Category Archives: Let’s Read

The Ice-cream Shop

A recent conversation and pretend-play session with my three-year-old granddaughter centred around an ice-cream shop. Annie is a little chatterbox and loves ‘pretend play’.  She will spend hours occupying herself creating conversations between her toys and loves to engage any willing members of the family in her imaginative world.

“Would you like to come to my ice-cream shop, Grandma?” I didn’t need a second invitation to spend some quality time with this special little person. I was offered a range of ice-cream flavours. The conversation went like this: “You could have mango, strawberry, blueberry, chocolate, vanilla, pineapple, or plumb.”
I asked, “Do you have ginger ice-cream? Ginger ice-cream is my favourite.”
“Well, no Grandma, I don’t have ginger ice-cream but I could ask my cook to make some.”

While the cook was making the ginger ice-cream, Annie announced that she would sing to me so, with a little toy accordion, she squeezed out a tune and made up a song about Grandma coming to her ice-cream shop. At the conclusion of the performance and after a round of applause from a delighted grandma, she announced, “I’ll go and see if the cook has finished making your ice-cream now, Grandma.” She promptly returned with my special order of ginger ice-cream. I licked my ice-cream with great approval. “This is the most delicious ice-cream I have ever tasted. How do you make such beautiful ice-cream?”

To my surprise, this three-year-old replied, “The ingredients are sugar, eggs, cream, vanilla and ginger and I mix them. I don’t cook them, I just mix them.” I was impressed on three counts, firstly that she knew the word ‘ingredients’, secondly that she could list a range of ingredients that were entirely appropriate to make ice-cream and thirdly that she knew that ice-cream didn’t need to be cooked. Our conversation continued, “Do you think your cook could make me another ginger ice-cream?”

“Well no, Grandma, he can’t.” “Why not,” I asked.  ‘Well he died,” was the totally unexpected reply. “Oh dear,” I said. “That is terrible. Why did he die?” “Well Grandma, he just didn’t eat healthy food.”

The pretend play continued for over an hour with many servings of ice-cream, bad batches of ice-cream that had to be thrown out, a visit to the ice-cream shop by Grandpa and endless chatter.

I was enthralled by this pretend play experience and amazed by the imagination, creativity, knowledge and language skills of a three-year-old to be able to engage in such a detailed conversation. By the age of three, this little one has mastered complex sentence construction and can correctly use nouns (singular and plural), pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs in various tenses, along with clauses joined by conjunctions in a sequence.

Not only is all of this grammar in place, but there is also an understanding of the importance of eating healthy food and ingredients to make ice-cream! I wonder what else is being stored in that little mind.

In visiting schools in our local region, we have heard that some schools are introducing ‘pretend play’ into the prep classrooms because, increasingly, children are coming to school with limited experience of pretend play. I wonder if its absence is having an adverse effect on our children. Pretend play is a vital part of language development for young children.  In our increasingly fast-paced society and with the proliferation of electronic devices, perhaps we are not finding as much time to spend on the simple things like talking, reading and pretending with our children.

…and I am becoming increasingly aware of the valuable contribution grandparents can make in the lives of young children. While parents are extremely busy with careers and the ever-increasing need to work more, the one thing that many grandparents have, especially those who have retired, is time. I am convinced that the best inheritance I can leave to my children, is to invest time in my grandchildren.

Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti!

My son was preparing lunch for my grandchildren, while their mother was away for the day. He was catering for an 18-month old, a three-year old and four-year old.  He announced, “What do you want for lunch today?” and then proceeded to list the options which included some left-overs from the day before and some quick-and-easy options. The list was something like, “There is chicken and corn soup, some salad and ham, or you could have a wrap or a peanut butter sandwich or spaghetti on toast and there are bananas, apples and mandarins in the fruit bowl.”

I was satisfied that, in the absence of their health-conscious mother, this was a reasonable menu that provided some healthy eating options from a range of food groups.

The three-year-old and four-year-old were well able to articulate what they wanted and what they didn’t want. The three-year-old clearly stated, “I don’t like chicken and corn soup. I want ham and salad in a wrap,” while the four-year-old chorused, “Spahgetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti! I want Spaghetti on toast!”

