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Language, Literacy, and Language Arts

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Identify important priorities for literacy in the early learning standards.

2. Describe the components of early literacy and how they develop over the early child- hood years.

3. Describe important considerations for the literacy environment.

4. Identify and describe strategies and activities teachers use to promote early/emergent literacy.

5. Describe a developmentally appropriate approach to meeting learning standards in the primary grades for language arts.

11 Pretest 1. Young children don’t really know a lot

about reading, writing, and communication until elementary school. T/F

2. Children learning a second language are always at a disadvantage for long-term achievement. T/F

3. A print-rich environment is one with a significant monetary investment in resources. T/F

4. Reading to children regularly is one of the most important things teachers can do to promote literacy. T/F

5. Once children reach elementary school, they are ready for more intentional study of phonics. T/F

Answers can be found at end of the chapter.

Early Learning Standards for Language and Literacy Chapter 11

Your children have so much they want to share with you and their friends! They come to school every day eager to talk about their families and things they do outside of school; often their stories are funny, poignant, or thought-provoking. A few days ago Anna Bess told you a story about playing school at home with a teacher impression that was truly hilarious, and you realize that although she resists all activities that focus on writing, she has a gift for imper- sonation and oral storytelling. Some of your bilingual children get so excited when they are sharing a story they don’t even realize that their words are spilling out in a mixture of Spanish and English.

Many of the children in your class do not have access to a lot of books at home, so you spend as much time as possible reading out loud every day. You have a quickly expanding list of favorite stories and a couple of the children in particular are very intrigued with the photo- graphs in nonfiction books in the science and social studies interest areas. The writing center you have tentatively set up is a busy place, especially the write-on slates you made with black chalkboard paint, the white-board easel, and letter stamps used with a washable ink pad. You have made a great start toward encouraging the children’s enthusiasm and emerging positive literacy dispositions.

You also want to use the supplemental literacy curriculum wisely to make as much progress as possible toward meeting early learning standards for these children’s future success in school. In this chapter, we focus on how caregivers and early childhood teachers can pro- mote language and early literacy and help prepare children for the national core standards in language arts.

11.1 Early Learning Standards for Language and Literacy Early learning standards are framed to support an integrated focus on oral language develop- ment and emergent or early literacy, the knowledge, skills, and attitudes young children acquire that lead to conventional reading and writing (Sulzby, 1991; Sulzby & Teale, 1991). This matters because “the ability to communicate with others is one of the most important char-

acteristics human beings possess. It forms the foundation for all social relationships and profoundly affects each person’s future success in educational, career, and life endeavors” (South Carolina Good Start Grow Smart Task Force, 2005, p. 42). “Communication allows children to learn about themselves, others, and the world” (Chen & Shire, 2011, p. 21). Literacy experts agree that language and literacy represent a continuous intersecting devel- opmental process (Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2010; Siefert, 2006).

Research confirms in particular, positive correlations between high quality early literacy experiences and later success in school (Barnett & Lamy, 2006; Hernandez, 2011). Significant public resources have

Federal funding supports early literacy in many different programs that promote early intervention and home- school connections.

Early Learning Standards for Language and Literacy Chapter 11

thus been committed to support early literacy programs, including the Head Start Family Literacy Initiative (1998), Early Head Start Research and Evaluation project (2000), Even Start (2002), and Reading First (2002) (Rueda & Yaden, 2006).

Infants come to child care with language experiences, and young children know a great deal about reading, writing, and communication before they begin elementary school. In fact, the development of early/emergent literacy begins at birth. Later, as children acquire language and awareness of literature and print, they slowly develop the subskills needed for reading and writing (Hendrick & Weissman, 2007) and begin to extract meaning from the symbols that represent print (Kagan, Moore, & Bredekamp, 1995).

In 2009 the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the International Reading Association (IRA) reemphasized the principles addressed in this chapter, as put forth in their original position statement about literacy (1998), which is meant to be considered by curriculum developers, teachers, and policymakers:

• Literacy begins in infancy.

• Children need intentional instruction.

• Ongoing assessment should guide teacher decision making.

• There is no one uniform approach that works for all children.

• Emphasis on the specific skills needed for reading should be provided as children move from preschool into kindergarten and the primary grades.

• Children who are dual-language learners need a strong foundation in their home lan- guage if they are to be most successful. (Neuman, Copple, & Bredekamp, 2000)

Pre-K literacy curricula developers, early learning standards, and teachers usually focus on four major elements of literacy that lead to reading and writing proficiency:

1. Oral language, acquiring vocabulary and becoming fluent in the conventions of spoken language

2. Phonemic awareness, hearing and distinguishing the sounds, syllables, and words that make up spoken language

3. Concepts about print, or understanding how meaning is expressed through the graphic symbols (letters, numbers, punctuation) of language

4. Emergent writing, using drawing, letter-like forms, and approximated spelling to pur- posefully convey meaning (Shanahan, 2006)

States with early learning standards for children from birth to age 5 emphasize the impor- tance of language for participating in both the cognitive and affective components of the educational program (Kagan, Moore, & Bredekamp, 1995; Newman, Copple, & Bredekamp, 2000). Experiences with the various forms of language provide young children with the tools

Early/emergent literacy begins in infancy as babies focus their attention on the language of others and begin to use vocalizations and gestures to communicate.

Language and Early Literacy Development Chapter 11

they need to interact with others and to represent their thoughts, feelings, and experiences (Kagan, Moore, & Bredekamp, 1995).

Early learning standards are also written to identify specific early literacy knowledge and skills young children need to work toward meeting the K–12 academic standards for language arts that begin in kindergarten. Sometimes early learning standards reflect the same language, criteria, and benchmarks from kindergarten standards adapted, or “back mapped” for 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children to create a common framework and seamless transition.

Table 11.1 displays an example of back mapping from the South Carolina Early Learning Standards. The selection begins with a description of what is expected for kindergarten and then provides adjusted expectations for 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children. Note that the only difference in language for 5-year-olds and kindergarteners is the use of or rather than and in the examples of where symbols are used.

Table 11.1: Example of a Back-Mapped Kindergarten Writing Standard

Age Level Standard 1 Standard 2

Kindergarten standard Use symbols (drawings, letters, and words) to create written communications (for example, notes, messages, and lists) to inform a specific audience.

Use symbols (drawings, letters, and words) to create narratives (for example, stories and journal entries) about people, places, or things.

5-year-olds Use symbols (drawings, letters, or words) to create written communications (for example, notes, messages, and lists) to inform a specific audience.

Use symbols (drawings, letters, or words) to create narratives (for example, stories and journal entries) about people, places, or things.

4-year-olds Combine some letters with pretend writing.

Use drawings, letters, or words to create narratives about people and things in their environment.

3-year-olds Pretend writing. Not expected at this level.

11.2 Language and Early Literacy Development The characteristics and milestones of language acquisition and literacy are predictable because they emerge in stages, like other aspects of cognitive development. Between birth and age 5, young children’s language and literacy awareness develops through interactions with oth- ers and exploration of their environment (Anderson, Moffatt, & Shapiro, 2006; Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Hill & Nichols, 2006). As preschoolers experiment with reading and writing and begin to make sense of print, they slowly make the transition to independent reading and writing in the early primary grades (Hill & Nichols, 2006; NAEYC/IRA, 1998; Neuman, Copple, & Bredekamp, 2000).

We know that the best literacy practices for young children are not unilaterally applied or adapted from those we use with older children but reflective of the way individual children play and learn (Elkind, 2012; NAEYC/IRA, 2009; Siefert, 2006). Researchers are just beginning to assess and predict how exploding access to technology and social media will expand our current view of literacy (Brice-Heath, 2012; Hill & Nichols, 2006; van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales, & Alward, 2011). The next sections trace the development of language and early literacy skills.

