Promoting Language Literacy and Numeracy

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Promoting Language, Literacy and Numeracy in Early Education and Childcare Little red hen, Goldilocks and the three bears and Billy Goats Gruff are three traditional tales in which I think could be used as a stimulus for language, literacy and numeracy. Traditional tales like these express language skills, provide an understanding of folklore, cultural traditions and social values, as well as offering a sound foundation for development and competency in reading and writing for children; ‘If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales’ Albert Einstein (1955). Traditional tales have distinctive story patterns, constant characters and strong narrative structures which provide scope to develop literacy skills. The language is rich with symbolism, imagery, metaphors and divergent meaning which enhance children’s language development. Numeracy skills are strongly developed through sequencing and time. From the story of Goldilocks and the three bears there are opportunities to provide learning within the areas of language, literacy and numeracy. Goldilocks and the three bears is the story of three bears that take a walk in the woods while their porridge cools. While they are out, Goldilocks comes into the house. She eats up the little bear's porridge, breaks the little bear's chair, and falls asleep in his little bed. When the bears return from their walk, they discover what Goldilocks has done. In fact, she is still sleeping in the little bear's bed. While Goldilocks tries out the bears porridge the writer describes the porridge as being ‘too hot’ or ‘too cold’ which develops the children’s knowledge of descriptive words. The children then develop knowledge of repetition as the writer repeats this description of the bears chairs she tries out and then their beds again
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