The 18-month old, whose vocabulary consisted of only a few words such as ‘Mum’, ‘Dad’ and ‘no’, was unable to verbalise his menu preference. He had only been walking for about four months, but suddenly and silently disappeared at lightning speed through the kitchen and into the pantry. He emerged within a few seconds carrying a can of spaghetti, making it quite clear what he wanted for lunch. Although he was unable to speak, he had a clear grasp of the conversation and knew exactly what was being discussed – spaghetti was on the menu for lunch and that was what he wanted. He was also well aware that the spaghetti came in cans and where it was stored in the pantry.

This simple little action of a toddler running into the pantry and coming out with a can of spaghetti, demonstrated clearly what Let’s Read program advocates.  Reading (and speaking) to your children from birth is vital for the development of their language. Long before children can speak, they are listening, learning words and developing their vocabulary.  It stands to reason, that the more words they hear, the more words they will learn and understand. There are numerous ways to increase the number of words our babies and toddlers hear. This can be done by constantly talking and describing what you are doing during the day, making a running commentary of the mundane activities of the day, singing songs to your children and reading stories. Exposure to language in the early years is a great investment in a child’s education and increases their readiness for school.

My 18-month old grandson was given his menu preference for lunch that day, and unsurprisingly, because he was able to choose what he wanted, devoured a generous helping of spaghetti while I sat back and contemplated the wonderful capacity of the human brain and the importance of generous helpings of exposure to language to build healthy young minds.

Literacy Boost

Prize money received by Wimmera Southern Mallee LLEN will go towards two literacy programs delivered across the Wimmera.  The LLEN was awarded the Community Group of the Year in the 2018 Regional Achievement and Community Awards.  This state-wide award came with $2000 prizemoney sponsored by the Bank of Melbourne.

The prize money will be targeted to buy more books and resources for the Let’s Read program and the Read to Me program. The Horsham branch of the Bank of Melbourne is also donating a series of children’s books for use in these valuable programs.  This support from the Bank of Melbourne will support the development and education of our region’s children.

Let’s Read is delivered by a partnership in each of the Hindmarsh, Horsham, West Wimmera and Yarriambiack shires.  The program delivers support, books, read-aloud DVDs and resources to families at four different age points.  Families receive the resources and support for their babies at 4 months, 12 months, 18 months and 3½ years from Maternal and Child Health Nurses during the child’s health check.

Let’s Read was developed by the Centre for Community Child Health at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne. The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and The Smith Family have partnered with Wimmera Southern Mallee LLEN and local partners to deliver the program across the Wimmera.

The money will also be used to establish the Read to Me program across the Wimmera.  Read to Me was developed by Raising Literacy Australia and is currently delivered across South Australia.  Read to Me will provide children in out-of-home care with their own start-up library of 10 picture and board books. Children then receive an additional 3 books every 3 months to add to their collection up until they reach 6 years of age.

Investing in the early years has a profound impact on a child’s future and, through the Read to Me project, Raising Literacy Australia and Wimmera Southern Mallee LLEN strive to use the power of stories and reading to help children in out-of-home care to reach their full potential.

Let’s Read and Read to Me are early years literacy programs aimed at promoting the importance of reading with young children from birth. Sharing stories, rhymes and songs daily to your children, from birth, establishes a strong language and literacy foundation which ensures that children are ready to learn when they start school.  Research has shown that reading regularly to your children increases their IQ.

We are fortunate to receive such strong support from our business community and local community organisations.  Kids who read succeed and the delivery of these important programs only occurs through the generous support we receive from our partners.

Global Pop-up Trend

The Wimmera is at the forefront of a global ‘Pop-Up’ trend with the creation of Pop-Up libraries across the region. The first Pop-Up library in Horsham is located at Wimmera Uniting Care’s Early Parenting Centre in Darlot St.