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Learning and Using Language

After many decades of research, theorists continue to debate the balance between humans’ innate capacity for language and their dependence on the environment for its development (Genishi & Fassler, 1999; Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2010). That is, how much of an understanding and propensity for language are we born with and how much do we only know because of our constant exposure to it? Researchers and educators agree that children acquire language gradually, and interactions between adults and children promote fluency, increasing the potential for academic success (Anderson, Moffatt, & Shapiro, 2006; Hendrick & Weissman, 2007; Schickedanz, 1999). Children become effective communicators once they have integrated fluent language with an understanding of the social rules that apply (Genishi & Fassler, 1999).

Expressive language is the means by which we communicate to others through speaking and writing, and receptive language is how we understand others via listening and reading. Language has three components: meaning (semantics), structure (syntax), and functions (pragmatics) (Charlesworth, 2008; Genishi & Fassler, 1999; Kagan, Moore & Bredekamp, 1995). As children develop language, they learn to speak and listen, acquire vocabulary, and begin to understand the ways in which language is used.

The Development of Speech Young infants (0 to 6 months) communicate with crying, gestures, cooing, and random vocal- izations. Adult caregivers begin to notice patterns and differentiation between cries, smiling at familiar adults, and turning of the head to locate the source of a sound. At some time after 6 months, babbling becomes more systematic and repetitive (e.g., “ba, ba, ba, ba”) as chil- dren move toward framing their first true words at about 1 year of age.

Toddlers often use holophrases, representing an entire thought in one word; saying, for instance, “Milk?” to mean, “May I please have some milk?” or “Did someone take my milk?” Most children have a vocabulary of fifty to a hundred words by the age of 18 months and acquire new words at an increasing pace, either gradually or in vocabulary bursts as they get older (Levine & Munsch, 2011).

By age 2, children use two- to three-word sentences (telegraphic speech) and begin to apply grammatical principles, although they make frequent errors, such as “Me went” (instead of “I went”) or “Go bye-bye daddy” (instead of “Daddy went bye-bye”). By age 3, children begin to use tense correctly; they also ask questions, follow two-step directions, incorporate mul- tiple parts of speech, and recognize rhyming words.

Four-year-olds have acquired most of the conventions of speech but are still refining articula- tion of some of the more difficult sounds and mixing up tenses or agreement of nouns and verbs. The school-age child has a typical speaking vocabulary of approximately 2,000 words but understands almost ten times that number (Catron & Allen, 2003; Charlesworth, 2008; Cook & Cook, 2005; Levine & Munsch, 2011)!

As preschoolers begin to use language, they apply constraints, or prior knowledge and cues from the physical and social environments, to make sense of words and what is heard (Cook & Cook, 2005; Levine & Munsch, 2011). Although preschoolers use speech to communicate with others, it is also not unusual for young children to engage in “self-talk” or private speech, and you may hear a child, for example, talking himself through the process of unpacking his lunchbox or congratulating himself for zipping up his jacket unassisted (Charlesworth, 2008; Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Levine & Munsch, 2011).

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Learning to Listen Like producing speech, listening is also a complicated and developmental process affected by external factors such as ambient room noise, acoustics, and competing or distracting voices and activities. While the act of speaking involves coordination of brain and muscles of the lips, jaw, and tongue, listening requires activation of several different internal processes (Jalongo, 2010).

Infants exhibit auditory awareness, with responses such as head turning or startling to acknowledge receipt of auditory signals by the brain. They quickly begin to develop audi-

tory discrimination, or the ability to dif- ferentiate between sounds, particularly repeated familiar noises or voices. By 12 months, infants and young toddlers dis- play auditory recognition, the ability to link a sound to its source, such as hear- ing mother’s footsteps approaching and squealing, “mama!” In order to do so, they must mentally tap into memory and make connections or associations with what they already know, make sense of what was heard, and decide whether or how to respond.

As children progress through the pre- school years, they must also learn to attend, or know when to “turn on the lis- tening switch.” That is, they must learn to focus their attention not only at times they choose but also when they are expected to do so by others. Sometimes teachers

confuse a child’s ability to listen with the concept of attention span, a skill that involves listen- ing but is affected by many other factors across the developmental domains.

Achieving Milestones

Like other dimensions of child development, there is quite a range for attaining particular milestones. Parents may worry when they compare their child’s speech with that of other children in group care or preschool; usually we can reassure them that each child has his or her own developmental timetable and all will be well eventually.

There are red flags, however, that definitely signal the need for focused observation and per- haps professional attention. Ear infections or high fevers in infancy can cause hearing loss, which affects onset of speech to varying degrees. Auditory processing disorders (APD) and global developmental delays, both of which are increasingly seen, also sometimes result in delayed or absent speech. APD affects about 5 percent of children, who may hear normally but who don’t recognize subtle differences in sounds owing to the brain’s failure to process signals correctly (Bellis, 2012; Morlet, 2014).

A global delay is suspected when a child seems delayed in two or more developmental areas. Therefore, if by the age of 2 any of the following are observed, parents should be encouraged to seek a physical evaluation for possible further referral:

Learning to listen attentively is a skill acquired through practice and requires the coordination of multiple mental processes, including the ability to screen out distractions and focus selectively.

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• There is a complete absence of speech.

• The child communicates only with crying or gestures.

• The child doesn’t turn his or her head or look for the source of sounds.

• The child doesn’t respond to sounds (such as hands clapping) made out of his or her line of sight.

• The child can’t be understood by anyone outside of the family.

• The child doesn’t recognize common words.

• The child can’t follow a two-step direction.

• The child can’t name common objects. (Hendrick & Weissman, 2007; Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2010; Levine & Munsch, 2011)

Dual-Language Learners

Young children who speak a language other than English at home or who are learning two or more languages simultaneously are increasingly referred to as dual language learners (Office of Head Start, 2008), or DLLs. Research indicates that when the home language is supported and preserved as the child learns a second language, being bilingual has long-term cognitive benefits and that bilingual children may outperform monolingual children academi- cally in the long term (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Hammer et al., 2014; Kagan, Moore, & Bredekamp, 1995; Rueda & Yaden, 2006; Youngquist & Martinez-Griego, 2009).

Especially in a school with teachers who are primarily or exclusively English speakers, bilin- gual or multilingual children and families can experience and pose challenges, but working together also provides opportunities for richer cultural and social communities and curricula (Chen & Shire, 2011; Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Macrina, Hoover, & Becker, 2009; Patè, 2009; Youngquist & Martinez-Griego, 2009).

Stages of Second Language Acquisition DLLs acquire a second language in much the same way as they learned their first. Receptive language develops first as the child listens and observes; during this stage, it is more impor- tant for the child to understand what is being communicated than how it is done (Patè, 2009). Thus a teacher who does not speak the child’s home language may use body language, sign- ing, pictures, facial expressions, or any other strategies that effectively help the child interpret meaning and communicate.

When a child begins to comprehend language but is not yet able to express her thoughts, a “silent period” may follow, lasting for several months before she begins to make tentative attempts to use the new language. Gradually, as in first-language acquisition, language production begins to emerge as the child nods or gestures to indicate understanding and uses single-word responses such as yes or no or holophrastic speech (“Me play?”). The complexity of language use now increases to echoing the words of others, the use of short phrases or sentences, the acquisition of a larger vocabulary, and finally the use of past, present, and future tenses and grammar (Patè, 2009; van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales, & Alward, 2011).

Strategies to Support Dual-Language Learners The acquisition of a bilingual staff, to the extent possible, is encouraged to support the second-language learning of DLLs (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Hendrick & Weissman, 2007).

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Teachers who speak the languages of DLL children can then read to them, initiate conversa- tions, ask questions, and encourage the use of the home language in school or care (Macrina, Hoover, & Becker, 2009). When several DLL children speak the same home language, they should be encouraged to use it with each other during play and other interactions.

