Reading with your child

The most important skill of all

Remember that the most important skill of all is the one that you already have - you know your child best.  You know their likes and dislikes, the things that they're interested in.  Keep this in mind particularly when you're choosing books together.

Early literacy refers to the skills a child learns about reading and writing before they can actually read and write. For example, long before a child can read or write they know that there is a right way up to hold a book, they understand that you read a page from top to bottom and from left to right, they know how to turn pages and can anticipate and predict what will happen next in a story.

Well before a child can read words, they understand that print has meaning. Children also learn words that are part of literacy and reading, for example, book, cover, picture, word, etc. They make connections between illustrations and words and develop early word and letter recognition.

These are all essential early literacy skills that a child needs to learn to read and write. The earlier you begin to read to your child, the better their language and early literacy skills are.