Reading Aloud and Emergent Comprehension
Reading aloud to children reinforces their understanding of print and provides opportunities for them to see letters and words, and hear the sounds that the letters make. Reading aloud helps children develop vocabulary skills and comprehensive skills as well as knowledge of story structure.
Print Concepts
Print concepts help children understand how language looks in written form. The teacher introduces print concepts and models strategies for children to use as they learn about print through reading and writing.
Oral Language, Listening, Vocabulary, and Concept Development
Oral language influences early acquisition of literacy. It provides children with an opportunity to understand how to access their knowledge in a way that will help them understand the words in a text.
Letter and Sound Knowledge
Letter and Sound Knowledge is the ability to recognize the letters of the alphabet and their sounds. Children learn the names and sounds of letters by working with a cluster of letters. Letter clusters are created by assessing children’s recognition of upper- and lowercase letters. Children are provided with explicit instruction in letter recognition. Both upper- and lowercase letters are taught at the same time to improve children’s recognition of letters and their sounds.
Phonological Awareness and Phonics Connections
Phonological Awareness is the ability to hear, focus on, think about, recognize, and manipulate the phonemes of spoken words. Children move through the levels of phonological awareness by starting at the beginning levels (Levels 1-6) to gain a solid foundation, and then moving through the more advanced levels (Levels 7-12) as they demonstrate success. Phonics connection activities are provided to give children opportunities to connect phonological awareness with print.
Emergent Writing
For children to become successful writers, they must have opportunities to write daily. Children begin to write by scribbling, drawing, and writing letter-like formations, strings of letters, and then words. Teachers help children move through the characteristics of writing by participating in daily writing experiences.
Engage children in non-literacy-related activities
for two hours throughout the day.