Teachers can also communicate with families in their home language and encourage them to continue to support and use their language at home. Bilingual teachers may choose to use both languages simultaneously, devote periods of the day to each language, or repeat activi- ties with small groups of children in each language. For instance, a teacher might conduct a greeting circle conversation about the weather and record children’s words in both English and Spanish, saying “What’s the weather like today?” “Còmo està el tiempo hoy?” (Macrina, Hoover, & Becker, 2009). Or the teacher might read and discuss a story in English and then repeat later in the students’ home language.

Some classrooms may have multiple languages represented, or there may be no adult who speaks a child’s home language. In these instances, teachers can still use many strategies

appropriate for any classroom with DLL children to show support for the home language, including:

• Honoring the home languages of chil- dren in the classroom by representing linguistic traditions in literature, art- work displays, artifacts, dramatic play props, music, and foods.

• Using many visual cues—pictures, props, and gestures.

• Speaking to children even if they don’t respond but not ignoring them.

• Providing many ways for children to express themselves nonverbally with art, music, and so forth.

• Learning the child’s name and a few basic words in the home language.

• Speaking slowly and using the same phrases consistently, such as “Let’s read a story” instead of sometimes saying, “It’s time to read” or “Come over here and I’ll read to you.”

• Using predictable books with repetitive text and simple words to promote familiarity with words and phrases and make it easier for DLL children to participate.

• Encouraging family visits to school.

• Making picture/word labels for high-frequency words.

• Making a “survival chart” or a series of picture cards that include the child’s photo- graph, expressions (happy/sad/angry faces), symbols or pictures for learning/activ- ity centers and the rest room, and materials that children can use to put together a “rebus” (thoughts expressed as a series of pictures) or sentences to assist in commu- nicating their wants or needs (Catron & Allen, 2003; Chen & Shire, 2011; Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Macrina, Hoover, & Becker, 2009).

Developmentally appropriate classrooms and child-care settings celebrate and support linguistic diversity.

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Phonological Awareness and Concepts about Print

As children’s language develops, our attention as early educators also focuses on helping them begin to develop and refine auditory and visual discrimination skills that build the competencies they need for reading and writing. Many of the literacy materials you use and the activities you do to promote early literacy help children learn English in its spoken and printed forms.

A major debate over the past three decades about how to teach reading and writing cen- ters on the differences between a systematic phonics (word study) and whole-language approach. The phonics approach focuses on identification of letter-sound relationships to construct understanding of whole words and text in a bottom-up process (Gestwicki, 2011; Levine & Munsch, 2011). A phonics approach often uses books or readers written with con- trolled vocabulary specifically designed for sequential learning. The whole-language approach is based on an assumption that learning words as whole units promotes comprehension through internalization of language and print. A whole-language approach focuses on using authentic texts and high-quality children’s literature.

The considerable body of research on this debate has produced a tendency today toward a bal- anced approach, recognizing the need for both (Cecil, Baker, & Lozano, 2017; Charlesworth, 2008; Gambrell & Mazzoni, 1999; Morrow & Gambrell, 2011; Pressley, 2006). In a balanced approach, teachers use both explicit instruction in word study and authentic texts. They engage children in guided reading and writing balanced with independent work.

African American Vernacular English (AAVE)

African American children who speak Black English, or African American Vernacular English (AAVE), at home have been subject in the past to both incorrect and harmful assumptions about their lin- guistic knowledge (Charlesworth, 2008; Hendrick & Weissman, 2007). Although dialect is techni- cally a neutral term in the sense that everyone has one (Genishi & Fassler, 1999), the sophisticated semantics and grammatical structure of Black English as a dialect differ from standard English to such a degree that some linguists consider it a language in its own right (Fasold, 1999; Hendrick & Weissman, 2007; Orr, 2000).

Others point out that at the very least, children who use AAVE must engage in code switching back and forth between home and school language in much the same way as children do who speak Spanish, Mandarin, or any other language at home (Bedore, Pena, Garcia, & Cortez, 2005; Wheeler, Cartwright, & Swords, 2012). Consequently, standardized tests and other assessment measures may not reflect what diverse speakers know about language and vocabulary or concepts in other con- tent areas when facility in standard English is a prerequisite (Bedore, Pena, Garcia & Cortez, 2005; Wheeler, Cartwright, & Swords, 2012).

Teachers need to support both the home and emerging standard English language development of all children who speak dialects or languages that differ from the form of English spoken at school (Catron & Allen, 2003; Charlesworth, 2008; Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Hendrick & Weissman, 2007; Souto-Manning, 2009).

▶ Stop and Reflect What challenges or advantages might bilingual teachers or those who grew up speaking AAVE or another native dialect bring to the classroom?

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Phonological Awareness Phonological awareness includes all the skills children acquire and apply to make abstract connections between the sounds of language (phonemes) and their graphic symbols (graph- emes) (Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2010; University of Oregon, 2012). The twenty-six let- ters of the English alphabet represent more than forty individual phonemes, and these sounds are spelled in approximately 250 different ways (University of Oregon, 2012). Children’s level of phonological awareness is an important indicator of later reading success (Gambrell & Mazzoni, 1999; Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2010; Levine & Munsch, 2011; van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales, & Alward, 2011) and includes:

• Phonemic awareness—hearing the sounds in spoken words and being able to manipulate them in various ways

• Alphabetical knowledge—knowing the names, shapes, and sounds of letters and being able to write them

Children’s acquisition of phonological awareness and alphabetical knowledge proceeds in much the same concrete-to-abstract manner as their developing number sense (Chapter 10). In other words, children can recite (learn by rote) the letters of the alphabet or memo- rize words by sight without knowing what sound each letter represents. They might also be able to match sounds without associating them with a particular letter or group of letters. Eventually they must be able to hear sounds, associate them with a letter or combination of letters, and be able to identify and write the corresponding letters.

As we do many activities with children that encourage them to listen to the sounds in words, they acquire the ability to recognize, identify, and reproduce:

• Initial sounds (usually consonants first)

• Ending sounds

• Blended consonant sounds

• Vowel and vowel combination sounds

• Rhyming words

• Segments in words

As they attain alphabetical awareness, children are able to:

• Recognize that letters have different shapes

• Identify and name letters

• Associate each letter with its sound or sounds

• Write letters correctly

Children eventually apply phonological awareness concepts and skills to decoding, the essen- tial process of recognizing and converting graphemes to phonemes and writing, the reverse process of representing sounds as print or text. Some experts question whether phonemic awareness is a skill needed for literacy or a phenomenon that emerges as a result of literacy experiences (Anderson, Moffatt, & Shapiro, 2006).

While we place great emphasis on building phonological awareness in preschool, children are generally not ready for phonics instruction until kindergarten and the primary grades. Although children often do memorize words by sight, especially in favorite books that are read to them over and over, they do not understand the concept of letters as units until they

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are about 5 or 6 years old (Elkind, 2012; Siefert, 2006).

If a child doesn’t hear or recognize that dog and dig start and end with the same sound or can’t blend the sounds for d . . . o . . . g, it will be nearly impossible to either read or write dog and connect the word with its associated meaning (University of Oregon, 2012). For this reason, com- mercial programs for infants and tod- dlers that rely exclusively on the rote memorization of words by sight are not effective. In fact, they may be detrimental in that they can produce a learning style that interferes with the eventual motivation for word study and reading comprehension that most children eventually need (Elkind, 2012).

Concepts about Print As described above, alphabetical knowledge and phonological awareness are foundational to conventional writing and reading, but children begin to engage with print and text long before those concepts are fully acquired. As adults read to them and they explore books independently, some of the things children do to demonstrate increasing awareness of print/ text include:

• Pointing to pictures

• Turning the pages of a book

• Predicting what word will come next in a familiar story

• Retelling stories they hear over and over again as if they were reading

• Recognizing high-frequency words by sight

• Attempting to read print (Adapted from Sulzby, 1985)

Even as toddlers, young children begin to recognize print in the environment, such as the logo of a favorite fast-food restaurant or grocery store. They pretend to write and demonstrate knowledge about the functions of print when scribbling on a birthday card or writing pre- scriptions in the doctor’s office set up in the dramatic play center.

