From Reading to Reality
Children, in their formative years, are gifted with the element of curiosity. An unending curiosity towards everything makes up their surroundings. A blank slate, ready to be filled with colours of enjoyably complex and interesting concepts. This is insatiable curiosity and how it is nurtured, in-turn shapes the foundation and willingness towards learning.
At such a stage, books play a vital role in shaping this curiosity. Books are not just a collection of texts, instead, they are a core reason behind the how we understand the genesis of our own kind. Fantasies, imaginations, dreams and realities, culture, philosophies and of course, education are all made available to us for our consumption in the form of books.
The scope of learning, not just the curriculum but values, morals, the power to imagine, etc., is immense. When this habit is developed right, children develop this beautiful ability of understanding the world around them through the books. Thus, it becomes imperative that this habit is nurtured with utmost interest and enthusiasm.
As children delve deep into books, they constantly try to perceive the reality around them in relation to what they learnt from the books. Thus, more diverse the reading, the broader the scope of perception and understanding. Additionally, researchers have identified five essential skills that develop as a result of reading:
Phonemic Awareness: The ability to hear, identify and play with individual sounds
Phonics: The ability to connect written language with spoken language
Vocabulary: The knowledge of words
Reading Comprehension: The ability to understand what they read
Fluency: The ability to read quickly and accurately
However, it is necessary that the parents walk them through this process and help shape the correct or proper understanding. Reading with them, reading to them or talking them about what they read gives parents the opportunity to make reading and learning interesting for them, and enables them in imbibing the right understanding.
Through this process, children develop larger vocabulary, sound awareness and word-decoding abilities, alongside helping them develop a vivid imagination. This in turn translates into better logical understanding, problem-solving skills and creativity.