Elena Iantosca

 

Overview

It is very important for children to start pre-literacy activities at an early age. These activities will help children develop concepts about print. These concepts include knowing how to hold a book the right way, differentiating between print and pictures, turning pages left to right, and being able to tell the front of the book from the back (Ornstein, 1998). Once children have grasped these first basic concepts, children can move on to learning more complex concepts about text. Children will learn that one must read lines of text from left to right and then to go back to the beginning of the next line down. They will also learn that pages are read from top to bottom starting at the top left. Next children will learn to tell words from letters, “two different letters, a capital and a lowercase letter, and two different words” (Ornstein, 1998, p. 60). Lastly they will pick up on punctuation marks in texts. Each of these stages of gaining concepts can be aided by parents and family members with different kinds of books that I will discuss later.

Developing concepts about print in children at an early age is invaluable to their literacy development. Without a firm grasp on these concepts, children will have trouble learning to read and write. These concepts about text give children the tools they need to read and to write by themselves. In addition, children's knowledge of these concepts when they enter kindergarten is a major factor in determining their literacy level (Nichols, Rupley, & Rickleman, 2004). Developing these concepts through early literacy experiences is so important that both the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the International Reading Association state that “failing to give children literacy experiences until they are of school-age can severely limit the reading and writing levels they ultimately attain” (Rog, 2001, p. 10).

Families can help children develop these concepts about print by exposing them to books, magazines, and all kinds of print, especially in their homes. Having a variety of texts at home helps children learn bout how text works. Lack of exposure to text may limit children’s ability to develop an understanding of these concepts. Children exposed to books and other reading material at a young age will begin to try to imitate writing and reading if given the opportunity (Rog, 2001).

Families can help their children develop these important concepts about texts in many simple ways. Reading to your children and reading in the presence of your children are both easy ways to help them with these concepts. You can begin reading to your children even before they begin to talk (Campbell, 1998). The first books you may want to try reading should have many pictures and not that many words per page with large print. You might also want to use board books so that your children do not tear the pages (Ornstein, 1998). A book such as Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt would be an excellent book for gaining the first concepts of reading. As you read with your children, ask them questions (Campbell, 1998) and talk about the book. Also, allow your children to turn the pages of the book and hold the book if they can or want to do so.

After having experience with board books and learning how to hold a book and turn its pages, children will start to focus on the text more. Identify the title of the book, and ask your children to predict what the book is going to be about by looking at the cover. Ask them to show you what part of the page you should begin reading (the text versus the picture). When you read to your children, you might begin to guide their fingers across the words as you read pointing to each word as you say it. This will help them see that for each word you say there is a set of letters on the paper that corresponds; this is called one-to-one matching (Ornstein, 1998). Once you have read a short book to your children several times, ask them to try reading it to you, having your children re-tell the story in their own words (Miller, 1995). In this stage of development, you should pick books with large print and few lines per page with a good amount of space between the words (Ornstein, 1998). A good book for this level is Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. This book also has lively and interesting pictures that children will enjoy.

Next as children begin to notice the difference between a letter and a word, they will need families to read them a new level of books. They might enjoy some rhyming books such as the Dr. Seuss books, Cat in the Hat and Hop on Pop (Ornstein, 1998). Lastly, as children begin to read more fluently, they will enjoy books that have to do specifically with things of interest to them. The stories in the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle series may be popular at this stage though children will still need guidance from family members on these stories.

 

 

Family Activities

• Bring your children to the grocery store with you. Before going, have them help you dictate the grocery list to you and watch you as you write the words. Say the words out loud as you write them. When you get to the grocery store, read your list out-loud as you point to the words and point to the corresponding words on the products you are buying. This activity will help children understand the practical use of print in action. They will see that you write left to right just like you read left to right also.

• Make a book with your children. Very young children might like a book of familiar photographs with labels under each photo that a family member can read to him or her. Older children might like to illustrate the book by themselves. You could write the words as the children dictate the story. Then you and your children could read the book together, pointing to the words as you read.