Stages of Writing Children’s interest in writing increases as they begin to understand that writing gives them tools to enable them to express their individuality, knowledge, and interests (Love, Burns, & Buell, 2007). They recognize early on, however, the difficulties inherent in learning to write, and they need a great deal of support to develop confidence in themselves and their identities as writers and authors (Love, Burns, & Buell, 2007).

Writing emerges in stages but in a somewhat nonlinear process in that children move back and forth between less and more mature writing on a general trajectory forward (Mayer,

To decode and encode text, beginning readers must coordi- nate auditory and visual discrimination skills that don’t fully emerge until about the age of 6½ years.

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2007). For instance, sometimes a child may be very interested in learning and writing new words in order to write a story about a frog noticed in a nearby pond while also preferring to use words he already knows to quickly make a sign in the dramatic play center.

Writing is a social process; children learn from their peers, work collaboratively with other children and adults to coconstruct writing products, and share their work with an audience (Bodrova & Leong, 2007; Mayer, 2007). Awareness of writing as a personalized activity adds to a child’s sense of self (Baghban, 2007), and teachers need to remember that for a long time children understand writing and their identities as writers/authors differently than adults do (Love, Burns & Buell, 2007).

The stages of writing parallel and intersect with those of reading, in which children move from emergent reading of environmental print and the identification of contextual clues to beginning reading using knowledge of concepts about words. Finally they develop fluency with intonation, speed, and comprehension (Figure 11.1) (Catron & Allen, 2003; Clay, 1975). During the emer- gent writing stage, children progress from scribbling to drawing, gradually distinguishing between drawing and writing, pretend writing, and writing strings or sequences of actual letters.

Beginning writers dictate stories, use invented spelling to approximate words and short sentences, and attempt some use of conventional punctuation. Fluency occurs as children increasingly use conventional spelling, grammar, and punctuation to produce different types of narratives (stories) and expository (informational) products (Catron & Allen, 2003; Clay, 1975; Levine & Munsch, 2011; Love, Burns, & Buell, 2007; Mayer, 2007; Morrow & Gambrell, 2011; van Hoorn, Nourot, Sclaes, & Alward, 2011). Figure 11.1 displays examples of writing at different stages.

You must understand the connections between drawing and writing and the stages of writ- ing in order to observe how and when individual children are ready for different kinds of materials and experiences (Clay, 1975). As children start to separate drawing from writing at around 2½ to 3 years of age, they frequently ask adults to “read” their pretend writing or identify what they have represented on paper (Baghban, 2007). Drawing changes at this stage to typically start in the center of a page with a more realistic use of color (e.g., blue for water) with “words” placed around the edges of the image (Love, Burns, & Buell, 2007). Drawing provides incentives for emergent writers as prompts for dictating stories and the labeling of portrayed objects. It also serves as a graphic organizer for writing, whereas flu- ent writers, later on, will represent their ideas in writing and add drawings as illustrations (Baghban, 2007).

11.3 The Literacy Environment Current research on language development is increasingly focused on the settings and condi- tions that promote language acquisition rather than on the process as it occurs in individuals (Anderson, Moffatt, & Shapiro, 2006; Saunders, Goldenberg, & Marcelletti, 2014). We know that language development is best supported in an environment with:

• Low teacher-child ratios

• Higher levels of teacher education

• Access to literature, writing, and language materials

• Plentiful opportunities for play with peers. (Anderson, Moffatt, & Shapiro, 2006)

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Random scribbling

Older infants and toddlers enjoy the sensory experience of making marks with tools. Scribbling is mainly a motor activity.

Controlled scribbling

Toddlers and very young preschoolers begin to use �ne motor control with the marks made on a page to include enclosed forms, lines with direc- tionality, and other marks that begin to represent di�erentiation between drawing and writing.

Pretend writing

Pretend writing demonstrates some understanding of how print is represented on a page, left-to- right and top-to-bottom, without representing actual letter forms.

Separating writing and drawing

Children in the later stage of emergent writing clearly indicate they know the di�erence between drawing and writing.

Letter strings The �rst word children learn to write is typically their name; they begin to make long strings of letters and approximations of letters indicating they are making the transition from emergent to beginning writing.

Writing with invented spelling

"I will be happy when school is out. I like to play with my friends in the summer." Children use invented spelling to represent the sounds they hear in words and the pauses between words. Analysis of invented spelling is very helpful to teachers—in this case, the child clearly hears beginning and ending sounds, and is starting to represent vowel sounds

Moving towards conventional writing

"I made my house out of bricks. The wolf didn't blow my house down. Then he went away." As children learn more about conventional spelling and acquire more sophisticated knowledge of words, their invented spelling includes more features of conven- tional writing, including upper/lower case letters and punctuation, and knowledge about the structure of a narrative.

Conventional writing

Fluent writers apply their under- standing about the conventions of spelling, grammar, and punctua- tion to narratives and informa- tional writing.

Conventional writing

Fluent writers, freed from the struggles of the early writing stage, can also display their knowledge of how writing can be personalized to embed elements of humor, and in this case, social media acronyms!

Writing Stage Image Characteristics

Figure 11.1: Stages of Writing

Each stage of writing has specific, identifiable characteristics.

(continued)

The Literacy Environment Chapter 11

Random scribbling

Older infants and toddlers enjoy the sensory experience of making marks with tools. Scribbling is mainly a motor activity.

Controlled scribbling

Pretend writing

Pretend writing demonstrates some understanding of how print is represented on a page, left-to- right and top-to-bottom, without representing actual letter forms.

Separating writing and drawing

Children in the later stage of emergent writing clearly indicate they know the di�erence between drawing and writing.

Writing with invented spelling

Moving towards conventional writing

Conventional writing

Fluent writers apply their under- standing about the conventions of spelling, grammar, and punctua- tion to narratives and informa- tional writing.

Conventional writing

Writing Stage Image Characteristics

Random scribbling

Older infants and toddlers enjoy the sensory experience of making marks with tools. Scribbling is mainly a motor activity.

Controlled scribbling

Pretend writing

Pretend writing demonstrates some understanding of how print is represented on a page, left-to- right and top-to-bottom, without representing actual letter forms.

Separating writing and drawing

Children in the later stage of emergent writing clearly indicate they know the di�erence between drawing and writing.

Writing with invented spelling

Moving towards conventional writing

Conventional writing

Fluent writers apply their under- standing about the conventions of spelling, grammar, and punctua- tion to narratives and informa- tional writing.

Conventional writing

Writing Stage Image Characteristics

The Literacy Environment Chapter 11

Teachers can support early literacy by creating a language and print-rich environment and providing materials, educational resources, books, and media that are age-appropriate, devel- opmentally appropriate, and interesting to children (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Hendrick & Weissman2007). The instructional and emotional support teachers provide is the other major and interdependent factor in determining the quality of an environment (Guo, Justice, Kaderavek, & McGinty, 2012).

A Print-Rich Environment

A print-rich environment is one in which children see examples of text in different forms that are meaningful to them (Neuman, Copple & Bredekamp, 2000). Examples of environmental print include lists, charts, sign-in sheets, travel posters, picture symbols/words for objects and activity areas, daily schedules, and labeled displays of children’s work (Figure 11.2). Placing environmental print at the chil- dren’s eye level is particularly important because it is easier for them to see as a readily available reference.

You should exercise caution, however, not to overload the environment with so much print that children can’t make sense of it. For example, you could label every piece of fur- niture and features like doors and windows in a 3-year-old classroom, but it isn’t neces- sary, as children of that age don’t need those references yet and labels should be used only for things children need for identification, reference, or examples (Mayer, 2007). On the other hand, creating a chart with familiar logos would provide opportunities for toddlers and young preschoolers to say, “I know what that means!”

