Preschool is a fundamental part of every student’s academic life. It is their first experience with learning and gives them the proper preparation for elementary school. One of the essential purposes of preschool is to teach the students how to read. The ability to read properly is crucial to learning, and the preschool syllabus employs several methods to achieve this goal. Below are the ways through which preschool introduces reading to young students.
Programs Employed By Preschool Teachers To Introduce Reading
Teachers try to make these programs as interesting and interactive as possible. Considering the age of preschoolers, it is understandable that they have a short attention span. This is why the teachers try as much as possible to make the activities enjoyable.
- Foundational Literacy: Teachers take the students through activities that help them develop early literacy skills. Some of these activities include alphabet identifying games, interactive storybook reading, as well as reciting nursery rhymes. These activities are discussed in detail here.
- Book Reading: Read-aloud is a method that is known to yield amazing results in introducing preschoolers to the art of reading. An interesting storybook is read out loud by the teacher, in a manner that carries the students along. Humour and continuity is an important feature of read-aloud, as it helps to keep the students enjoying the activity. Books are also read as many times as possible, to help the children understand the story, its vocabulary, and the message. Book repetition usually involves the teacher reading the story in a different tone, to enable the children to enjoy the story. After a book has been read sufficiently, questions are asked based on the story.
- Rhyming Books: Apart from storybooks, rhyming books are also read to children. Most preschoolers enjoy listening to rhymes and find it fun reading along to words that sound alike. To them, it is almost like singing a song. This activity helps to improve their pronunciation skills and vocabulary.
- Alphabet Identification: The children are also taught to identify the letters of the alphabet. They are taught to recognize the difference between uppercase and lowercase letters. After learning how to identify the letters, they are taught to associate sounds with them. Alphabet identification is followed by phonetic awareness as preschoolers are introduced to how to recognize sounds that come in words. This is very crucial in determining their ability to read.
- Print Awareness: Print awareness is the stage where they learn the features of books. At a young age, children cannot handle books, let alone read them. They are taught how words run from left to right in a book. They will also be enlightened on the need to read books from top to bottom.
Preschool is a crucial part of every child’s education. This is why you must find the right institution for them to enjoy the best of early learning in Chatswood
