1.1

Clearly describes how the concepts are connected to & supported by social relationships and contexts.

Explain how early literacy & numeracy concepts are socially situated.

Readings Week 6

This week I wanted to explore how parents can introduce and nurture children’s literacy and numeracy experiences within the home environment.

Key Words: Literacy: birth – five, daily routines, reading, writing, speaking, daily routines,

Numeracy: spatial concepts, dot to dots, counting, measurement, data, graphs, numeracy, number sense, reading numerals.

What?

The first reading focuses on “Promoting Early Literacy Skills: Ages birth to 5” by Sarah Huisman (2012).  I selected this reading because it was linked to the age group I am studying and found the practical suggestions very helpful to engage young children with literacy concepts within the home.

The Second reading was titled How do Parents Support Preschoolers’ Numeracy Learning Experiences at Home, by Sheri-Lynn Skwarchuk (2009).  I selected this reading because of its practical suggestions of how parent’s can involve their preschoolers with numeracy activities within their daily lives.  Research has shown that reading to young children can improve their literacy skills, later in life, however there is little evidence how mathematical skills during the younger years can improve numeracy skills in later life Skwarchuk (2009).

Additional information has been sourced from Kaye Plowman (2011) to support my writing.

So what?

The first reading by Huisman (2012), found that early literacy skills have been linked to motivation and success in reading and writing in the formal primary school years and are very important to a child’s cognitive skills.  Early literacy is a fantastic example of building social relationships with both parent and infant.  Babies in particular enjoy the sound of a parents voice as they are being held, and read to (Plowman, 2011).  A child never grows tired of hearing their favourite book being read again and again.  As a child grows older they also love to be involved with turning the pages and story time will become an important part of their daily routine (Plowman, 2011).

Early-literacy is very important and parents should incorporate reading, writing and speaking into their daily routine.  Parents are role models, and children will learn how to hold a book, that some words have meanings, some words make sounds, identify or point to the books characters, ask the child to point to a particular character, for example, can the child point to “the dog” etc.  Families play a paramount role in developing children’s literacy skills.  The time families spend engaging with their children to learn to read and write, is paving of a strong foundation for their literacy journey well into the future.

The second article by Skwarchuk (2009), first defined numeracy as “a proficiency, which is developed mainly in mathematics… more than a basic ability to do arithmetic.  It involves developing confidence and competence with numbers… requires understanding of the number system, a repertoire of mathematical techniques and an inclination and ability to solve quantitative or spatial problems.  Numeracy also includes measuring and counting with data being able to be presented in graphs, charts and tables (National Numeracy Strategy 2009).   It then focused on parents who enjoyed working with numbers also spent more time with their children engaged in numeracy activities than parent’s who disliked numbers.  The results of the study showed that children exposed to numeracy concepts and numbers achieved higher scores in numeracy than children whose parents were not confident in numbers.  The participants in the study were given an opportunity to participate in a variety of numeracy activities some of these included: number sense, i.e. counting objects, adding objects, reading numerals, singing number songs and subtracting objects (Skwarchuk 2009).  Children under two years of age the introduction of numbers comes mainly through incidental learning through activities such as clocks, watches, phones, food prices when shopping, parents can involve young children in counting blocks they have stacked, or counting toes when drying them after a bath.  As children become older they will learn more about numbers through active teaching (Plowman, 2011).

Now what?

As a future educator, I am aware of the continuing importance that language and literacy has on a growing child’s vocabulary, from a young age.  I am also aware that learning needs to be fun, and the way this is presented to the child should be creative and engaging for both child and adult, thus creating social relationships and bonds.  Below are some examples I can help to educate parents to engage in literacy activities at home with their preschoolers:

• ·      Playing with foam letters in the bath -tub.
• ·      Have the child sign their name on birthday or Christmas cards.
• ·      Sing a song together.
• ·      Have a child help draw a shopping list, as they grow, have them help write the shopping list.
• ·      Have children copy letters a parent writes.
• ·      Have children copy their name.

I found that numeracy has many implications for my future practice in regards to the Skwarchuk (2009), reading include, ensuring that all parents are aware of the importance of early numeracy skills and number sense.  Some practical strategies that parents are able to teach and introduce their preschooler to early numeracy using a range of different materials therefore creating a variety of opportunities for learning include:

• ·      Singing numeracy songs
• ·      Counting objects
• ·      Having children be involved in cooking and measurement activities
• ·      Have children participate in dot to dot activities
• ·      Play money
• ·      Number stickers
• ·      Tape measures

During the week I found the following video, titled ‘Teaching toddlers (2-3) number sense easily through activities.  Hope you enjoy it too!

Video source:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK6k7TkFV3A>

References

Huisman, S., (2012). Family Connections: Promoting Early Literacy         Skills – Ages birth to 5. Childhood Education, 88 (6), pp.398-         399

National Numeracy Strategy. (2009).  Progression maps for          mathematics: Advice for parents, carers and mentors.          Retrieved July 15 (2009) From: http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/42765

Plowman, K., (2011). Everyday Play – in association with Playgroup         Victoria, Australia, Victoria: The Five Mile Press Pty Ltd

Skwarchuk, S., (2009). How Do Parents Support Preschoolers'                  Numeracy Learning Experiences at Home? Early Childhood                  Education Journal, 37(3), pp. 189-197.