Pop-Up libraries take books to the people. They will be located in places where families go, including playgroups, shops, Maternal and Child Health centres and waiting rooms. Children and families can take a book, enjoy reading it and then return it to any Pop-Up library in the town.
The books for the Pop-Up libraries were donated by Horsham and district residents through a Let’s Read book drive. The book drive was suggested by Horsham Rural City Councillor, Robin Barber. Donation bins were set up by the shire at the shire offices, Horsham library and the Horsham Plaza. More than 740 children’s books were donated. Another 200 books were purchased from the recent Horsham College book fair. The Wimmera Southern Mallee LLEN has sorted and branded the books and set up the Pop-Up library tubs for use throughout the shire.
The first Pop-Up libraries were successfully set up in Warracknabeal early in 2015 by the Warracknabeal Oral Reading Development Strategy (WORDS) group. The Wimmera wide Pop- up libraries are an initiative of the Let’s Read programs set up in the Hindmarsh, Horsham, West Wimmera and Yarriambiack Shires.
Coordinator at the Early Parenting Centre Wendy Brown said “This will be great for our families. We read books to the children every day and they will now be able to take their favourite book home to read. Reading and talking to children is really important for their development.”
The Pop-Up libraries will ensure that all families have access to a wide range of books. They will also increase the community’s awareness of the importance of reading daily to children.
The Let’s Read program provides families with a Let’s Read bag at 4 different child age points. The bag contains a new book, a ‘read aloud’ DVD, a reading tips sheet, a recommended book list and a Library flyer. Families receive the resources and support from Maternal and Child Health Nurses for their children at 4 months, 12 months, 18 months and 3 ½ years.
Let’s Read is an early years literacy program designed to support families to read to their children from birth to improve their language and literacy development. The program was developed by the Centre for Community Child Health at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne. The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and The Smith Family have partnered to implement Let’s Read with communities across Australia.
Pop Up libraries will be progressively rolled out to Wimmera Southern Mallee communities in the new year. It is an exciting initiative that will see thousands of books made available to all families in the region. This initiative will encourage families to join their local library and access the wide range of books, DVDs, CDs and online resources available at no cost.

Talk for Success

When my children were little, they were full of questions. What’s that? Why is the sky blue? Why do dogs bark? Where is Grandma? As they got older the questions got harder. What is electricity? How does a car work? And harder. How big is the universe? If something is watertight is it also airtight? Is it possible to go back in time? Thank goodness for Google.

Most of us get a bit frustrated by children’s constant questions and curiosity. This is how they learn and they are asking you because they love and trust you. Speaking and listening to your children is an important way to help your kid’s language and literacy development. As you children learn how to talk, their brains are making billions of connections which also support the development of their literacy skills.

I didn’t fully realise how important language is to literacy development until I attended a recent presentation at Warracknabeal Primary School by Rosy Wallis. Rosy now lives in Nhill and is a former student of Warracknabeal primary and secondary schools. Rosy has spent much of her working life teaching literacy to children and has completed extensive post graduate study on literacy and language development.

Rosy spoke about a recent project that she undertook as part of her research. Rosy’s thesis was about Oral Language in the ‘Everyday Life’ of Young Rural Children. The key messages from the presentation were that families need to talk to their children about a wide range of subjects and, importantly, listen and respond to their questions. Introducing new words and extending children’s vocabulary are essential for literacy development and good performance at school.

By talking, listening and reading to your children you are helping them to reach their full potential. Children are born ready to learn and the best learning occurs early in life. Parents are children’s first and most important teachers.

Reading with young children is the single most important activity that you can undertake to develop a child’s future reading and writing skills.

The experiences your child has in their early years set the foundation for lifelong learning, behavior, and health. Everything you do with your baby shapes their brain and their capacity to learn and to get along with others.

Building strong reading skills starts very early in life. Kids who are read to from birth, will do much better in reading and this helps them to succeed at school. Children who read well do better in education, and this leads to getting a good job, higher pay and having a good life. Kids who read succeed.

 

Wimmera leads the way

The Wimmera Southern Mallee region is leading the nation in an effort to improve literacy. The Let’s Read program will be implemented across the region throughout this year. This is the first time that the program has been rolled out in every community across four shires. The program will support all families across the 28,500 km2 covered by the Hindmarsh, Horsham Rural City, West Wimmera and Yarriambiack shires.

So, why is improving literacy important? Low literacy levels generally lead to poor education and life outcomes.   A 2011 Australian Bureau of Statistics study shows that 44% of Australians, aged 15-74 have literacy levels below level 3. Level 3 is considered as the minimum level to meet the complex demands of life and work in the 21st century. The Adult Literacy and Life Skills survey also found that 600,000 Australians fall below level 1 reading level and a further 1.1 million Australians are at level 1.

