According to research conducted by the National Early Literacy Panel, the years from birth to age 5 are critical in a child's development and learning, especially in the area of literacy. Providing young learners with the precursor skills to reading sets them up for achievement in the primary grades and offers them a path for critical language and literacy development. In addition, studies show that the more words parents use when speaking to their infants, the greater the volume of their children's vocabulary by the age of 3.

Conversely, as published in the American Educator, children who miss out on early reading practice opportunities remain poor readers and have difficulty attaining average levels of reading fluency during elementary school.

At Neev, it is our consistent effort to build and nurture the language and literacy skills amongst our young learners.

A toddler child will be exposed to books and stories on a regular basis. At this stage they are interested in words and love hearing stories read aloud. Even if they don't understand the narrative of a story the same way an older child does, reading to a child at an early age builds the foundation of literacy. At this age, children begin to show an interest in written communication where as Pre-K are able to recognize many letters and are starting to connect them with spoken sounds.

For older children of K1 and K2, at Neev we have a Guided reading programme, which is an enriched programme that helps and supports to get proficiency in reading. We at Neev have a vast variety of readers like Oxford reading tree, PM starter, Big cat and Fire flies apart from regular story books. Neev books (www.neevbooks.org) is an amazing resource on books for children, parents and teachers.

Guided reading is a instructional approach that involves a teacher working with a small group of children who demonstrate similar reading behaviors and can all read similar levels of texts. The text is easy enough for students to read with adult support. The text offers challenges and opportunities for problem solving, at the same time is easy enough for students to read with some fluency. Educators choose selections that help students expand their strategies. The ultimate goal of guided reading is reading a variety of texts with ease and deep understanding.

Recently, Neev organized a literature festival for children where they had a chance to listen to their favourite authors, attend workshops and panel discussion for parents and community.

For more information on Neev Literature Festival, please visit www.neevliteraturefestival.org.

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