Preschoolers are already learning to read


Kids from Greenhouse Preschool visited the Weiser Signal American newspaper office last week to see how a newspaper is put together. From left, Braxton Downing, Atty Hickey, Alexa D’Addabbo, Sawyer King, and Michael Flowers. Photo by Philip A. Janquart
By: 
Philip A. Janquart

Group visited Signal American to see how newspapers serve community

 It’s never too young to start reading to your kids.
 The subject of early literacy is becoming more focused in education than ever before. 
 But why? 
 Educators from a variety of backgrounds seem to agree that it inspires many things, such as creative thinking and problem solving.
 Most educators, in fact, identify reading as the foundational discipline that underpins all fields of study.
 Gretchen Davis is one of those educators. A teacher at Greenhouse Preschool in Weiser, she takes the subject of reading quite serious.
 Last week, she took her small group of kids to the Weiser Signal American newspaper office as part of her ongoing enrichment class. 
 The idea was to show them how words are arranged and transformed into articles and other information that is then disseminated to readers.
 “In addition to the academic, social, and classroom skills we work on in preschool, through our enrichment projects, they also explore a variety of topics that we can incorporate into what they are working on,” she said. “Right now, they are learning a lot with pre-reading skills – why words are important, sounding out words, decoding words.”
 Davis, who graduated with a bachelor’s in Early Childhood Development from the University of Idaho, started out teaching her kids letters and letter sounds.
 “We do sound spelling quite a bit; it’s not necessarily the correct spelling, but we do a lot of decoding while we are learning sounds,” she explained. “I work with them, sounding out cvc (consonant, vowel, consonant), so they understand that process of there being separate letters and words. You flip that around and I ask them to write words down and they will listen to and say words out loud and listen to the sounds as they say it, so they can write those sounds down on paper.”
 The kids graduated to writing letters, with help of course, followed by a trip to the Weiser post office where they were shown where postal letters go after they are dispensed into a mail box.
 The next step was visiting the newspaper where they presented their own version of a newspaper that contained articles penned by each student. Subjects ranged from story time to science and snacks to playtime, as well as art. Davis stressed that it is never too early to start reading to your children.
 “You should start reading to your child from birth. When you read to kids, you are providing them with language,” she said. 
 “You provide them with the rhythm of speaking, how words sound, how they fit together, and how to order sentences in a way that make sense. All of these things help your child learn to speak and comprehend language.”
 She added that about 90 percent of brain development occurs by age five and that an even bigger chunk of that happens by age three.
 “The more you expose your children to language early on, the more chances they have for building those really important synapses that are the building blocks for what they do later in life,” she said. 
 Davis added that aside from reading, a special connection between parent and child occurs while engaging in activities together and that a lack of parental interaction can be detrimental.
 “There are studies that show children who do not get quality interactions from adults can have delayed development in language, physical development, social and emotional development, and cognitive development,” she said. 
 “It can affect development across the whole spectrum. Face to face interactions with adults are vital for young children.” 
 Children in Davis’ enrichment class who visited the newspaper include Braxton Downing, Atty Hickey, Alexa D’Addabbo, Sawyer King, and Michael Flowers.

 

Category:

Signal American

18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
PH: (208) 549-1717
FAX: (208) 549-1718
 

Connect with Us