Materials

Materials for promoting language and literacy include tools, games, and educational prod- ucts that reinforce phonological awareness and alphabetical knowledge. A literacy-friendly environment encourages language and conversation and uses books and writing materials to integrate literacy across all the curriculum areas (Guo, Justice, Kaderavek, & McGinty, 2012; Love, Burns, & Buell, 2007; Mayer, 2007; NAEYC, 2005). Materials such as the items listed in Table 11.2 should be distributed among activity centers in the classroom to promote literacy connections.

Figure 11.2 Familiar Print

Recognizing familiar print in the environment is one of the ways children build a foundation for reading.

The Literacy Environment Chapter 11

Children also need developmentally appropriate tools. For instance, scribblers use watercolor markers, chubby/fat pencils, and crayons to accommodate their immature grasp. As their drawing develops, children benefit from other implements that approximate more conven- tional writing tools, such as colored pencils, pens, and different sizes of drawing paper. As children separate drawing from writing and move closer to being able to write on a line, language-experience paper (blank space on top, lines below for writing) becomes appropri- ate. Preschoolers and older children are also interested in keyboarding—printing out their words in different kinds of fonts exposes them to the variations in letter forms (Love, Burns, & Buell, 2007).

Table 11.2: Materials for Promoting Literacy across the Curriculum

Center/ Activity Area

Materials

Uses

Blocks Blueprint and graph paper, pencils, variety of papers, notebook with pictures/labels of buildings, road signs, books about architecture, maps

Sketching plans, drawing representations of structures, using reference materials, making labels and signs, recognizing envi- ronmental print

Post office Mailbox, stamps, envelopes, a variety of papers, pencils, pens, stickers, postcards, junk mail, sticky notes, greeting cards

Writing and sending letters and messages, “reading” mail, making cards

Writing center Pencils, markers, crayons, colored pencils, pencil sharpener, lined and unlined paper, journals, stapler, hole puncher, yarn or metal rings, letter stencils and tracing templates, erasers, rulers, tape recorder, picture dictionary, word cards, index cards, tape, wipe-off easel or whiteboard, slates and chalk, sentence strips (lined tagboard paper strips), tracing paper

Making books, writing words and stories, practicing handwriting, dictating and recording stories, making signs

Science center Paper of different kinds for recording data such as graph paper, tracing paper, and index cards, file box, observation journals, pencils, markers, sticky notes, chart paper, science books appro- priate to age, magazines, chart for feeding fish

Drawing and recording observations, drawing pictures of animals and plants, constructing graphs, labeling

Social studies Globe, maps, picture books about people and places, magazines (e.g., National Geographic for Kids), tracing paper

Making and labeling maps, time lines, and pictures

Dramatic play Clipboards, menus, receipt books, recipe cards, prescription pads, sticky notes, paper and writing tools; advertisements, newspapers, puppets, other props as appropriate to themes

Using writing materials to take on roles for themes such as waiter, doctor, grocery store clerk, builder; using puppets to act out stories; making and labeling props

Art Newspapers, collage materials, pens, pencils, markers, colored pencils, paints, brushes, easel and drawing papers, finger paints and paper, clay/play dough, scissors, books about art

Cutting out letters and making collages, drawing, painting, practice writing with finger paints, making letters from modeling dough

Outdoors Popsicle sticks, markers, paper, cardboard, tape, brushes and water, sidewalk chalk, traffic signs

Marking garden plants and rows, making signs for fantasy play, marking rocks and labeling collections, water writing, writing names on the sidewalk, reading signs for trike paths

The Literacy Environment Chapter 11

Educational Resources

As with math and science resources (Chapter 10), there is a wide variety of equipment and materials, from flashcards and puzzles to letter games and stamps (Figure 11.3) designed to promote alphabetical knowledge and phonological awareness as well as early reading and writing. You can duplicate or adapt many of these materials at far lower cost, with the addi- tional benefit of being able to personalize to the children you teach or to themes you are working on with children.

Books and Media

Because you will spend a good bit of your time reading to children and helping them explore books, you will want to provide them with high-quality literature, informational books, and media that will encourage them to “fall in love” with language, reading, and print. There are literally millions of children’s books. How do you choose?

Selecting High-Quality Children’s Literature High-quality literature engages children with interesting characters and plots, language and illustrations that draw them into the story, much the same way as you might react to a good book. Good literature for children is not stereotyped and does not trivialize issues that are important to them. Children’s literature taps into the young child’s emerging sense of humor and feelings about what is fair and unfair. The experience of curling up beside a loved adult and being read to can hardly be matched for developing a sense of security, pleasure, and safety.

Good books are generally liked by lots of children and capture their interest from beginning to end. But a good book for any individual child is simply one that is requested over and over again because something about it taps into the child’s experiences, interests, or problems.

Another strategy for finding good children’s literature is to look for those books that have received prestigious awards. In the United States, four well-known awards are given every year:

1. The Caldecott Medal, described in Chapter 7, is awarded for excellence in illustration.

2. The Newberry Medal is awarded by the Association for Library Service to Children in recognition of distinguished American children’s literature.

3. The Coretta Scott King Award has honored the life and work of Dr. and Mrs. Martin Luther King, Jr., since 1969 with awards to African American authors and illustrators.

4. Since 1968, the American Library Association has also presented the Mildred L. Batchelder award to a U.S. publisher for the best translation of a book into English.

Published lists of “best books for children” have also been compiled by various interest groups such as teachers (National Education Association), editors of Scholastic Parent & Child maga- zine, and The New York Times Parents’ Guide to the Best Books for Children (Lipson, 2000).

Your decisions about what books to use in your own early childhood setting should be based on the genre (format and theme/focus) and the quality of the writing and illustrations. Useful general criteria are as follows:

• Age-appropriateness—how well does the type of book match the child’s age level? For example, board books are good to use with babies, as they can’t rip or tear the pages.

http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecottmedal

http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberymedal

http://people.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/coretta.html

http://people.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/batchelder.html

http://www.scholastic.com/100books/

http://www.nea.org/grants/teachers-top-100-books-for-children.html

The Literacy Environment Chapter 11

Alphabetic Knowledge Material and Application

Magnetic letters or moveable alphabet letters (Montessori): Letter recognition, differentiating between consonants and vowels, making words

Flashcards with letter names or beanbags: Games for visual reinforcement of upper- and lower-case letters

Bingo cards and letter games: Letter recognition matching upper- and lower-case letters

Letter stamps: Letter recognition, making words

Phonemic Awareness Material and Application

Audio phones/Sound tubes: Amplifies sounds for auditory discrimination play and practice

Sound lotto boards: Matching sounds to pictures for beginning or ending sounds

Matching puzzle pieces: Matching rhyming words, beginning letter sounds

Sound sorting boards: Reinforcement of beginning (or ending) sounds

Early Writing Material and Application

Conventional writing tools (paper, pencils, colored pencils, rulers, markers, stapler, hole punchers, papers): journal writing, book-making

Chubby crayons, markers: Easy-to-hold writing tools for children who don’t yet have fine motor skills for conventional writing tools

Writing stencils with stylus: Reinforcing conventional letter formation (e.g., top-to-bottom, right-to-left)

Lined writing papers: Practicing conventional writing

Figure 11.3: Commercial Literacy Resources

Many commercial materials are used to promote phonological awareness. This selection focuses on alphabetical knowledge, phonemic awareness, and early writing.

Strategies and Activities for Promoting Early Literacy Chapter 11

• Individual appropriateness—themes children are interested in or need. For example, a child with a loose tooth might enjoy Little Rabbit’s Loose Tooth.

• Balance between amount of text and illustrations—generally the younger the child, the fewer words per picture. With alphabet and counting books, it is better to choose books that have one letter or number with the corresponding picture spanning two adjacent pages when the book is open. This eliminates confusion about what the pic- tures represent.

• Relevance of illustrations to text—do the pictures accurately convey the meaning of the text and promote comments/conversation?

