Story Time: More Than Just Reading

Most parents know that planning for their child's education is important. In order to give a child every advantage when it comes to learning, many parents opt to enroll their children in preschool programs. Finding the right preschool program can be a challenge, but looking for a preschool that incorporates story time into its daily curriculum can greatly benefit your child.

Here are three distinct advantages story time can provide for preschool children:

1. Integrated learning.

It's important to recognize that not all children learn new information in the same way. Some children may be auditory learners, while others may process information presented visually in a more accurate manner.

Story time provides young children with the opportunity to engage in integrated learning. Teachers present information orally by reading the story aloud, and children can also reinforce the story's plot in their minds by looking for visual clues in the book's pictures. Story time can be a beneficial tool to help both auditory and visual learners gain new understanding in the preschool classroom.

2. Enhanced listening skills.

As a child progresses through his or her formal educational career, having the ability to pay attention will be a critical skill when it comes to the child's success. Information presented by teachers during classroom lectures can only be absorbed if a child is paying attention to the lecture.

Story time provides young children with the opportunity to begin honing their listening skills at an early age. Children learn to sit attentively in preschool by being presented with an interesting story.

3. Increased literacy levels.

Literacy can be developed at an early age through participation in story time. Young children learn the meanings of words by having conversations with adults. Story time allows children to gain new exposure to words within the English language, and the accompanying pictures help children assign meaning to these words.

Reading mimics the conversational setting that is required for a young child to expand his or her vocabulary prior to learning to read, increasing your child's literacy level and helping to prepare him or her for greater understanding when attempting to master reading in the future.

Once you are able to identify some of the benefits that story time can provide, it becomes easy to see why you should seek out a preschool program that will give your child the opportunity to reap these benefits on a daily basis.

Contact a school like Advantage Learning Center for more information and assistance.