The Importance of Letters & Numbers for Your Child in Preschool
Literacy (reading and writing) and numeracy (understanding numbers) are the superpowers that help children grow, learn, and get ready for all the adventures that school will bring. At preschool, children are encouraged to foster their skills – reading, writing, counting, and understanding the world around them – to help them become lifelong learners. Let’s take a quick peek into how these important skills develop.
Literacy Skills: Ready, Set, Read!
Preschool is where the magic of reading and writing begins. Your child will start discovering the world of letters, sounds, and stories in a fun and playful way.
1.Listening and Talking: Your little one will get to enjoy stories, songs and rhymes. The more words they hear, the more they’ll be able to understand and use them.
2.Letters Are Everywhere: Preschoolers learn to recognize letters, like “A”, “B”, “C”, and even the sound each letter makes (A says “ahh”, B says “buh”, and so on). These sounds are the fundamental building blocks for later reading.
3.Phonemic Fun: Children start to hear and play with the sounds in words. They’ll learn, for example, that the word “cat” has three sounds: c-a-t! This understanding will help them become expert readers!
4.Writing Time: At preschool, children start practicing writing too. Whether it’s drawing shapes, tracing letters, or scribbling their own name – they are getting their hands ready for future writing adventures!
Numeracy Skills: Counting, Shapes, and All Things Numbers!
Preschool is also where children begin their journey into the wonderful world of numbers. It’s all about exploring, counting, and figuring out how things work together.
1.Count to the Top: Counting is one of the first things children learn in preschool. They count everything – blocks, toys, snacks. This helps them understand that numbers are not just something you say, but something you use every day.
2.Shapes and Patterns: Preschoolers discover shapes like circles, squares and triangles. They also start recognising patterns and sorting things by size, colour and shape. This teaches them to see simple problems as puzzles that they can piece together.
3.Simple Math: Even though they are not adding big numbers yet, preschoolers learn the basics of math. They begin to understand “more” or “less”, and this knowledge can help them to make fair choices like learning to share and take turns.
Preschool is priming your child to take on the challenge of Grade 1. Here is a checklist of the milestones they should have reached by the time they start formal school:
Literacy Skills:
- Recognise all letters in lower case and the sounds they make.
- Read some simple words like “cat” and “dog.”
- Talk about stories they’ve heard, remembering the characters and what happened.
- Identify and write their own name.
- Spot rhyming words like “hat” and “bat”
- Clap words in syllables.
Numeracy Skills:
- Count up to 20 (and sometimes higher).
- Recognise and write numbers from 1 to 10.
- Know basic shapes (like circles, squares and triangles) as well as all the different colours and sizes and sort accordingly.
- Start to understand simple concepts of adding and subtracting (“more” or “less”).
Early Learning Leads to Success!
Every time a child learns something new, they get to feel proud of themselves, and that feeling builds confidence to help them try new things. Supporting your child’s learning at home is one of the best ways to set them up for success. Whether it’s reading a fun book, playing a counting game, or pointing out shapes and numbers during your day, you’re helping them grow and get ready for school. So, go ahead and celebrate every little step your child takes. Every time they say a new word, count to the next number, or draw a new shape, you’re building the foundation for their bright future.