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Literacy And Numeracy
Literacy and numeracy from birth
Effective literacy and numeracy learning are not just about providing children with opportunities to utilise their developing skills. It is also essential that educators have a strong understanding of the concepts that they are seeking to teach.
Our program assists children to build on knowledge and skills through the use of appropriate vocabulary and information. Our educators are trained in supporting the essential skills of literacy and numeracy through the effective use of play-based resources and learning environments as well as effective communicators.
When we talk about numeracy concepts we think about more than just number. We think about the broad areas of measurement, about spatial knowledge and the many different aspects of number.
Measurement
Exploring measurement concepts can look like this when you are interacting with a child: Early childhood professional: ‘Let’s wipe the table together.’ (Using sponges or paper towels the children wipe the table.) Early childhood professional: ‘Did you wipe to the edge? We covered the whole area!’ When we talk about ‘edge’, ‘side’, ‘top’ or ‘bottom’, children are learning about area. Children often don’t think about the area. Helping children pay attention to it helps them later on when they will measure these surfaces and make comparisons.
Spatial Knowledge
Young children already have some spatial knowledge that we can build upon in our programmes. For example, when making roti at home, Ashraf and his mum had the following conversation:
Ashraf: ‘Look what I made.’
Mum: ‘It’s curved like a raindrop shape.’
Using everyday words to describe shapes such as ‘a raindrop’, ‘egg shape’, ‘curved’ and ‘round’ are important for helping children understand shapes. Over time children will use words such as ‘triangle’, ‘square’ and ‘circle’. These words help children to talk about the shapes in their environment. Noticing and studying shapes is important for learning geometry later at school.
What do we mean by Literacy Concepts?
Long before a child utters their first word, parents/early childhood professionals and children begin to communicate. Their first communications take on the form of gestures initiated by the adults. Parents and early childhood professionals take a leading role in a child’s language development by mainly:
- talking to young children about the here and now
- being selective about the words they use
- Encouraging children to take turns in a conversation
- altering the way they say things, such as slowing down, or in the usage of short, simple sentences.
Children’s language and literacy development takes place in everyday activities accompanied by interesting talk with lots of new vocabulary words. Although the development of literacy skills is different from the development of language, it is inter-related.
Literacy is about more than knowing letters and reading some words. In the early stages, we would be looking for evidence of young children showing that they are aware of literacy in their home and in the community in which they live. Do they respond to print material that enters the home like junk mail, letters and postcards, bills and other advertising materials? Do they respond to shop signs and printed material on cartons and other packaging in the supermarket?
Young children can be responsive to the purposes of different forms of print, for instance, a list for shopping, rules to play a game, a calendar, bank books or Pokémon cards.
They can show their understanding of the links between what they experience and what they say and what is written down through such activities as telling a story that gets written and ‘read’, following a recipe for making a meal, giving and writing directions for someone to visit, and writing captions to family photographs that can be re-read. From these experiences, the young child learns that print is ‘read’ one page at a time, from left to right and from top to bottom of the page. They can also learn to recognise their own name and learn some letters through this recognition.
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What Parents Say
Jessica Van Dyk
We love Dooral! The teachers are knowledgeable, patient, and genuinely invested in each child’s development. Our daughter has blossomed in their care, developing essential skills and friendships. The facility is clean, well-organised, and safe. Communication is excellent, keeping us informed about daily activities and milestones. We appreciate the variety of activities, including arts, music, and outdoor play. Thank your Dooral for always providing a great environment for our 2 year old (who has attended since a baby).
Louise Hamerlok
It was a huge decision as to where to send our Daughter, and after viewing several centres in the area, we knew immediately Dooral was the right one. The teachers are amazing and they fully engage with the children at all times, ensuring that their development and care is the priority. Our daughter has learnt so many great skills during her time at Dooral and I always know she’s in the best hands. The facilities and equipment are clean and modern and encourage learning and development at all ages. I can’t recommend this centre highly enough!
Elise Adams
Dooral Early Learning Centre is a wonderful place of learning, fun and adventure. I was worried to send my son off to daycare when I had to return to work as I of course was concerned that he wouldn’t be nurtured and appreciated as much as at home.. well never fear, at Dooral it is the complete opposite! The staff are so caring, professional and take genuine interest in the life of the kids. They all are so involved in my son’s development and keep me constantly updated with progress and newly learnt skills, it is such a joy for a parent when they have to be away from their child. I could not recommend Dooral any higher.. It truely is the best second home for my son!
Kheang Ly
Great centre, lovely staff and my little one loves it!
Andrew McLean
Couldn’t recommend Kenthust Dooral ELC higher. A beautiful, welcoming community that has looked after our little girl and helped her blossom so much over the past year. Thank you to Silvia and the team for their ongoing dedication and support for our little ones.
Amanda Basilious
Words can not explain when your child is excited to get ready and get to the car because they know they are coming to Dooral!! We have started attending here a few weeks now and our nonverbal child hurries us to get him to Dooral and doesn’t want to leave at pick up. I have to chase him in the centre and carry him to the car as he doesn’t want to leave even though he has been there all day. This just shows amazing staff and amazing environment. The staff are so in-tuned with the children, patient, cheerful and work really hard to support our boy. Thank you Dooral staff for making our boy excited to be social and learning each Dooral day.
Anonymous User
This daycare made the transition for my toddler starting daycare for the first time so much easier. The educators are kind, nurturing, and all mums themselves- not super young. Meals and nappies are included, which makes life so much easier. The centre is surrounded by beautiful Kenthurst gardens and nature, with plenty of room for kids to run around. There’s also not as much sickness here compared to the bigger daycares. Highly recommend!
