When it comes to the term “Literacy”, most of our parents would instinctively refer to it as “reading and writing” and see it as a “preschool business”.
Quite the contrary, the development of literacy begins from birth, well before children formally learn to read, write or talk. Here at Piccolo Park, we start this learning at the very beginning of a child’s journey with us, as we endeavour to prepare our tamariki (children) to become confident and competent learners.
Language and Literacy in our Whenua room (infants room) encompasses a wide range of ways to support these young children to build their emergent literacy skills. This includes:
- Conversations
- Singing
- Reading and learning language
- Rhymes and purakau (oral stories that connect them to their family and cultural backgrounds)
Our tamariki also learn about literacy by exploring their senses of sight, sound, touch and movement.
Both Kaiako (teachers) and whanau (family) play significant roles in helping our children to develop literacy in these early years and this collaborative journey continues throughout their time with us here at Piccolo Park.
