Literacy Development

Supporting Your Child's Literacy Skills Development

We encourage parents of all students from JK - Grade 4 to read to their children for 15-20 minutes each night.

Here is how you can help ...

Read 15-20 minutes each night with your child right up until at least the end of Grade 4
Have your child help you read signs, notices, etc. in your daily life
For children who are not reading fluently yet: play pre-reading skill games, memory games, and math games while shopping, or in the car, or while you make supper.
Practice sight words with your children.

From JK to Grade 3, we have a specific set of sight words that we want students to have in their sight vocabulary. Being able to recognize these words without sounding them out will help children to read 70% of the text they will encounter. We have grouped these high frequency words for a focus of study in each school year. Please start at the beginning and work through them with your child.

We have attached both the word lists for each grade level as well as flashcards of the words that you can print and use at home:

Click to view flashcards

Practice these sight words and your child's reading will improve. Here are some tips to help your child with the flashcards:

Show your child the flashcard. They need to say the word immediately.
If the child hesitates or starts sounding it out, say the word yourself and immediately move on to the next flashcard.
Keep working at them and reviewing them until your child can say the word right when you hold up the card.

For children who are working on attaching sounds to letters, use the flashcards below. Hold up the flashcard and have them say the sound/s the letter makes.

Click to view flashcards

Activities for Parents to Help Children Develop Literacy Skills

Activities that foster phonological awareness

Understanding the sounds and meaning of spoken language

Sing songs, recite nursery rhymes and poems, engage in language and rhyming games that draw attention to language and sounds.
Draw attention to letter sounds – use everyday activities to talk about letters and their sounds. (Milk begins with the letter m. M makes the mmmmm sound)
Read books that focus on sounds and rhymes (e.g. In the Small, Small Pond by Denise Fleming).
Lay out groupings of pictures that feature similar sounding words (e.g. house and mouse, ball and bell) and, in a quiet place, encourage children to find the picture of one of the items (Can you find the bell?).

Activities that foster vocabulary and language development

Have regular (more than once a week), detailed, informative conversations with children. For example, during bath time ask, “What do you think happens to water when it goes down the drain?” Ask other exploratory questions in the car, while eating or reading.
Teach children new words on a regular basis.
Use labelling games with infants and toddlers – “Where are your ears?” or “The cat is on the couch.”
Comment on children’s surroundings, particularly when in a new environment. Talk about children’s experiences before, during and after a new activity.
Encourage children to talk about their favourite books – get them to “read” it to you, or have them comment on their favourite part.
Respond back to encourage continued conversation.

Activities that foster understanding of narrative structure

Understanding the parts of narrative, such as sequence of events, characters and dialogue

Read to children frequently and in different situations – bedtime, on the bus, in the bookstore, waiting in line at the bank, as a break during clean-up.
Encourage children to pretend to read (e.g. give them a picture book and have them tell you the story) and encourage turn-taking with books children are familiar with.
Take time for oral storytelling and pretend storytelling using puppets or dolls.

Activities that foster book awareness and interest

Understanding that books convey ideas, knowledge and information as well as creating positive experiences with books and reading

Provide access to a variety of high-quality books, including alphabet books, picture books and books with rhyming; ensure books are age-appropriate (e.g. board or cloth books for babies).
Make regular visits to a library or bookstore (at least once every two months). Expose children to different kinds of books – storybooks, non-fiction books (e.g. about trucks, nature, dinosaurs), and poetry.
Read to your child frequently (at least four times per week) and create a warm storytime or reading environment. Let children initiate shared reading times, encourage children to take turns reading, allow time for questions.
Connect visual experiences to books – if a child takes an avid interest in a television program, extend their knowledge by obtaining books on the same or similar topics.
Allow children to see adults in the home reading every day (books, magazines, online articles).

Activities that foster understanding of print concepts and functions, as well as letter and word recognition

Understanding that print gives us meaningful information, can amuse, comfort and entertain. Understanding that print follows certain conventions, such as spaces between words, is read left to right, top to bottom. Understanding that words are made up of letters.

Allow children to help with daily activities involving print – write a shopping list, write an appointment in a calendar, choose items from a take-out menu. Explain the purpose of these activities.
Explain and show how print works – read the title and author of a book before reading, follow the print with your fingers as you read.
Point out conventions of print when reading (e.g. if a child interrupts while reading, explain that you will answer when you finish the sentence and point to the period when you get there. Say what it means, then allow time to answer the original question).
Provide access to games that encourage alphabet knowledge and reading, such as magnetized alphabet, computer reading games (Reader Rabbit);
Encourage children to learn the first letter of their name and help them find it in printed materials they encounter (signs, mail, etc.).
Teach children alphabet songs.
Write a child’s name often – include it on their art work, label the door to their room, or their favourite toy.
As they get older, write labels for common words and place them on the item.

Activities that foster comprehension

Understanding the meaning of language heard in everyday conversation and in narrative form

Ask questions during shared activities such as reading, watching television or playing computer games that help children think about vocabulary, plot, or character.
Tell a story or listen to an audio recording of a book, then ask children to draw a picture of their favourite part of the story and have a conversation about it.

Activities for Parents to Help Children with Math

Helping young children with math

Sing number rhymes and songs such as:
- 'One, two, buckle my shoe'
- 'One two three four five, once I caught a fish alive'
- 'Ten green bottles'
- 'There were 10 in the bed'
Talk about:
- How many knives and forks you will need to set the table
- How many people are in the queue at the supermarket check-out
- Which glass will hold the most orange juice
Play games like Snakes and Ladders that involve taking turns and using a dice and counters to move around a board
Look for numbers in books, on posters, in comics, on buses, cars and road signs
Talk about the shapes of things
Do jigsaws

Helping older children with math

Talk about any math work that they bring home from school
Ask them to help you when you are doing things with money, or measuring or weighing
Help them to learn their multiplication tables:
- 7 year olds should know the 2 and 10 times table
- 8 year olds should know the 5 times table
- 9 year olds should know all their tables to 10 x 10

Tell the time
Use magazines to find out when a TV program is on and set the video recorder
Look at the price of things in catalogues and work out if you can afford them
Weigh ingredients when you are cooking
Put pattern pieces together when making clothes
Measure floors for carpets, walls for wallpaper and paint

Helpful Websites for Parents

FSL Homework Toolbox (new website that has been created through a grant from the Ontario Ministry of Education to support French as a Second Language learning and homework completion)

Curriculum Documents

Starting Out Right: A guide to promoting children's reading success

Get Ready to Read

Centre for Family Literacy

Literacy & Numeracy Tip Sheets for parents

NRich Maths

All Kinds of Minds (understanding special needs)

Canadian Parents for French

Additional Resources