For several years now (since the late '90s-early '00s) research has been mounting about the correlation between a child's school success and their parent's level of involvement. Especially in early childhood (birth to aprox. 4 yrs) parents should be doing time-intensive activities such as reading with their child and communicating frequently. Also important are parenting sytles and the expectations that parents set for their child. William Jeynes' research, which can be fournd in the Family Involvement Research Digest published by Harvard's Family Research project, is quite clear about the important impact of these four activities:These four involvement techniques "had a greater impact on student educational outcomes than some of the more demonstrative aspects of parental involvement, such as having household rules, and parental attendance and participation at school functions."
The time-intensive activities of reading with your child and communicating with your child help expose them to new language, new langauge patterns, fluency techniques, comprehension techniques, and more. Reading comprehension and fluency are especially important. They may not necessarily be skills that your child will acquire as a 1 or 2 year old, but by exposing them to these things at a young age certainly is part of the early literacy development process. And, of course, communicating with your child will help them acquire new vocabulary.
What about older children? Communicating and reading with your older child will start to look a bit different as they develop into independent readers. But talking to them about what they are reading and asking probing questions and asking them to apply what they're learning to the world around them will help their critical thinking and reading comprehension skills as well. Also, having mature conversations with your child about your day or allowing them to participate in adult conversations about complex topics will continue to expose them to complex thought patterns, language and more!
Building these learning skills, thinking skills, reading skills, communication skills in part happen naturally through your efforts as a parent.
To share some specific ideas for how to do this, let's talk a bit about nursery rhymes:
This week you and your child will explore familiar nursery rhymes. Each day you will focus on a particular rhyme, and then extend learning with a simple activity. Nursery rhymes are wonderful for literacy development. They are typically short and easy to memorize, enabling your child to “read” them independently and build confidence. They are filled with rhyming words! And, they expose your child to the natural rhythm and flow of spoken language.
After completing the craft activities this week, print the words to the rhymes and attach them to the project. Display finished projects to encourage future practice. Show them to family members and visitors and encourage your child to recite the rhymes to an audience!
Enjoy the lessons this week!
Recite/read Mary Had a Little Lamb. After, let ur child glue cotton balls to a paper plate. Attach 4 black rectangle legs & a black head.
After reciting The Eensy Weensy Spider color ur child’s thumb w/a washable black marker. Ask ur child to make thumbprints on paper. Then add 8 legs to ea print.
Make a paper“Humpty Dumpty” & cut into pieces. Secretly hide pieces. Recite the rhyme then hunt for the pieces. Help ur child put him back together w/band-aids.