The term “literacy” is used by some to simply describe reading and writing, but in fact literacy covers a much wider range of learning.
Literacy in the early years includes talking about books, print in the environment, early mark making and writing, as well as sharing books and reading. The statutory frameworks in England and Wales emphasise the fundamental importance of literacy and sharing books, and this page will be your helping hand to achieve that.
Literacy in your childcare setting
“From the day our children are born (yes), to the day they tell us to stop, we should read to them,” says Michael Rosen (pg.39 Good Ideas How to Be Your Child’s and Your Own Best Teacher).
Introducing literacy into your childcare setting doesn’t have to be confined to the printed ink on a page.
Chatting away in funny voices as you flick through picture books, enjoying interactive eBooks together, listening to stories being told via video or audio and singing nursery rhymes can all spark communication and literacy learning. Essentially it is these ideas and questions the activities promote that create the foundation for developing reading and writing skills.
“A shared story between a child and a familiar, loved adult has a huge impact on children’s interest and motivation for reading later on,” says PACEY President, Penny Tassoni.
National Storytelling week
Once upon a time (15 years ago to be exact) the Society for Storytelling’s National Storytelling Week was launched. Of course the art of telling a tale, spinning a yarn and using narrative skills goes back way before that.
National Storytelling week takes place each year and is a fabulous way to celebrate literacy in your childcare setting. Events take place in storytelling clubs, school, theatres, hospitals and theatres around the country. To find out what’s going on in your area take at look at the National Storytelling events website.
We’ve rounded up a bunch of the best literacy tools around for childcare professionals. You’ll find fun and educational children’s books and a selection of favourites from Clickety Books and I CAN.
Discover a range of resources including practice guides about sharing books, videos about communication and partner activity sheets from the BookTrust and ICAN’s Chatterbox Challenge amongst others.
Read along with Michael Rosen’s video of ‘Going on a Bear Hunt’, and read our guest blog about early speech and phonics .
Free literacy resources for members
Here are a variety of materials, available free for members, including practice guides and factsheets, all of which support literacy learning and development.
- Literacy practice guide – a brilliant guide to help you think about supporting the development of literacy skills in children.
- Supporting children’s language development – A guide to help you support and understand children’s language development for under and over 3s, and causes of communication difficulty.
- Sharing books – A guide to help you think about sharing books with children, looking at why sharing books is important, creating a book friendly setting, sharing books from birth, encouraging book sharing at home and what children learn from book sharing.
- Supporting children and families with English as an additional language (EAL) – A factsheet exploring how to support children and families with English as an additional language.
- Routines – A factsheet that explores the benefits of routines in children’s learning and development. Children can learn literacy skills from routines from learning vocabulary associated with time to reading about routines in books and through stories and rhyme.
- Transitions – A guide that explores the different types of transitions that children go through, as well as how you can help children settle in well to your childcare setting.
- Partnership with parents – a factsheet giving you information about working in partnership with parents, encouraging parents and carers to become more involved with their child’s learning of literacy.
- Blog: How a floppy-hatted scarecrow, a spider and a magic box can be your top tools for early literacy – Amanda Baxter from I CAN tells us her interesting top tips for early literacy and language development.
- Telling stories video – A practice video that explores how to engage children in stories and the learning and development benefits they bring.
- PACEY Live webinar: Stories and Poetry. The Michael Rosen Masterclass – Dive into the science and explore how words, storytelling and poetry support children’s brain and emotional development
- BLOG: The power of books and reading – Ben O’Donnell, Children’s reading and creative literacy consultant, talks about the impact that books have had on his life and why books can be so powerful for children.
Storytelling videos
Author Michael Rosen performs the children’s classic – We’re going on a bear hunt:
Clickety Books storytelling– the YouTube channel from our friends at Clickety Books have a fantastic variety of clips from story books including Jake the Achy Snake, Tracy the Pacy Plaice and Corky the Squawky Hawk voiced by Rik Mayall and Ronni Ancona.
BookTrust – Book Start – I love stories and rhymes! – A short top tips video with the blue bears from Bookstart.
Free partner resources
We hope this page has been useful for developing the literacy learning in your childcare setting. We’ll leave you with this quote from Michael Rosen that sums up the importance of literacy and empowering children with words:
“The feeling of entitlement about words is one of the most important platforms we can give children – whether that’s for getting what they need from education of beyond.”