Emergent Readers and Writers

Emergent Readers/Writers

Stage 1: Emergent Reading/Writing What happens during this stage? Children develop an interest in reading and writing Acquire concepts about print Develop book handling skills Learn to identify letters of the alphabet Develop handwriting skills Learn to read and write some high frequency words **This usually takes place in Kindergarten but some children do learn to read before they come to school**

Pretend Reading When children come to school, their knowledge about written language expands quickly as they learn concepts about print and participate in meaningful experiences with reading and writing.

Pretend Writing Random letters placed on page Letters start to move from left to right AND top to bottom

Concepts About Print Print carries meaning Reading/writing are used for a variety of purposes Menus, Birthday cards, Stories Teachers demonstrate the purposes of written language and provide opportunities for children to experiment with reading/writing: Post signs around the room Make a list of classroom rules Put reading/writing materials in literacy centers Drawing/writing in journals Have children exchange messages Writing notes to parents Read/write stories Label classroom items

Concepts About Print Include: Book orientation: How to hold a book Turn pages Text carries the message Directionality Concepts: Print goes from left to right Print goes from top to bottom Points to track words Letter and Word Concepts: Points to any letter on a page Points to a particular letter Puts fingers around any word on a page Puts fingers around a particular word Puts fingers around any sentence on a page Points to the first and last letters of a word Points to a period or other punctuation mark Points to a capital letter

Practice Assessing Concepts About Print Show DVD