• Evidence of bias or stereotyping—books at any reading level should respectfully por- tray ethnicity, socioeconomics, gender balance, and so on.

• Availability in multilingual versions.

Specific criteria that focus on analyzing the features of picture books include these:

• Evaluating the setting as familiar and authentic

• Believable and interesting characters

• Interesting plot

• Evidence of a central theme

• Respectful and age-appropriate language

• Illustrations that complement but don’t overwhelm the text (Baker, 2005)

Choosing Books That Are Age-Appropriate In choosing books for particular age groups, commonsense guidelines apply. For babies, you will want to select safe and sturdy books with pictures of objects, animals, and people that they can point to and begin to name. While toddlers will continue to want to be read to, they will also begin to explore books independently and are gaining the ability to hold a book and turn the pages. They enjoy simple illustrated stories with interesting characters.

Preschoolers are generally ready for a variety of artistic and narrative styles. Most preschool books are meant to be read aloud. By this age, however, children will begin to explore books on their own, so the books should be accessible and children should be taught how to handle them carefully. Kindergarten and primary-grade children are moving toward books with more text and print than illustrations and can be introduced to hardcover and paperback chapter books. Primary-grade children can choose and read books independently; a well-stocked and organized library is essential for this age group (Baker, 2005).

Reading aloud to these older children is still appropriate, since their listening skills and atten- tion spans are more advanced. Their reading fluency is still developing, so reading aloud continues to be a means for introducing them to more complex characters, vocabulary, and stories. Table 11.3 displays genres appropriate for young children that are represented across the literature.

11.4 Strategies and Activities for Promoting Early Literacy Play—dramatic play in particular—facilitates all the dimensions of early literacy when children have time, space, access to literacy materials, and guidance (Genishi & Fassler, 1999; Paley, 2011; Smith, 2017; van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales, & Alward, 2011). Because play is child-initiated,

The Literacy Environment Chapter 11

Table 11.3: Children’s Literature

Format Description Examples

Baby (board) book

Hard covers and thick, laminated pages that are easy for infants and young toddlers to turn. Some books written in paper format are also available in board book format.

Where’s Spot? (Hill, 2003)

Rainbow Fish (Pfister, 1996)

Moo, Baa, La La La (Boynton, 1982)

Interactive books

Features that children can handle and manipulate, such as pop-ups, holes, sliding tabs, etc.

Dinnertime (Pienkowski, 2008)

Wizard of Oz (Baum & Sabuda, 2000)

The Dwindling Party (Gorey, 1982)

Wordless picture books

Books with no words encourage conversation, predicting, and multiple interpretations.

The Snowy Day, 50th Anniversary Edition (Keats, 2012)

The Red Book (Lehman, 2004)

Chalk (Thomson, 2010)

Picture books Text with accompanying illustrations that focus on storytelling.

Madeline (Bemelmans, 2000)

Curious George (Rey, 1969)

The Story of Babar (de Brunhoff, 1937)

Early reading Books intended for beginning readers with limited vocabulary, simpler sentence structure, etc. They are predictable, with text that is easy to decode, thus promoting independent reading.

Bob Books, Set 1: Beginning Readers (Maslen & Maslen, 2006)

Big Egg: (Step-into-Reading, Step One) (Coxe, 1997)

Dr. Seuss’s Beginner Book Collection (Seuss, 2009)

Fancy Nancy and the Too-Loose Tooth (I Can Read Fancy Nancy, Level 1) (O’Connor, 2012)

Alphabet Present the letters of the alphabet, usually with corresponding pictures.

On Market Street (Lobel & Lobel, 1989)

Eric Carle’s ABC (Carle, 2007)

Counting Numbers with corresponding pictures.

Anno’s Counting House (Anno, 1982)

Counting Kisses (Katz, 2001)

Concept Books that teach concepts such as color, size, shape.

Little Blue and Little Yellow (Lionni, 1985)

Freight Train (Crews, 1978)

Biography Books that portray real-life people. Martin’s Big Words: The Story of Dr. Martin Luther King (Rappaport & Collier, 2007)

A Picture Book of Cesar Chavez (Adler, Adler, & Olofsdotter, 2011)

Nursery rhymes

Classic poetry often familiar as songs, teaching rhythm, rhyme, and alliteration.

Favorite Nursery Rhymes from Mother Goose (Gustafson, 2007)

Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Favorite Nursery Rhymes (Mavor, 2010)

Poetry Single poems presented as a story or narrative or collections of poetry.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (Frost & Jeffers, 2001)

Birches (Frost & Young, 2002)

A Light in the Attic (Silverstein, 1981)

My Hippo Has the Hiccups (Nesbitt, 2009)

Informational Nonfiction books that provide topical reference information and photo- graphs or illustrations for curricular areas such as science or social studies.

Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction (MacCauley, 1981)

National Geographic Readers: Bats (Carney, 2010)

Meet the Howlers (Sayre & Miller, 2010)

Strategies and Activities for Promoting Early Literacy Chapter 11

children engage in themes and activities that interest them, increasing the likeli- hood of deep engagement, more complex use of language, and the development of literacy skills (van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales & Alward, 2011).

The kind of play and materials available to children affect the type of language and interactions that occur. For example, blocks and gross motor play are more functional, generating less interaction than board or card games, dramatic play, art, sand/water, and play with puppets, which encourage conversation and dis- cussion (Sutterby & Frost, 2006). Play also offers children the opportunity to share and exchange literacy knowledge infor- mally and for second-language learners to practice without pressure (van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales, & Alward, 2011).

The curriculum you use impacts the language/literacy environment. An integrated thematic or emergent curriculum approach creates open-ended opportunities for introducing vocabu- lary, modeling the use of books and media for inquiry, collaboration, and the application of emergent writing skills. On the other hand, reliance on whole-group lessons, one-way teacher talk, and scripted lessons is generally ineffective and developmentally inappropriate (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Gestwicki, 2011).

Basic strategies teachers and caregivers use to promote comfortable and supportive commu- nication and a literacy-rich environment include the following:

• Modeling standard English and correct grammar and punctuation

• Modeling and teaching good listening skills

• Asking open-ended questions

• Accepting and celebrating linguistic diversity

• Considering errors and mistakes a natural part of the learning continuum

• Listening/talking with each individual child daily

• Using teachable moments to introduce or expand on literacy-related skills and concepts

• Planning the environment and opportunities for face-to-face interactions

• Using one-on-one and small groups for most teacher-directed activities

• Providing enjoyable listening media (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Hendrick & Weissman, 2007; Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2010)

Child-initiated play that encourages face-to-face interac- tions and role playing is especially helpful for promoting language development.

Strategies and Activities for Promoting Early Literacy Chapter 11

Language and Communication

The specific strategies teachers use to encourage language development and communication vary according to the age and developmental levels of the children. For example with infants, you will want to consistently interact and speak face-to face and:

• Acknowledge and reinforce verbalizations such as cooing and babbling

• Develop your capacity to interpret and model gestures and body language

• Use routines such as diapering and feeding to describe what you do and model conversational turn-taking

• Use words to interpret gestures, such as “I see you waving your arms, are you a happy baby?”

• Vary your inflection and intonation (e.g., “Do you see the BIG, BIG bird?” to encour- age attending to speech)

• Read, read, read (Catron & Allen, 2003; Cook & Cook, 2005; Gestwicki, 2011)

Because toddlers are beginning to speak and acquire vocabulary, we reinforce the use of nam- ing words (nouns) predominant in early language and provide many objects to name. While speech is often difficult to understand at this stage, attending to a toddler’s attempts and responding to them is helpful as it establishes feelings of acceptance and confidence. For the same reasons it’s important to model speech and expand on toddler’s words without explicit correction. For example, if a child says, “Me like paint,” your restatement of those words might be, “I think I heard you say, ‘I like to paint.’ I enjoy painting, too!”

