Thank you to everyone for dressing up for Book Week.  It was great to see the students enthusiastic about stories and their book characters. 

Reading is important for babies and young children and sharing stories, talking, and singing every day helps your child’s development in many ways.

Reading and sharing stories can:

• help your child get to know sounds, words, and language, and develop early literacy skills
• learn to value books and stories
• spark your child’s imagination and stimulate curiosity
• help develop your child’s brain, ability to focus, concentration, social skills and communication skills
• help your child learn the difference between ‘real’ and ‘make-believe’
• help your child understand new or frightening events, and the strong emotions that come with them
• help your child learn about the world, their own culture and other cultures.

Sharing stories with your child doesn’t mean you have to read from the book.

Just by looking at books with your child and talking about them, you can be a great storyteller and a good model for using language and books. Your child will learn by watching you hold a book the right way and seeing how you move through the book by gently turning the pages.

Reading stories with children has benefits for grown-ups too. The special time you spend reading together promotes bonding and helps to build your relationship with your child.