow. Or a cat and a dog.
They will also be able to apply these words to real life situations and understand
these words because they know what the animal does or where it can be found.
5. Reading the word. Encourage your child to recognise the grapheme (the symbol) by
asking the question, ‘What letter does this word begin with?’ Ensure you praise their
effort.
6. Make a link. Try to pick out words and ask the child to break the word down using
the phonemes (units of sound). C-u-p. c-u-p. Get your child to say the sounds quicker
and quicker and they should hear the word.
7. Engage, engage, engage. Parents who involve and excite their children in the act of
reading enable their children to have positive attitudes towards reading. Children
learn to start and finish a whole book. They see the structure of a story and as Wolf
says the experience ‘the exquisite joys of immersion in the reading life’.
8. Developing Talk. Young children are sponges; they absorb language at an
‘astonishing rate’. Plus, a language rich environment helps not only their speaking
skills, but it helps them to learn to write at a faster pace. They will have more words
at their fingertips when they talk and when they start to write
Give Your Child the Greatest Gift: the love of reading.
Reading underpins everything; it develops the mind; it is one of the main building blocks in
education. Even babies are fascinated by books; it starts at a young age. Babies like to flip
through the pages of a cardboard book or a different textured book. Toddlers, on the other
hand, learn to label the animals and characters they see in a book. And older toddlers, and
pre-schoolers, like nothing better than to sit and listen to a story from their favourite teacher
or their parents.
But why is this simple such an important stage of your child’s development?
1. Phonological development. Through reading a book to your child, your child will
start to develop their sound system. They will learn about plosive sounds (b, d and
b). They will hear you say a word like ‘bear’ and start to mimic this way of speaking.
Plus, some books rhyme and this can help them to understand different types of
sounds. Furthermore, they start to understand the smallest units of sound phonemes
and morphemes (how these sounds added together may words). Poetry, songs and
rhymes can also help your child to learn new words and enjoy participating in these
activities.
2. Phonics. Reading helps your child to recognise words. They start to put the
phonemes and morphemes together and start to understand word patterns. Whole
reading schemes, such as the Oxford Reading Tree, have the characters created to
help your child develop language. Even the character Biff (her actual name is
Barbara) is created through using the fricative sounds to help your child learn to
develop the ‘f’ sound.
3. Interaction equates to cognition. The simple act of discussing a book with a parent
can help to develop a child’s language skills. Through reading a book, the child may
have a conversation with their parent and understand about the importance of
taking turns.
4. Learning new words. Through reading a book, your child will acquire new lexis
(words) they will learn the difference between a sheep and a cow. Or a cat and a dog.
They will also be able to apply these words to real life situations and understand
these words because they know what the animal does or where it can be found.
5. Reading the word. Encourage your child to recognise the grapheme (the symbol) by
asking the question, ‘What letter does this word begin with?’ Ensure you praise their
effort.
6. Make a link. Try to pick out words and ask the child to break the word down using
the phonemes (units of sound). C-u-p. c-u-p. Get your child to say the sounds quicker
and quicker and they should hear the word.
7. Engage, engage, engage. Parents who involve and excite their children in the act of
reading enable their children to have positive attitudes towards reading. Children
learn to start and finish a whole book. They see the structure of a story and as Wolf
says the experience ‘the exquisite joys of immersion in the reading life’.
8. Developing Talk. Young children are sponges; they absorb language at an
‘astonishing rate’. Plus, a language rich environment helps not only their speaking
skills, but it helps them to learn to write at a faster pace. They will have more words
at their fingertips when they talk and when they start to write
