Back to School Starts with Reading and Language

The yellow buses will soon be rolling to signal the beginning of another school term.

Regardless of what age or grade level a child has achieved the key to a successful academic year begins with reading and language. To achieve, to advance, to learn children must have sharply developed reading and language skills. Not all children develop these skills in the same way at the same time in the developmental journey.

Therefore it is incumbent that parents join the effort to assist children in reading and language development. These important skills begin at home where the child is most familiar with his/her
surroundings and thus usually free of those barriers that present themselves in more public spaces. Children, when tutored and coaxed gently and positively, begin to develop an interest in connecting with the world through the enjoyment of books and other print material. This exposure will enhance a child's ability to vocalize ideas and feelings. The richness of words and the magic of a broadening vocabulary can help children gain much needed self-confidence as they enter the public domain of school sharing themselves and their gifts with others, often from very different backgrounds and experiences.

We at My House Playhouse believe that children develop reading and language skills in a variety of ways, including reading and listening to stories that bring them vividly into the realm of wholesome imagination. Stories, poems, and puppetry offer children tools with which they can learn to read, use language, and develop important personal and social skills. This process can never begin too early.