COCOON PRESCHOOL

Between the ages of four and nine, your child will have to master some 100 phonics rules, learn to recognize 3,000 words with just a glance, and develop a comfortable reading speed approaching 100 words a minute. He must learn to combine words on the page with a half-dozen squiggles called punctuation into something – a voice or image in his mind that gives back meaning. (Paul Kropp, 1996) Reading opens doors to the universe, and beyond; the younger a reader is, the more door it opens. As children learn to read, their vocabulary expands and they gain a greater understanding of the meaning of words. This enables a child to be more expressive when they speak, and to use a broad range of words to share what they’re thinking about. Children can also learn how to communicate with others through the dialogue they read in their books. The wonderful thing about stories is they provide children with tools to use in their own lives, whether this is learning how to communicate with their friends or with other people they meet. Books can also teach etiquette, politeness, and friendliness in conversation. Children’s books may be predominately picture-based and contain only a small amount of words, however, the information they contain is invaluable to a child’s development. These books can teach young children important lessons about family, friendship, growing up, and much more. They often share information about nature, animals, other cultures, and the world. Without realising it, a young reader is broadening their knowledge by reading about the fictional characters within their stories. They don’t need to read 1,000-page novels to learn something significant; a life lesson can be learnt from any book, regardless of the word count.