Dear Parents, Do you READ to your children?

First of all I would like to thank those parents who have given me the 'thumbs up' in creating the blog. At this moment I will make general updates of things related to the class and school, as well as posting articles which parents might want to read.

I would like to share an article which I have read recently regarding reading to our children:

The sad thing is this: tragically, research in United States during 1999 indicates that better educated parents read more to their children that their lesser educated counterparts. Its particularly tragic because reading to children in an integral part of progress towards literacy.

Reading to children has two kinds of benefits: social benefits and educational benefits.

Socially, parents reading to their children helps to create and strengthen the bond between them because children realise that, for that time, they are the entire focus of their parents' attention. That attention can be a great self-esteem booster for children too.

For the young ones, being cuddled up to Mum or Dad and the end of the day for a bedtime story, and drifting off in the process can be just the right way to start a good night's sleep.

Educationally, the benefits are ENORMOUS. Reading to young children enthuses them about books and reading from a very early age. Books become part of their lives. Well, that's great for beginners but why should you read to after they can read for themselves?

One teacher I spoke too, who had obviously thought about this a lot, said that reading aloud to children exposes them to words they may not be familiar with, improves their pronunciation, helps their comprehension - especially when they can ask questions - helps with fluency and improves expression.

The question is not really whether we can afford the time to read to our children but whether we an afford NOT TO.

Article extracted from Literacy Circular, Issue 4, Oct 2006


Hence we all must make a change from today onwards - spend at least ten minutes reading to our child everyday. I am sure we can find that time.

Regards,

Mr Md Faizal