Phases of Literacy Development Mary S. Renoos ENGED 370-DL Reading & Language Arts Methods Ms. Amy Carpenter October 9, 2017

The continuum of children’s literacy development encompasses a sequence of distinct phases: #1 – Awareness and Exploration #2 – Experimental Reading & Writing #3 – Early Reading & Writing #4 – Transitional Reading & Writing #5 – Independent & Productive Reading & Writing

Phase #1- Awareness & Exploration birth-preschool What it looks like: Explore environment & build foundations Become curious about print & print related activities Enjoy listening to and talking about stories Understand that print carries a message Demonstrate logographic knowledge by identifying logos and labels Pretend-read Engage in paper-pencil activities / pretend write / scribble Begin to identify some letters & letter sound relationship

What can you do to encourage phase #1 Have students sign-in everyday: sign-in should be progressive, start with name identification on the white board, then move into tracing letters, then tracing dotted letters and finally write their name on their own. Maintain a reading nook in the classroom with plenty of picture books for the students to explore. Maintain a writing center filled with paper, envelopes, stickers and variety of writing implements for children to explore and pretend-write.

Phase #2- Experimental Reading & Writing Kindergarten What it looks like: Experiment with oral & written language Understand basic concepts of print: Left-to-right Top-to-bottom Enjoy being read to Start to engage in reading & writing activities Develop ability to: Recognize & write letters Letter-sound relationship Rhyming Sight words

What can you do to encourage phase #2: Start a guest reader program where volunteers come to class to share a favorite story. Encourage parents, siblings, family, neighbors or friends to sign up to read to promote reading. Create class story books where each child creates a page for the book. Possible themes are alphabet, animals, activities. Have children tell what they want their page to say so adults can write the text. Bind the books and included them in reading centers and read the completed book to the class. Create an alphabet center where a letter can be featured every few days. Have supplies for the letter to be created with different mediums; yarn, paint, markers, crayons, noodles, etc. Encourage drawing or cutting picture from magazine for the letter (either the actual letter they find in print or pictures of items starting with the letter). Compile each child’s work into their own alphabet book.

Phase #3- Early Reading & Writing 1st Grade What it looks like: Instruction becomes more formal Can read simple stories Can write about know topics Read & retell familiar stories Develop strategies for comprehension / predicting Develop accurate word identification strategies Increase letter-sound pattern knowledge Begin to read with fluency Increased sight words abilities Writing shows signs of punctuation / capitalization awareness

What can you do to encourage phase #3: Create a re-tell center: have props, laminated pictures, blank story boards which the students can use to re-tell a favorite story while acting it out or creating a story board with pictures from the center. Create a play dough letter center: the center will grow and change during the year. Start with laminated letter sheets where students form the letter in dough then move onto stamping the letter with letter forms. As knowledge grows replace letter sheets with sight words to form then onto sight words with a letter missing the students has to form the missing letter. Keep the center fresh by adding new words every few weeks. Moring message. Every morning have a morning message on the white board. As a class, read the daily message. Have several students identify items on the message every morning. Feature items the class has been focused on, what is a letter, word or sentence, punctuation, sight words, capitalization and letter-sound patterns.

Phase #4 – Transitional Reading& Writing 2nd Grade What it looks like: Increased fluency Use cognitive & metacognitive strategies for comprehending & composing Increased abilities: Reading & writing activities Word identification strategies Sight-word reorganization Conventional spelling Proofreading

What can you do to encourage phase #4: Readers theater. Provide many opportunities for readers theater where small groups of students can re-enact a favorite book or story. Have a supply box for props or costumes to use. Encourage students to wrtie their own stories to share in the theater. Create a editors corner where students work in pairs to proof each others work before having the teacher proof items. Create a check-list to follow 1) proof your own work, 2) work with a partner editor to proof work, 3) have the teacher proof your work. Have an authors shelf where students display their completed works. Encourage writing stories or poems, going through the process, (sloppy copy, proofing process, final copy) then reading it to the class and finally displaying it in the authors corner for other to enjoy.

Phase #5- Independent & Productive Reading & Writing 3rd Grade What it looks like: Use reading & writing in more sophisticated ways Read & write for a variety of purposes & audiences Improve & extend their literary skills & strategies

What can you do to encourage phase #5: Word a week: Have students create their own vocabulary books. Every week students choose their own new word to learn. They add it to their vocabulary journal and each day a few students share their new words with the class. Words can come from a book they are reading, a lesson or maybe one they heard used but do not know. Form book clubs. Offer 4 or 5 titles for silent reading. Allow student to choose which book to read. After books are completed have book discussions in their small groups: provide some discussion questions. Have each group give a short presentation (oral, visuals, or role playing - be creative) on why “you should read this book.” Have students choose a book to read for which they will create a movie poster or a new cover using their knowledge of the book., The poster or cover should encourage others to “check out this book.” Display book poster around the room, library or school.

The foundations for reading and writing began in the home The foundations for reading and writing began in the home. Schools built on this foundation to develop skillful and strategic readers and writers. Reference: Vacca, J. L., Vacca, R. T., Gove, M. K., Burkley, L. C., Lenhart, L. A. & McKeon, C. A. (2012), Reading and Learning to Read (8th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.