September is all about back-to-school — time to get back into routines, make lunches and go to bed early.
And since there’s so much to do and kids are still in summer mode, it’s hard to make sure the family is focusing on learning.
Learning together as a family is vital to a child’s future education. Doing family literacy activities not only helps develop children’s reading, writing and math skills, it also provides an opportunity for parents to learn something new too. Children raised in literate households are likely to enter Grade 1 with several thousand hours of one-to-one pre-reading experience behind them.
Learning happens in many ways, especially in day-to-day activities. Here are 10 fun and easy ways to make literacy part of your family’s daily life:
• When making your grocery list, have your child write out the items you need to buy.
• At the store, ask your child to count out the money to make the purchase.
• Make it a habit to always read a story together at bedtime.
• When cooking dinner, involve your children in measuring the ingredients. This helps them understand fractions and measurements.
• Driving is the perfect opportunity to practise literacy. Read signs, billboards and licence plates together, and show your children the proper way to read a map.
• While on the Internet, make time to research something new that your family is interested in. Researching skills are important and help with reading and comprehension.
• In the car, sing along to songs on the radio. Singing encourages learning patterns of words, rhymes and rhythms, and is strongly connected to language skills.
• When playing a board game, read the instructions aloud to each other or count how many spaces to travel around the board.
• Involve your kids when you pay bills. This will teach them strong financial skills early on in life.
• Children follow by example, so ensure reading is part of your daily life too.
For other tips and activities, visit www.familyliteracyday.ca.