When your child is still a young baby, begin to read to him/her. That's the word from pediatricians, encouraging parents to make this a habit/routine in their child's life.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/24/parents-read-to-children_n_5522762.html
This simple act makes a huge difference in language and vocabulary development, that is clearly evident when kids start school.
It was incredible how lacking in language so many of our kindergarten students where at my last school as principal. It was a 100% title 1 school, which means all the students were on the free breakfast and lunch program. That fact in itself shouldn't matter in regards to kinder readiness, but it did.
With rare exception, the kinders entered school not knowing the alphabet, numbers, colors, etc. They were a clean slate. The challenge with that was, they were competing with kids who were extremely well prepared for school. So, my kids began their educational journey way, way behind, always playing catch up.
What's fascinating to me about the notion of reading to your kids is, this is free. It doesn't cost a dime. If you don't have books, the library is full of them, which is why the kinder deficiencies were so disheartening.
Reading to your child makes a huge, positive, lifelong impact. That's the word that the pediatricians are spreading. That's the word we should all be sharing.
Happy Reading!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/24/parents-read-to-children_n_5522762.html
This simple act makes a huge difference in language and vocabulary development, that is clearly evident when kids start school.
It was incredible how lacking in language so many of our kindergarten students where at my last school as principal. It was a 100% title 1 school, which means all the students were on the free breakfast and lunch program. That fact in itself shouldn't matter in regards to kinder readiness, but it did.
With rare exception, the kinders entered school not knowing the alphabet, numbers, colors, etc. They were a clean slate. The challenge with that was, they were competing with kids who were extremely well prepared for school. So, my kids began their educational journey way, way behind, always playing catch up.
What's fascinating to me about the notion of reading to your kids is, this is free. It doesn't cost a dime. If you don't have books, the library is full of them, which is why the kinder deficiencies were so disheartening.
Reading to your child makes a huge, positive, lifelong impact. That's the word that the pediatricians are spreading. That's the word we should all be sharing.
Happy Reading!
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