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Literacy - How can parents help at home?

Helping with Talking and Listening.
Talk to your children. Give them instructions. Give them opportunities to take part in conversations, both listening and speaking. Encourage them to talk about their feelings. Give them opportunities to rhyme words an tell jokes. Let them choose books to read. Encourage them to ask questions. Provided opportunities for children to use their imagination by providing cubbies, dress-ups and time to pretend. Sing songs together. Listen to songs, stories and books on tape. Help them listen for the sounds at the beginning of words. Play word games such as: What Am I? Twenty Questions; I-Spy; and Knock, Knock, Who's there? Talk to your children while you are doing things. Some children need to watch what you're doing while you are explaining what is happening.
Helping with Reading and Watching
Read to your child everyday. A popular Australian author, Mem Fox says at least 3 books every day for every child. Read the signs as you drive - asking your children: What letters can you see in this sign? Read the signs in the shops. Children will pick up signs like McDonalds, KFC and K-Mart. Ask your child to help while shopping. "Who can find the Baked Beans tin?" Let your child help with cooking, and show how you read a recipe. There are great children's cookbooks that have picture text to help a small child with reading the recipe. Read in front of your children. Children who see adults reading will have a more positive approach to learning to read. Make good use of the Preschool's book library Join the local library and learn that borrowing books and being in a Library can be fun. ACT Libraries have special story times where families can join in. They also have school holiday programs for children. Children also need to be shown how we read from left to right, and from the top of the page to the bottom. They need to be introduced to capitals and punctuation. They also can learn from television and computers. We also use Information Technology to communicate in our lives. Do you share emails with your children from family and friends from interstate and overseas? When watching TV, can your child read the company's name in advertising? Does your child know what they are advertising? Is your child able to understand a story and retell a story from a DVD?
Helping with Drawing and Writing.
Children need a variety of mediums to express themselves. Parents can help by giving them lots of opportunities to scribble, paint and draw. Children need to develop strength in their hands to be able to hold a pencil to write. Children need to develop strength in their hands to be able to hold a pencil to write. Make them aware of letters, words, and signs. When a child sees parents writing a letter or a note, they will try to copy them in their play. Children will often ask how to write their name. Show them how and encourage them to have a go with just one letter at a time.
Remember, the first letter is a capital and the rest are small letters when writing a name. Please don't teach them any other way, as it will confuse them when they go to preschool and school. If you have given your child a short name, like: Joe, they will probably write their name before a child with a much longer name, like: Samantha or Christopher. Shorter versions of longer names (Sam or Chris) are great achievements - so be patient for them to know how to write their full name. Some children lean by copying letters, joining dots together and others will learn by tracing over letters, whatever way they learn is fine. Does your child know how to use a mouse? Have they got the fine motor skills to type letters on the keyboard? It is important that we develop both handwriting as well as typing skills.
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