Determining what level of vocabulary and speech complexity to use with young children is challenging. With babies, most humans across cultures employ some form of child-directed speech (formerly known as motherese), characterized by a higher tone of voice, more varia- tions in pitch, slower pacing, and more questions (Cook & Cook, 2005; Levine & Munsch, 2011). From a Vygotskian perspective, child-directed speech for children of any age means that adults simplify their language to a level just above what the child is presently using. This strategy applies the concept of the zone of proximal development to scaffold increasing com- plexity and the growth of vocabulary (Gambrell & Mazzoni, 1999; Gestwicki, 2011). In the example above, therefore, the phrase “I enjoy painting, too,” represents an appropriate use of scaffolding because it directly follows, “I like to paint,” so the child knows that it means the same thing with a new word.

Preschoolers can draw on experiences and increased knowledge about the world and things that interest them to engage in extended conversation and dialogue. However, their continu- ing egocentrism means that they tend to focus on what they want to say, so it requires prac- tice and effort for them to learn how to listen to others, following along and contributing to a conversation. They also have the vocabulary, capacity for increased attention, and language facility to greatly expand the number and type of activities that focus on developing and refin- ing the auditory discrimination skills needed to identify sounds in letters and words (Hendrick & Weissman, 2007).

When they are inviting dialogue and facilitating discussion, teachers should aim to talk about things that are important to the children and relevant to their experiences. There is a big difference between conversation and interrogation; the teacher is primarily responsible for creating the model for a balance between talking and listening (Hendrick & Weissman, 2007).

Strategies and Activities for Promoting Early Literacy Chapter 11

Finger Plays Finger plays are short rhyming poems spoken, chanted, or sung with accompanying motions that encourage listening, following directions, and word play. They can be interactive, like “pattycake” or “five little piggies,” and can be used with infants and toddlers even before they are able to follow along or mimic the words and motions.

Finger plays frequently provide indirect teaching of concepts such as counting, alphabet letters, or positional words, and teachers sometimes use teaching aids such as a flannel board to reinforce concepts, characters, or a story line within a finger play. Click on this link for a video sampling of finger plays by “Dr. Jean” Feldman.

Your own favorites might include such well-known examples as “Itsy Bitsy Spider” or “Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.” There are literally thousands of examples available in books, online sites, and those made up and shared between teachers.

Finger plays for babies and toddlers are simple, repetitive, and short, with motions they can easily manage and coordinate:

Baby bunny bounces high (raise hands high) Baby bunny bounces low (touch or point to the

ground) Baby bunny blinks his eyes (blink eyes) Baby bunny waves good-bye (wave bye-bye)

As children grow older and their auditory memory increases, finger plays are longer; they may be set to music or derived from nursery rhymes or simple songs, with multiple verses and more complicated motions. Compare the following with “Baby Bunny”; the lan- guage is more complex but still employs repeating phrases and a refrain that helps children remember the text:

Five little ducks that I once knew (hold up five fingers)

Fat ones, skinny ones there were too (spread arms wide and close)

But the one little duck with the feather on his back (turn around putting hands on behind and wiggle fingers)

He led the others with a quack, quack, quack (face front and use hands to mimic duck bill opening and closing)

Quack, quack, quack; quack, quack, quack, (use above motion to “quack” to friends in the circle) Down to the river they would go (move hands in undulating motion) Swimming back and forth all in a row (mimic breast stroke) But the one little duck with the feather on his back (repeat first verse motions) He led the others with a quack, quack, quack Quack, quack, quack; quack, quack, quack

Variations of finger plays are too numerous to count. For example, different versions of “Five Little Ducks” are demonstrated here and here.

▶ Stop and Reflect 1. Why is a finger play a good example of a multisensory activity?

2. Develop a list of two or three criteria you might use to choose finger plays to teach to young children.

Finger plays are favorite activities that fos- ter memory and concepts about language and stories through engaging rhymes and songs with accompanying motions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f2d7BW3CzI&playnext=1&list=PL7723FFD0D1D082B9&feature=results_main

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG58OOKoLOk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP-pRV4QMCA&feature=related

Strategies and Activities for Promoting Early Literacy Chapter 11

Things you can do to encourage children to listen and identify variations in sounds include the following:

• Playing audio lotto games that match sounds with pictures of the source

• Going on a sound scavenger hunt

• Taping children’s voices and guessing “Who is speaking now?”

• Playing musical chairs

• Playing games like “Simon says”

• Whispering to begin a large group meeting or circle

• Noting environmental sounds, such as the phone or doorbell ringing, a fire alarm going off, a clock ticking, the sound of wind chimes or door closing

• Playing loud/soft games, repeating words or a short poem with varying volume levels

You will also employ strategies that emphasize hearing the words, phrases, pauses, and stops in text and developing auditory memory through playful activities such as:

• Cloze, leaving out a word in the middle or at the end of a poem or story for children to complete.

• Before beginning a read-aloud story, identifying a key, repeating word or phrase and encouraging the children to give a signal, such as raising their hands each time they hear it.

• Memory games—repeating short strings of nonsense words.

• Repeating rhythmic patterns with words such as “baby; baby buggy; baby buggy bum- per; baby buggy bumper bumping along the road.”

• Simple tongue twisters such as “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”

• Finger plays and songs (see the feature box above).

Reading to Children

The importance of reading to children cannot be overstated. You should read to children individually and in small and large groups at many times during the day. Every book genre has its own characteristics and benefits for promoting understanding of text, building vocabulary and auditory memory, and seizing opportunities to point out phonological features of words.

In reading to groups of children, it is important to make sure they are comfortable and can all see the book and to make frequent eye contact, using expression and animation to emphasize different characters or events in the story. Sometimes adults read books to children uninterrupted from beginning to end, purely for enjoyment, building rapport and meeting their individual needs. Other times, teachers use guided reading when they are introducing a new or unfamiliar book. Guided reading involves a series of steps that take children on a “book walk” to reinforce concepts about books and the elements of story, introduce strategies that help children identify and use contextual clues, encourage dia- logue and comprehension, and model what good readers do (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Gambrell & Mazzoni, 1999).

Guided reading is used extensively in the primary grades, but you can adapt the process for preschoolers, keeping in mind their attention span and skill level. When you are using guided reading, you will:

Strategies and Activities for Promoting Early Literacy Chapter 11

• Introduce the cover of the book, pointing out the title, name of the author and illus- trator, and inviting children to use clues from the cover art to predict what the story might be about.

• Read the story, pausing occasionally to ask or invite questions about the charac- ters, setting, and plot. A good story has a problem to solve (Schickedanz, 1999), and there will be a point in the story where it becomes apparent what the problem is. This is a good place to pause and invite predictions about what it is and how it might be solved.

• If using a “big book” (larger version of a book, particularly helpful for reading to bigger groups of children), you might use a pointer or your finger to follow text as you read. This simple action reinforces the movement of text across and down the page as well as pauses or breaks between sentences or phrases, and it models fluency.

• Pause to clarify vocabulary that might be unfamiliar or particularly interesting. With older children, you will identify context clues and practice strategies for sounding out unfamiliar words.

• Close to the end of a book, revisit predictions about how the story will resolve, and upon finishing, compare children’s predictions with the eventual outcome.

Story readings can be extended through teacher- or child-initiated retelling with different media, such as a flannel board, smart board, recording favorite stories in DLL children’s home language for the listening center, dramatizing stories (Dombrink-Green, 2011), or reenacting them with puppets.

Oral Storytelling

Vivian Paley, one of early childhood’s strongest advocates for the power and value of oral storytelling, says,

Think dramatically! Get in the habit of thinking of yourself and the children as partners in an acting company. Once we learn to imagine ourselves as characters in a story, a particular set of events expands in all directions. We find ourselves being kinder and more respectful to one another because our options have grown in intimacy, humor, and literary flavor. (Dombrink-Green, 2011, p. 93)

Storytelling builds community through shared experience (Berkowitz, 2011; Blake-Jones, 2011). For thousands of years, storytelling was a primary means by which groups of people passed down their genealogy, history, and traditions. Many of the children in our classrooms today are members of ethnic and cultural communities that value storytelling (Brice-Heath, 2012; Currenton, Craig & Flanigan, 2008; Miller, Cho & Bracey, 2005).

