Early Literacy is the First Step in School Readiness

By Groundwork Ohio Early Childhood Fellows:

Bonnie Berg-Simmons

Sam Forsythe

Laura McFalls

Jennifer McNellie

Meghan Scott

According to the Ohio Department of Education’s latest Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (2024-2025 school year), only 37% of Ohio students began school with skills which will allow them to effectively learn, and this percentage has only gone down since the 2020-2021 school year. Because children who enter school behind academically tend to remain behind, it is critical for kids to demonstrate learning skills early. Early investment in literacy skills not only improves school readiness but also lays the foundation for lifelong achievement.

Family knowledge and involvement can impact children’s early literacy. Because not every family in Ohio has access to high quality childcare, our Fellowship project focused on providing resources and activity suggestions for families, public librarians, and child care providers who work with children from birth to age 5. Our activities can be used by child care providers in a center or a home with minimal or no cost.

We based our activities on the research of Every Child Ready to Read (ECRR), an organization that focuses on caregiver education. They found that how caregivers approach five “practices” (sing, talk, read, write, and play) can make a huge difference in how children are able to learn. Educators can also use six “components” (phonological awareness, vocabulary, print awareness, letter knowledge, and background knowledge) to enhance the practices, although we have tried to avoid using those specific words to make our activities more user-friendly. Instead, we have built the components into our activities.

Sing

Singing slows down language so kids can hear sounds which make up words. Singing also exposes kids to syllables, rhyming, and concepts like numbers, sizes, and opposites.

Talk

All caregivers talk to their children, but how they talk is more important. Directions like “put away your toys” or “finish your dinner” don't expose kids to a wide variety of words. Telling stories and asking open-ended questions will expose kids to words that they will later encounter in print.

Read

Research has shown that reading to and with a child is the single most effective way to prepare them to read. Books expose kids to sounds and words which they may not encounter in day-to-day life. In addition, relating the book to a child’s experiences can allow for caregiver-child bonding and emotional connection to reading.

Write

Writing is essential for representing written language, and fine motor skills must exist before children are old enough to write. Kids can strengthen their hand and finger muscles long before they begin writing with activities like playing with clay, cutting, or painting.

Play

All types of play help develop language skills. Pretending one object is another, acting out stories, and engaging in pretend play are all ways to strengthen early literacy skills, develop problem solving skills, and deepen knowledge of the world.

Something must be done to reverse the decline in school readiness in Ohio. We hope that increasing access to early literacy resources, information, and activities will lead to improved kindergarten readiness scores throughout the state. A potential side effect will include strengthening the family-child connection.