Early literacy is not the teaching of reading or writing. Children prepare to read long before they enter school -- early literacy is everything that children know about reading and writing before they can actually read and write. Early literacy is a baby who chews on a book, a toddler who wants his favorite book read over and over, and a preschooler who "reads" the story to you from memory.

Early literacy skills begin to develop in the first 5 years of life. Your child's early experiences with books and languages lay the foundation for success in learning to read. You are the key to your child's success in learning to read. When you read, talk or play with your child, you're stimulating the growth of your child's brain and building the connections that will become the building blocks for reading. Brain development research shows that reading aloud to your child every day increases his brain's capacity for language and literacy skills and is the most important thing you can do to prepare him for learning to read.

Why is early literacy important? Experts now know that:

• The development of language and literacy skills begins at birth.
• Children develop much of their capacity for learning in the first three years of life, when their brains grow to 90 percent of their eventual adult weight.