Teachers use guided reading to take children on a “book walk.”

Strategies and Activities for Promoting Early Literacy Chapter 11

Storytelling is a powerful tool for making connections with literacy (Blake-Jones, 2011; Cooper, 2005; Miller & Mehler, 2005). It makes the child feel part of the story dynamic, reinforces concepts and elements of the narrative, models expressive and efficient use of language, and encourages children to become better storytellers themselves.

For some children, like Anna Bess in the opening vignette, a high level of confidence with tell- ing a story may be a means of bridging her reluctance as a writer. When given the floor during group time or even in intimate conversations, many preschool children tend to ramble: “and then . . . and then . . . and then . . . . ” Repeated experiences with oral storytelling model how a good story starts, progresses, and ends!

The benefits of storytelling as a group activity are many (Berkewitz, 2011), as you:

• Maintain eye contact with each of the children individually

• Eliminate competition to see book illustrations

• Make the characters real through dramatization

• Invite audience participation and kinesthetic involvement

If you are hesitant or lack confidence in telling stories, you might invite a local storyteller to your class for inspiration and guidance. But we all tell stories in our daily lives, and doing so with children does not have to be complicated or stressful. Developing a story for telling is also an emergent, organic process, and each time you retell a given tale, you have the oppor- tunity to revise it, adapt the plot, or develop characters (Blake-Jones, 2011). Guidelines are simple but important (Berkowitz, 2011; Eliason & Jenkins, 2008):

1. Start with personal stories. A funny story about taking your dog to the veterinarian, for example, is one that many children can connect with, and it allows them to see you as a regular person rather than The Teacher from the Black Lagoon! (Thaler, 2008).

2. Learn a simple favorite story (such as a folktale or fairy tale).

3. Identify and emphasize parts of the story or characters that are particularly appealing or humorous.

4. Practice.

5. Identify parts that invite child participation (such as making engine sounds when you start up the car to drive to the veterinarian or imitate the dog barking at the veterinarian).

6. Create a refrain that the children can repeat at different times during the story, such as “You know, FIDO does NOT like going to the veterinarian . . . ,” and use a cue and pause so they know when to chime in.

7. Make use of literary devices such as alliteration or rhyming. For example, “when I opened the car door, Furry . . . Furious . . . Foul-smelling . . . FIDO jumped out.”

Emergent Writing

As described previously, children’s exposure to environmental print and text through story reading, independent exploration of books, and opportunities to draw and play with writing materials provides motivation and early concept development about the purposes of writing. Children can practice writing their names on sign-in sheets or sign-up lists and in labeling drawings, making name badges, and so on. You will also have many opportunities to model different types of writing during planned whole- or small-group activities, such as:

• Writing children’s questions or ideas on a chart about what they might see on a field trip

Strategies and Activities for Promoting Early Literacy Chapter 11

• Developing friendship guidelines

• Composing a thank-you message to the custodian

• Composing an invitation to parents and families for a school event

• Writing a class story about what happened on a field trip

• Transcribing children’s words as they dictate descriptions of drawings, paintings, or a block structure

• Listing ingredients for a cooking activity recipe

• Making a snack menu for the week and a grocery list

• Making a “to-do” list for planting the garden

• Brainstorming ideas for props children want to use in a new dramatic play theme

• Recording a child’s plan for where he intends to spend his time during play

• Writing children’s names on a classroom jobs chart

• Making signs for the classroom or descriptive labels for classroom displays

Specifically, two powerful writing activities appropriate for preschoolers include making books and journaling. Many kinds of books are appropriate as models of different types of text that can also serve as prompts for children’s dictation, drawing, or writing. For example, looking at several different kinds of ABC books can launch a class book where children choose the letters they want to represent, and make a separate page for each with an illustration or cut- and-pasted pictures of objects that start with the letter. A book such as Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (Martin & Carle, 1967), with predictable text, can be used as a model for a class book (excerpted below).

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? I see a red bird looking at me.

Red Bird, Red Bird, What Do You See? I see a yellow duck looking at me.

Yellow Duck, Yellow Duck, What Do You See? I see a blue horse looking at me.

Blue Horse, Blue Horse. . . .

Even if children are too young to grasp the pattern of the repeating text, they can be asked the question, “What do you see?” with each child making a page for the book and dictating or attempting to write an answer. Figure 11.4 displays examples and descriptions of concept books, informational texts, and narrative/stories made with 2-year-old toddlers and 3- to 5-year-old preschoolers.

Setting aside a time daily or several times weekly for 4- or 5-year-olds to write in journals or logs is an appropriate and, for most children, enjoyable way to lead them toward writing. Having a “special” book for writing helps children understand that adults value their words and want to preserve them. Preschoolers don’t need lined paper until they have mastered the forms of letters and acquired the fine motor control to be able to use it without frustration. Journals give children the opportunity to develop independently and provide teachers, fami- lies, and themselves with a chronological record of progress.

Journals can be simple bound black-and-white composition books or made from sheets of paper stapled together. Children can be encouraged to illustrate or decorate the covers and teachers should date each page. Writing time gives the teacher the opportunity to begin

Strategies and Activities for Promoting Early Literacy Chapter 11

Only includes letters that start children’s names in the class. For example, “E is for Ellyse and . . .” (child �nishes).

Children retell the experience of making paper. Each child dictated text for one of the photographs that document the process.

Each child contributed one illustrated page with dictated text. For example, “You �nd the X. You get a shovel and dig and dig and dig. Then you go home to bring it to Mom and Dad and show all of the stu�. Inside the treasure chest you �nd swords, jewelry, patches and gold.”

Each page has a photo of things children found of each color and their description of items.

Each child chose a photograph of a jungle animal and dictated what they knew about the animal and what they saw in the picture. For example, “Panda Bear! The baby is taking a nap. He is black and white. He eats a leaf. It is cold.”

Using Goodnight Moon as the inspiration, each child dictates narrative about their bedtime routine. For example, “Mommy kiss me and I say I want my bear.”

Children brought in objects from home in the shape of squares. Each page has a photo of a child who completes, “I found . . .”

“What We Know About Birds of Prey” An encyclopedia with emergent writing and dictated text by older preschool children with photographs and text.

With a favorite song as premise of the story, each page starts with “I have a magic carpet. It can take me anywhere.” Each child imag- ined and then described where they would go on a magic carpet ride.

Each child made a handprint from textured material of their choice and described what it feels like on their page.

Each family sent in a recipe and children illustrated and dictated preparation directions.

Anthology of poems written by four-year-olds and kindergarten- ers, for example: “Orange Duct Tape” It’s orange, and it’s duct tape And very sticky It puts two things together like a piece of paper to the other side of a piece of paper It matches my shirt

First child completes, “First little caterpillar,”...second child �nishes, “Second little caterpillar . . .” etc.

Each page contains a list of items dictated by children that they don’t like.

Narrative with photos and text composed by a group of children about their walk to the nearby �sh pond.

Each page has a photo the child chose from a carriage ride through the city and the child’s description of what shapes they can see in the picture. For example, “It’s a house. Squares and people in squares. And the roof. And this sky. And this triangle. Look, there’s some circles—the bushes!”

Each child described a picture of their feet and toes.

Book was written by kindergarten children as a response to the book, Tuesday by David Weisner. Children imagined what happened next after the book ends with an illustration of �ying pigs.

Concept Books Description Exopository Description Narratives Description

Figure 11.4: Class Books Made with Toddlers and Preschoolers

Many different kinds of books and experiences can be used as models and opportunities for children to use emergent writing or dictation of text.