1. ESSENTIAL PRACTICES IN EARLY LITERACY
Developed by geln

2. FOSTER LITERACY MOTIVATION AND ENGAGEMENT WITHIN AND ACROSS LESSONS
Create opportunities for children to see themselves as successful readers and writers
Daily opportunities for choice
Regular opportunities to collaborate
Establish purpose for reading and writing
Generate excitement through book talks, book series, genre exposure

3. READ ALOUD-PRINT OR DIGITAL
Age appropriate
Sets of texts (thematically and conceptually related)
Modeling of fluency (accuracy, automaticity, prosody)
Higher-order discussion
Instructional strategies
Print concepts
Word recognition
Text features
Comprehension
Vocabulary

4. SMALL FLEXIBLE GROUPS AND INDIVIDUAL INSTRUCTION
Children spend most of their time actually reading and writing
Coaching children as the engage in reading and writing
Varied strategies for developing reading fluency
Explicit instruction
Word recognition
Multi-syllabic word decoding
Text structure
Comprehension strategies
Writing strategies

5. PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS
Books and songs with rhyming and alliteration
Sorting pictures, objects, and words by a sound or sounds
Segmenting words
Blending
Daily opportunities to write and estimate spelling

6. LETTER-SOUND RELATIONSHIP INSTRUCTION
Precise and in multiple ways-oral, visual, tactile
Systematic
Determined by observation
Opportunities to apply knowledge with books and other connected texts
Coaching children during reading

7. WRITING INSTRUCTION Interactive Daily
Study models and write a variety of texts
Explicit instruction in letter formation, spelling strategies, sentence construction
Instruction in process and strategies
Research
Planning
Revising
Editing

8. VOCABULARY Tier II and Tier III from read alouds in all content areas
Introduces word meaning using child-friendly explanations
Repeated opportunities for children to use new vocabulary
Encourages talk among children
Morphology

9. ABUNDANT READING MATERIAL AND OPPORTUNITY
Wide range of books and other text, print, audio and digital
Books and other materials connected to children’s interests
Books children can take or access at home
Places to read books
Independent reading of their choice everyday
Teacher provided coaching

10. ASSESSMENT Observation during actual reading and writing
Administers assessment as one source of information
Formative and diagnostic assessment
Guided by:
Language and literacy development
K-12 Standards for ELA

11. COLLABORATION WITH FAMILIES
Incorporate literacy-promoting strategies into everyday activities
Independent reading
Academic learning over the summer
Speak with children in their home language
Provide literacy resources