The Importance of Don Holdaway’s Foundations of Literacy
If you’ve been reading to your child since birth, you can be confident knowing that you’re building a healthy foundation of literacy for your child. In fact, at PALS Praise & Leadership Schools, we are so confident that reading to your child creates success for your child that we’ve built this concept into our curriculum. We believe Don Holdaway’s Foundations of Literacy is such a proven way to teach a child to read that we use it as foundation for how we teach.
What to Know about This Learning Method
Don Holdaway was a New Zealand teacher and clinician who pioneered the teaching of reading methods, starting in the 1950s. During his career, he studied the ways that kids best learned to read. His findings led to his belief that reading is a shared experience that connects students. Through the shared, common language of reading, children find meaning and will ultimately learn how to read.
His research outlined a natural learning model that he consistently witnessed. The model begins with what Holdaway referred to as “demonstration.” Parents who read to their children from a young age participate in this first phase. This is when a child sees a person with whom he has bonded perform in a genuine way. With literacy, a child would witness a parent or teacher enthusiastically read a book. Next, “participation” occurs, where the child begins to read, or pretend to read, along. After participation, the “role-playing practice” begins, where a child might read and perform unsupervised. Finally, “performance” is where the child will share competence by performing and sharing. At this point, parents and teachers validate the child’s growth. This method builds confidence and allows children to practice literacy, and it’s this practice that leads to literacy.
PALS Has a Campus for You
Let PALS show you how we’ve implemented Don Holdaway’s Foundations of Literacy as part of our successful learning structure. PALS offers two campuses locations, both of which will help your child flourish for a lifetime. Our downtown campus, located at 700 NE Greenleaf in Peoria, is open from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. And our North Peoria campus, located at 2327 W. Willow Knolls Rd., is open from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. We are here to help your child flourish.
Contact Us
If you’re ready to see the PALS difference, we invite you to get in touch. Call PALS today at 309-691-4326 or 309-674-2938 and scheduling a tour to get a first-hand look at what we offer. We look forward to sharing our story with you.
