Literacy focus for 2016

You will notice in the front foyer there is a children’s sign in register.  If your child is interested please support them to write their name when they arrive at kindergarten.  The first letter is a capital letter and subsequent letters are lower case.  It’s okay if children don’t get it right in the beginning.

The process is important and our focus is to ensure children are holding the pencil correctly and developing an interest in literacy.  Drawing and painting are excellent ways to introduce literacy to young learners.

As children are mastering the ‘tripod’ pencil grip, it’s also helpful to support their developing understanding around some simple literacy concepts:

We read and write from left to right.  Whenever you read stories to your children, follow the words you read with your finger.  This will help children to understand the one-to-one association between the written word and its sound.  It will also get them used to the fact that we read and write from left to right.

Books go from front to back.  Talk about how books work and give children the vocabulary associated with them (title, author, illustrator).  Talk about the person who writes the words and the person who draws the picture.

 As the children role play at shops, families, police, doctors or pets – provide writing and drawing materials and encourage them to write signs and lists or make maps, tickets and books.

Give children the opportunity to enjoy their emerging literacy skills and reward all their efforts with support and encouragement.  They’ll soon be creating amazing things and adding ‘writing’ to their long list of skills!