What does this mean for our communities? The future prosperity and well being of the region (and the nation) depends on having a skilled literate workforce.   Our local businesses and our communities need people with good reading and maths skills to ensure that the Wimmera Mallee continues to grow and thrive. Poor literacy skills are associated with generally lower education, earnings, health and social outcomes as well as being linked to high rates of unemployment, welfare dependence and teenage parenting.

The Industry Skills Council 2011 paper, ‘No More Excuses’, highlights the critical need for improvements in language, literacy and numeracy skills and noted the following key points:

  • Language, literacy and numeracy (LLN) are the essential skills that enable people to be productive in their work, to continue to learn and develop, and to participate fully in society.
  • Literally millions of Australians have insufficient LLN skills to benefit fully from training or to participate effectively at work
  • The situation looks as if it could be getting worse, not better: the LLN performance of Australian students has, over the past decade, worsened in comparison to other OECD countries

The Wimmera Southern Mallee LLEN is working with Maternal Child and Health nurses, schools, kindergartens, playgroups, local government and community organisations to implement the Let’s Read program across the region. Let’s Read is an early years literacy program aimed at promoting the importance of reading with young children from birth to 5 years. The program was developed at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and The Smith Family have partnered to implement Let’s Read with communities across Australia.

The program delivers support, books and resources to families at 4 different child age points. Maternal and Child Health nurses provide support and the resources to families when their babies are 4 months, 12 months, 18 months and 3½ years.

Parents are children’s first and most important teachers. Try to read at least one book a day to your child. Your children will grow to love books and become strong readers. The earlier you start, the better, and remember, kids who read succeed!

8 Easy Ways to Help Your Child Succeed

Reading has always been an important skill. In our modern world it is more important than ever.

Children learn about the importance of reading as they watch family members use reading and writing for everyday purposes.

Reading with young children is the single most important activity that you can undertake to develop a child’s future reading and writing skills. Reading aloud to children also supports their development in other ways – it supports language development, promotes parent/child bonding and helps parents relate positively to their children.

Reading with your child at home will help your child in all learning areas of school. You can also read to your children when you are out and about. You can read shop signs, shopping brochures, traffic signs, billboards and junk mail. Children see you reading and writing in everyday life – reading for pleasure, sharing a story with your child, using a recipe, making a shopping list, writing a birthday card or reading road signs. This teaches them that reading and writing are useful skills in today’s world.

Here are eight great tips to help your child succeed at school:

  1. Be yourself. Involve children in everyday conversations
  2. Read aloud to children. It helps them to learn the language of books and will encourage them to enjoy books and reading
  3. Talk about books, read together and make reading an enjoyable, shared activity
  4. Make sure there is a wide range of reading material for your child at home
  5. Try not to let television intrude on reading time. Make a special time for reading with your child, away from interruption (bed time is great)
  6. Listen to your child read every day, even for a short time
  7. Give books as treats and presents
  8. Join your local library – It’s free and they’ve got lots of books for you to borrow

So when do we start? You should begin reading to your babies from birth, or at the very least, from 3 or 4 months of age. You can’t start too early. The first five years are the most important development years in your child’s life. Every time you read to your baby it helps to create those important connections in the brain that support good language and literacy skills.

By age 3, kids spoken to, and read to more frequently have an IQ that’s 1.5 times higher than that of children who weren’t. By the time they’re in primary school, they will develop stronger reading, spelling, and writing skills.

Children who are not read to on a daily basis start kindergarten and primary school behind their peers. There is significant research that says that most kids who start behind, never catch up. By reading to your children on a daily basis you are giving them the best possible start to life.

You are your child’s first and most important teacher. Read daily to your child. The earlier you start, the better, and remember, kids who read succeed!

Reading to Babies

When do I start reading to my child?

We all want the best for our children. If our kids are happy, healthy and doing well, then life is good. Our children are born with 100 billion neurons in their brains, and the key development stage is from birth through to age 8. During this time, our kids’ brains are a hive of electrical activity, with brain cells and neurons making connections at astonishing speeds of up to two million connections in a minute.

