Awareness for Reading Aloud among Parents of Low Socioeconomic Status and its Effect on Children?s Reading Habits: An Intervention Program in Three Preschools in Israel in Netanya, Acco, and Tirat Hacarmel

This article examines the importance of reading books and parents reading books to their children, and attempts to grapple with the following questions: Is it possible to use various mediation methods in the preschool to increase the consumption of books by young children from families of low socioeconomic status? Will literacy activity in the preschool library among a population of low socioeconomic status, raise parental awareness of the importance of reading books and how it contributes to the children? How can we encourage parents to read to their young children among a population from a low socioeconomic background? The experimental study was carried out among three populations of kindergarten children, who describe themselves as traditional Jews, and live in neighborhoods of economic distress in Israel – in Acco, Tirat Hacarmel, and Netanya. Each preschool has 35 children, age 5-6. Most children come from a relatively low socioeconomic background, from low income families, with many having various emotional, language, and cognitive difficulties. The intervention program included many and varied activities and was aimed at encouraging the children to exchange books in the preschool library so they would have them read to them at home, and encouraging the parents to read to their children. As a result of the intervention program, the level of interest in books grew among both children and parents. They gradually began to read more and more books, and their interest level and exposure significantly increased.