Make each day an opportunity to practice literacy skills

Make each day an opportunity to practice literacy skills. Incorporate reading every day. Stock image

ABC Life Literacy Canada, a non-profit organization that inspires Canadians to increase their literacy skills, invites people to visit their website at http://abclifeliteracy.ca/family-literacy-day

There you will find various activities that lead up to Family Literacy Day including a journey to learning passport, events, free downloads and contests.

The Journey to Learning Passport is a page of activities including ways people can improve their literacy skills at home, around town and around the world with activities such as listening to a foreign radio station and practising a new language to finding things at the grocery store that begin with each letter of the alphabet. Downloads include bookmarks, posters and activity sheets.

There are two contests people can participate in: a colouring contest and a short story writing contest. Visit the website for details.

Family literacy facts

- Family literacy refers to the many ways families develop and use literacy skills from enjoying a storybook together to playing word games, singing, writing to a relative or friend, sharing day-to-day tasks such as making a shopping list or using a recipe and surfing the Internet.

- Researchers estimate that over the lifetime of participants in an early literacy intervention program, returns to the public are $7.16 for every dollar invested.

- Differences in young children's development are largely attributable to differences in socialization, with heredity playing a small role.

- Seventy-four per cent of young Canadians who graduate from high school have strong literacy skills. The remaining percentage can handle simple reading and writing tasks. Those who leave school before graduation generally have lower literacy skills.

Parental influence

- Research shows children have a better chance of becoming fully literate adults if reading is encouraged in the home.

- Many studies have shown that improving parents' skills directly and positively affects the language development of children.

- Studies show beyond dispute that children's achievements in school improves with increased parent involvement in education.

- Quality of life for families, including income levels and employment status, is directly related to the literacy levels of parents.

- Children raised in literate households are likely to enter Grade 1 with several thousand hours of one-to-one pre-reading experience behind them.

- For a child, the more time spent with a parent reading aloud increases his or her level of attachment, enhances a sense of security and imparts the knowledge their parent feels they are worthwhile people with whom to spend time.

- Having a parent or other caring person read aloud with their children helps children learn listening skills, vocabulary and language skills, as well as develop imagination and creativity.

- Parents should pay careful attention to three potential reading slump times that can hinder a child's reading development: when a child enters kindergarten; at Grade 4; and when a child enters high school.

Family literacy impacts lives

- Simple things such as reading and telling stories to a child at 18 months are powerful stimuli for brain development in the early years.

- Reading to children more than once a day has a substantial positive impact on their future academic skills. In addition, research indicates children with early exposure to books and reading are better at performing mathematical tasks.

- Children aged two to three who are read to several times a day do substantially better in kindergarten at the age of four and five than youngsters who are read to only a few times a week or less.

- Some experts say for 80 per cent of children, simple immersion in reading and books will lead to independent reading by school age.

- Establishing a culture of learning encourages an exchange of ideas, enriches family relationships and bolsters confidence and independent thinking.

Daily literacy activities

Learning happens in many ways, especially in our day-to-day activities. Tasks such as cooking, doing laundry, running errands and surfing the Internet all provide learning opportunities that your family can embrace.

Here are 10 fun and easy ways to make literacy part of your family's daily life.

1. When making your grocery list, have your child write out the items you need to buy.

2. At the store, ask your child to count out the money to make the purchase.

3. Make it a habit to always read a story together at bedtime.

4. When cooking dinner, involve your children in measuring the ingredients. This helps them understand fractions and measurements.

5. Driving is the perfect opportunity to practise literacy. Read signs, billboards and licence plates together, and show your children the proper way to read a map.

6. While on the Internet, make time to research something new your family is interested in. Researching skills are important and help with reading and comprehension.

7. In the car, sing along to songs on the radio. Singing encourages learning patterns of words, rhymes and rhythms, and is strongly connected to language skills.

8. When playing a board game, read the instructions aloud to each other or count how many spaces to travel around the board.

9. Involve your kids when you pay bills. This will teach them strong financial skills early on in life.

10. Children follow by example, so ensure reading is part of your daily life too

Tips to encourage reading as a family

Strategies for parents to foster literacy skills in their children and strengthen their own literacy skills along the way:

- Ensure your child knows how well they read or write has nothing to do with their intelligence. Every person is intelligent in his/her own way and each person is unique and needs to learn in the way that best suits them. With practice, your child will become a good reader.

- The television can be used as a tool. After your child watches a television show or an episode, talk to them about it. Ask them questions including, "What was your favourite part?" or "What was the episode trying to teach the audience?" This reinforces media literacy skills, a medium that is encompassing our lives today.

- Don't lose sight of the fact that children model behaviour they see. Ensure your child sees you reading, whether it's the newspaper, the mail or a recipe. This shows your child how important it is to read.

- While reading a story to your child, pause to ask them what they predict will happen next or have them summarize what has happened in the story thus far. Good readers think about what they are reading and this will reinforce critical thinking skills.

- Today's children, particularly teens, are influenced by music. Have your child read the lyrics to their favourite song. When your child hears the song, the will visualize the lyrics they read. Visualization is a reading skill and this helps develop the skill.

- All reading is good reading. If your child is a reluctant reader, allow them to read comics, a graphic novel, a magazine or an instruction manual for their favourite sport. They will be introduced to new words, sentence structure and they will engage their brains with new ideas and information.

- When you are in the mall, grocery store or out for a walk, have your child read signs, posters and flyers. This will enhance their reading skills and teach them to be an active and engaged consumer.

- Families that spend a lot of time in the car can play an audio book and have children follow along with the written book in their hands. You will be surprised how many pages your child can get through in a five-minute car ride. Many libraries have a large collection of audio books.

- Have your child help you make dinner by reading a recipe card. Making them feel like your helper will arm your child with confidence.

- Play board games that involve making words or reading instructions on cards. This highlights to your child that literacy skills connect with everyday activities and reading is fun.

- Watch a movie based on a book. This can inspire your child to read the book because they enjoyed the movie so much. To really enhance critical literacy skills, have your child identify the key differences between the movie and the book.

- The reading process needs to be enjoyable so select books that represent your child's reading ability and not the reading level your child "should" be at. If your child feels like every time they read, they are going to fail or be criticized, they will resist reading.

- Reading aloud helps children develop pace and voice. Have your child read to the family dog, teddy bear or their younger sibling. These are non-threatening audiences that will help develop your child's confidence.

Developing literacy skills is a task that requires a lot of patience from the parents and the learner. As such, making the process enjoyable for everyone involved can go a long way in alleviating anxiety and opening the doors to developing lifelong literacy skills.