The Impact of Early Childhood Reading on Literacy Skills

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The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reported, “that children who were read to frequently are 77% more likely to read or pretend to read and 60% more likely to count to 20 than those who were not.” (National Education Association) This statistic is one of many that demonstrates an emphasis on the importance of parents reading to children at a young age. Not only is there a significant change in children who have parents read to them but there is also a change when schools push more “fun” reading. I think that as a child the factors around you, such as your parents and school, are crucial to the way you view and experience reading and writing. When I was a child, my mom had an important influence on my reading skills but I also …show more content…

My love for reading was extremely strong when I was younger and one of my greatest accomplishments while in elementary school was becoming part of the “1000 AR Point Club”. This meant I got a certificate at an awards assembly and I also got my name put on a plaque hanging in the hallway. If it were not for my school offering rewards for reading and my mom who actively enjoyed reading with me, I never would have achieved that accomplishment. For as long as I can remember my mom has been an avid reader and writer. She graduated from college with a major in Journalism and a minor in English. From before I could comprehend what she was saying, my mom was reading to me. She started out reading simple, easy books to me every night, and as I grew older and could understand reading more fully, I began to read them on my own as well. I can still remember half of the lines from some of my favorite books as a kid because we read them so much. Having a mom who enjoyed to read affected my experience with reading quite a bit. My …show more content…

The more points we accumulated the more we were rewarded. Similar to the way Malcom X was rewarded while in prison because, “An inmate who was known to read a lot could check out more than the permitted maximum number of books” (Malcom X, 276) this was exactly the same method while in elementary school. The more we read and took quizzes the more we gained, not only academically, but from the school, teachers, and even parents. I believe that these AR points are what fueled my reading as a kid. I already had a passion for reading but because my school would give me homework where I simply had to choose a book I wanted to read and take a quiz on it, this only furthered my love for reading. Soon it was hard to find me anyplace without a book in hand, anywhere I went I was glued to my current choice of book. It is only because my school offered rewards for “fun” reading that I truly enjoyed reading and could do it

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