• Take your children to a restaurant. Show them the menu and whatever pictures may be on the menu. Read the menu to your children pointing to the words as you do. Let them help choose what to eat and have them point to it if they can remember which one it is. This activity will also help children realize how we use print in real life.

• Read to your children! The number one thing you can do for your children to help them learn concepts about print is to read to them everyday. A bedtime story is an excellent opportunity to read to your children. Make sure the book is interesting to your children. Ask them to predict what will happen in the book and guide their fingers along the words.

 

 

Resources

Learning About Print in Preschool: Working With Letters, Words, and Beginning Links with Phonemic Awareness
By Dorothy S. Strickland and Judith A. Schickedanz

This book is a great resource for caretakers of young children. The book begins by talking about what pre-literate children should know about print and it goes on in later chapters to discuss strategies to develop these concepts. Though this is a book written for preschool teachers, parents will find the information very useful.

 

Choosing Books for Children: A Commonsense Guide
By Betsey Hearne

Written by a children's librarian, this book is a useful guide to help families choose interesting and appropriate books for children. The book is divided by chapters, and it starts with books for the very youngest children. Later chapters discuss books for children up to the young adult age. Hearne uses a conversational, down-to-earth tone that is easy to read. This book can be found at your local library.

 

Great Books for Babies and Toddlers
By Kathleen Odean

The author of this book is the former chair of the Newberry Award Committee, and she has much to offer. Odean offers over 500 annotations to books for families of children up to three years old. The book begins with a good introduction as to why reading age appropriate books helps children throughout their education. Odean also explains in plain logical terms why each book is good for its assigned age group. This book can also be found at your local library.

 

The Read-Aloud Handbook
By Jim Trelease

This is a great book about why it’s important to read-aloud to your children and how to do it effectively. This book cites many studies to support its claims on the benefits reading-aloud to children. Trelease organizes the book with families' questions and his answers about what they might ask about reading aloud to their children. This book also has an annotated bibliography of children's books at the end. You can find this book in your local library.

 

PBS Parents
http://www.pbs.org/parents/experts/archive/rath-school.html

This website is a good resource for parents. It has experts in the educational field and their answers to parents' questions about literacy. Parents may write in with their own questions as well and answers may be posted.

 

Early Years are Learning Years
http://readyweb.crc.uiuc.edu/library/1997/learnabo.html

This is a website that cites many of the NAEYC literacy guidelines. The website gives good ideas for how to address literacy from infancy to the primary years. It lists everyday activities that any family may try.

 

Kindergarten Activities
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/CompactforReading/tablek.html

This website has a list of one hundred links to different pdf files that have checklists for activities that parents can try with their kindergarteners at a variety of levels. These checklists would be useful to parents not familiar with reading to children.

 

Irvine Unified School District: Family Literacy Project
http://iusd.org/parent_resources/questionsencourage.htm

This website lists questions families may ask their children before beginning reading a book, during reading, and after reading. These questions are designed to help children have conversations about what they read and to think about what they are reading more deeply.

 

 

References

Campbell, R. (1998). Facilitating preschool literacy. Newark, Delaware: International Reading Association.

Miller, W. H. (1995). Constructing a handout to use with parents of young 'at-risk' children in improving emergent literacy skills.  Paper presented at the Combined Meetings of the Great Lakes and South East International Reading Association. Nashville, TN.

Morrow, L. M., & Strickland, D. S. (1989). Emerging literacy: Young children learn to read and write. Newark, Delaware: International Reading Association.

Nichols, W. D., Rupley, W. H., & Rickelman, R. J. (2004). Examining phonemic awareness and concepts of print patterns of kindergarten students. Reading Research and Instruction, 43(3), 61.

Ornstein, S. (1998). Learning to read through picture books. School Library Journal, 44(6), 60-61.

Rog, L. J. (2001). Early literacy instruction in kindergarten. Newark, Delaware: International Reading Association.

Seefeldt, C. (2001). A room rich in words.  Scholastic Early Childhood Today, 16(2). 40-47.