Tiny Footsteps Preschool

Early reading is more important than we might realize. If you’re a parent, chances are you spend a lot of time with your little ones loving them and playing with them. Most likely, you’re also teaching things they need to know, like how to look both ways before crossing the street, say their ABC’s, and to count to ten. You’re probably also teaching them brush their teeth. Why? Because we want our children to be safe and healthy and to develop good habits that will help them their entire lives. You probably read to them too, which is wonderful! In fact, reading to your kids is probably more important than you realize. Researchers are now https://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/10/books" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">saying that reading aloud to our kids is just as important to them as regular tooth-brushing. As we read to our children and, in turn, help them to learn to read themselves, we are nurturing healthy minds and developing good, healthy habits that will benefit them their entire lives.

According to the https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/publications/pubs/documents/NELPEarlyBeginnings09.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">National Institute for Early Literacy, “Early literacy skills have a clear and consistently strong relationship with later conventional literacy skills, such as decoding, oral reading, fluency, reading comprehension, writing, and spelling. Even before children start school, they can become aware of systematic patterns of sounds in spoken language, manipulate sounds in words, recognize words and break them apart into smaller units, learn the relationship between sounds and letters, and build their oral language and vocabulary skills. These are all skills that the National Early Literacy Panel found to be precursors to children’s later growth in the ability to decode and comprehend text, to write, and to spell.”

What does this mean? It means that early childhood literacy can help our children succeed now as well as later in life.

We at Tiny Footsteps Preschool know you love your children. We want to help you in your efforts to prepare them for the competitive, globally connected world they will grow up in. In a 2005 study, it was shown that “children thrive when they are immersed in rich language, oral and written, morning, noon, and night. Play with language, recite nursery rhymes, sing songs, and engage children in daily conversations and book reading. It’s best to weave in literacy throughout the day because children learn best through repeated exposure to materials and experiences’” (Bennett-Armistead, Duke, & Moses, 2005). Enrolling your child in preschool like Tiny Footsteps enriches their early literacy experiences by providing quality education with a focus on literacy.

Lindsay A. Mack, in her article “https://www.romper.com/p/9-benefits-of-reading-with-your-kid-according-to-science-15347?utm_source=Publishers+Weekly&utm_campaign=a2c312edad-UA-15906914-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0bb2959cbb-a2c312edad-305141497" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">9 Benefits of Reading with Your Kid, According to Science” shared some fantastic benefits of early childhood literacy. Among them are enhanced math skills, stronger emotional and brain development, ability to recognize patters and phonetics, and more.

There are benefits to reading early that reach beyond academic, however. A good story can bring characters and people to life. Children can learn practice problem solving. They can also learn to empathize with those who have different experiences than they do. They can discover positive characteristics of their heroes they wish to emulate. Reading and being read to can nurture curiosity and wonder.

Bottom line: Early childhood literacy can open the minds and heart and doors of the little ones we love, thus opening up a world of opportunities ahead.

This is what we believe. This is our “why”—to help you help your child reach their potential. One letter, one book, one lesson at a time.