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2 Emergent Literacy
- 1 The child knows that print carries messages.
- Through daily experiences with printed materials, young children delight in beginning to understand the connection between spoken and written words. They begin to learn to follow the print as it is read aloud and start to discover that reading and writing are ways to communicate information and to provide pleasure. Children develop understanding that different forms of print, such as signs, letters, menus, storybooks, and magazines have different functions.
- a Identifies signs, symbols and labels in the environment.
- b Demonstrates and understands that print conveys meaning and that each spoken word can be written and read.
- d Recognizes that letters are grouped to form words.
- e Recognizes own written name and the written names of friends and family.
- e Seeks information in printed materials.
- Through daily experiences with printed materials, young children delight in beginning to understand the connection between spoken and written words. They begin to learn to follow the print as it is read aloud and start to discover that reading and writing are ways to communicate information and to provide pleasure. Children develop understanding that different forms of print, such as signs, letters, menus, storybooks, and magazines have different functions.
- 2 The child demonstrates how to handle books appropriately and with care.
- It is important to provide young children with many opportunities to interact with and care for books in all environments. Young children need to have access to a variety of fiction and nonfiction books throughout the day, including those that reflect diverse cultures. Through these experiences, children learn to hold books right side up and to turn the pages one at a time in order to view the illustrations and to gain a sense of the story or content.
- a Holds a book right side up with the front cover facing the reader and understands left to right and top to bottom directionality.
- b Identifies where in the book to begin reading.
- c Understands a book has a title, author and/or illustrator.
- It is important to provide young children with many opportunities to interact with and care for books in all environments. Young children need to have access to a variety of fiction and nonfiction books throughout the day, including those that reflect diverse cultures. Through these experiences, children learn to hold books right side up and to turn the pages one at a time in order to view the illustrations and to gain a sense of the story or content.
- 3 The child develops awareness that language can be broken in words, syllables, and smaller units of sounds (phonemes).
- Young children learn to discriminate between the similarities and differences in spoken language. Such awareness is the foundation of young children’s abilities to hear and discriminate different sounds in words (phonological awareness). Research indicates how quickly and how easily children learn to read often depends on how much phonological awareness they have. Children’s abilities to play with or manipulate the smallest units of speech (phonemes) are demonstrated in a variety of ways, including using rhymes, alliteration, and experimenting with beginning and ending sounds. Phonological awareness and phonemic awareness are the foundations that enable preschool children to later match sounds to their letters (phonics). Phonological awareness can be taught in the dark as it requires just listening for and manipulating sounds.
- a Differentiates between sounds that are the same and different (e.g., environmental sounds, animal sounds, phonemes).
- b With modeling and support, identifies rhyming words.
- c With modeling and support, produces rhyming words.
- d With modeling and support, recognizes spoken words that begin with the same sound.
- e Hears and shows awareness of separate words within spoken phrases or sentences.
- f With modeling and support, identifies and discriminates syllables in words.
- g With modeling and support, combines onset and rime to form a familiar one-syllable word with and without pictorial support.
- h With modeling and support, repeats words and identifies the common final sound.
- Young children learn to discriminate between the similarities and differences in spoken language. Such awareness is the foundation of young children’s abilities to hear and discriminate different sounds in words (phonological awareness). Research indicates how quickly and how easily children learn to read often depends on how much phonological awareness they have. Children’s abilities to play with or manipulate the smallest units of speech (phonemes) are demonstrated in a variety of ways, including using rhymes, alliteration, and experimenting with beginning and ending sounds. Phonological awareness and phonemic awareness are the foundations that enable preschool children to later match sounds to their letters (phonics). Phonological awareness can be taught in the dark as it requires just listening for and manipulating sounds.
- 4 The child demonstrates knowledge of the alphabet.
- Young children begin to recognize some printed alphabet letters, especially those letters found in their own names. To support young learners’ knowledge of letters, adults need to provide children with easy and repeated meaningful interactions with written letters and words within the context of daily experiences. Activities are presented in fun and interesting ways that engage children.
- a Discriminates letters from other shapes and symbols.
- b Matches and recognizes similarities and differences in letters, with modeling and support.
- c Recognizes as many as 10 letters, especially those in own name, family and friends.
- d Uses letter-sound knowledge identifying the sounds of a few letters and producing the correct sounds for as many as 10 letters, with modeling and support.
- Young children begin to recognize some printed alphabet letters, especially those letters found in their own names. To support young learners’ knowledge of letters, adults need to provide children with easy and repeated meaningful interactions with written letters and words within the context of daily experiences. Activities are presented in fun and interesting ways that engage children.
- 5 The child shows an interest in books and comprehends books read aloud with increasing text complexity.
- Children gain understanding about language and reading through their interactions with verbal language, print, and daily routines. In addition, children learn about reading concepts by experiencing a learning environment rich in signs, symbols, words, numbers, and art that reflect diverse cultures. When children are read to regularly and encouraged to intentionally interact with printed materials, they develop an interest in books and other printed materials.
- a Takes an active role in reading activities.
- b With prompting and support, identifies characters and major events in a story.
- c With prompting and support, asks and answers a variety of questions about books or stories told or read aloud.
- d With prompting and support, draws connections between story events and personal experiences.
- e With prompting and support, identifies events and details in the story and makes predictions.
- f With prompting and support, gives an opinion for liking or disliking a book or story.
- g With modeling and support, begins to demonstrate an understanding of the differences between fiction and non-fiction.
- h With modeling and support, identifies the topic of informational text that has been read aloud.
- i With modeling and support, retells or reenacts a story in sequence with pictures or props.
- j With modeling and support, demonstrates reading fluency by use of phrasing, intonation and expression in shared reading of familiar books, poems, chants, songs, nursery rhymes or other repetitious or predictable texts.
- Children gain understanding about language and reading through their interactions with verbal language, print, and daily routines. In addition, children learn about reading concepts by experiencing a learning environment rich in signs, symbols, words, numbers, and art that reflect diverse cultures. When children are read to regularly and encouraged to intentionally interact with printed materials, they develop an interest in books and other printed materials.