Early childhood education experts believe it is important to start kids early down the path of literacy and reading.
The College of Southern Idaho and Snake River Association for the education of young children hosted a conference today to help educators read between the lines.
Jennifer Patterson says, “So they can learn about literacy and effective strategies that they can use in their classrooms when they're working with young children.”
Through songs, games and interactive learning, they want to show that language can be fun.
Patterson says, “It absolutely goes beyond that. Early childhood does tend to have a focus of hands-on learning, and having children really be invested in their learning, and we hope to extend that into the grade schools as well.”
Jane Kitson says, “Children with strong vocabularies are better readers, writers and speakers, and help them to have the strong foundation in learning that they need as they enter into elementary school.”
Jane Kitson is a national early childhood expert, and she teaches the "five b's."
She says that through bathing, brushing, books, breakfast and bedtime, children can have an advantage in learning.
Kitson says, “Often parents think there's some mystical way to make children intelligent in the classroom, and really these are practical things that if every parent will do with their children every single day, our jobs as educators would be so much easier, and their children would be successful.”