What can we do to make sure that our children are developing the required skills for them to succeed at school and at life? Reading with our children is the single most important activity that you can undertake to develop a child’s future reading and writing skills. Reading aloud to children also supports their development in other ways – it provides intensive language exposure and supports language development, promotes parent-child bonding and socialisation, and helps parents relate positively to their children.

It doesn’t matter what you read. It can be books, newspapers, magazines, comics, street signs, catalogues or shop signs. Your child will develop important skills that will enable them to thrive at kinder and school.

So when do we start? You should begin reading to your babies from birth, or at the very least, from 3 or 4 months of age.

Children love the sound of your voice, and soon enjoy the pictures and stories contained in books. Nursery Rhymes and singing songs are also great ways to help your child’s brain develop.

Books are a great present for children, so if you are a parent, an aunt or uncle, grandparent or friend and you can’t think of what to get for a birthday or Christmas, then a book is a great option.

Here are some great tips for reading to infants aged around 4 months to 12 months. These tips from the Royal Children’s Hospital Let’s Read program are helpful for older babies as well.

Whe reading with babies, they like:

  • being close to you
  • watching your face and lips move
  • hearing the sound of your voice
  • listening to different sounds and music
  • hearing same words, rhymes and stories over and over again
  • looking at books with colours, faces and pictures of other babies
  • touching and tasting books

How you can help your baby grow into a strong reader:

  • smile and hold your baby close so they can see your face and the book
  • copy the sounds your baby makes e.g. “da-da-da”
  • help your baby bounce and move to the rhythm of your voice or music
  • talk or sing about what you are doing when caring for your baby
  • notice what your baby is looking at and name it
  • share stories with your baby in the language you feel most comfortable with
  • start at the front of a book—you don’t have to finish it, a few pages is great!
  • keep books in easy reach of your baby
  • join the library—it’s free and fun. We have got great libraries right across the Wimmera Mallee and they have lots of books for you to borrow. You will be made very welcome and your local librarian will help you select some great books for you and your children.

Succeeding at School

How to help your child succeed at school

A 2006 ABS study shows that 46% of Australians, aged 15-74 have literacy levels below level 3. Level 3 is considered as the minimum level to meet the demands of life and work in the 21st century. Many people with poor reading skills have lower paid jobs and poorer health outcomes.

We know that:

  • Not all children arrive at school ready to take advantage of the learning opportunities provided at school. In Australia 22% of children are developmentally vulnerable in one or more domains of development
  • Children who fall behind in the first few years of schooling often find it very difficult to catch up to their peers even with appropriate intervention.
  • Many families are not aware of the importance of promoting their children’s early literacy or the strategies to use to ensure its development
  • Year 4 children ranked 27th out of 45 countries in reading making us one the lowest ranked English-speaking countries in the world.
  • Many of our children, across the Wimmera Mallee, are below the national benchmark for reading, writing and language skills. Our kids don’t do as well at school, on average, as their city cousins.
  • But, here is the good news. There is a simple way to help our children succeed at school. We should read to our children from birth every day. Aim to read at least a book a day. The more reading and books, the better. It’s always a great bed time ritual to read to your children.

Literacy is a vital skill in today’s world. Reading with children from birth is probably the single most important activity families, communities and professionals can undertake to improve their child’s future ability to read and write.

Sharing stories from birth gives children a great start to life. The best way to get children ready for their future is by helping them build a solid early language and literacy foundation well before school. Reading with children helps protect them from later reading problems, supports vocabulary (word) and brain development and helps strengthen adult-child bonding.

Children are born ready to learn and the best learning occurs early in life. Parents are children’s first and most important teachers. Building strong reading skills starts very early in life. Kids who are read to from birth, will do much better in reading and this helps them to succeed at school. Children who read well do better in education, and this leads to getting a good job, higher pay and having a good life. It doesn’t matter if it only takes one minute, five minutes or ten minutes. Any time is better than no time at all.

Every time you read to your baby it helps to create those important connections in the brain that support brain development and good literacy skills. Reading skills are skills that will serve your child well, for life. Reading a book in your child’s early years is so much better for them than playing on a ‘screen’.

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