Navigation

 

 

 

Early literacy: Basic concepts and teaching principles

This section is meant to provide early childhood educators (ECEs) with the key early literacy information they will need to successfully deliver this unit. Much of it will be a review of some basic literacy teaching concepts.

As ECEs, we develop literacy programs built around these six areas:

Reading to children.
Reading with children.
Reading by children.

Writing for children.
Writing with children.
Writing by children.

Reading

Reading Aloud

Children who are read to become better readers. When you read aloud to young children, you help them develop the skills necessary to become successful readers. The more often you read to children at home and in the learning environment, the better prepared they are to learn to read successfully on their own.

Read aloud as often as possible. To help make certain that you read at least once a day, set aside at least one particular time during the day to read.

Parents, too, need to read aloud at home — after supper or before bed, for example. Keep this time special and don't let other activities interfere with reading time. Read at other times, too, whenever you have the chance: while in the car waiting to pick up an older child, at the doctor's office, while traveling — any time your child asks to read a book!

While you are reading aloud, children:

 

Shared Reading in the early literacy classroom

Shared Reading is exactly what it sounds like — It is a time for sharing a story and reading together! Shared reading in the early literacy classroom may include echo reading (children echoing the words after the teacher), choral reading (children reading at the same time as the teacher), or fill-in-the-gap reading (teacher reading the majority of the text and then pausing for children to fill in and say rhyming words or other predictable words in the story). All of these ways of reading encourage early reading enjoyment and success with a high level of teacher support.

During shared reading, children focus on both the pictures and the text to make predictions and to generate meaning. Most shared readings begin with a "picture walk" in which the ECE guides children through a preview of the story, asking questions to elicit words and phrases that are used in the text. The book is then read to children and predictions are checked against the text of the story. The book is revisited over several days. Further comprehension of the story takes place through questioning and discussion of each story (the author's choice of words and the illustrator's pictures), through acting out the story, making puppets and retelling boards, reviewing elements of the story (setting, characters, problem, solution), and putting pictures of the events of the story in order.

Once children are familiar with the story, we also look more closely at the text. We mask certain letters and go on word hunts for small high frequency words such as I, the, to, etc. We also play with the sound of the text. Children might be asked to listen carefully to the story and be asked to round up all the rhyming words they hear or words that begin with a certain sound. We also frequently brainstorm other words that rhyme or begin with the same sound. They may be asked to determine the number of claps (syllables) in a word or the number of parts (sounds) in a word. Sometimes, children will need to listen carefully to a word that is stretched out and put it together to figure out the word from the story.

There are many learning opportunities during shared reading!

During Shared Reading children are learning to:

 

Guided Reading in the Early Literacy Classroom

Guided reading has many of the same components as shared reading. However, it is conducted with a smaller number of students and focuses more on the individual reading needs of each child. During guided reading, ECEs work with students at their instructional level to guide them in using the context, visual, and structure cues within stories to generate meaning. By using instructional level texts that gradually increase in difficulty, students apply strategies in context and feel successful! The end goal, as with any literacy component used in kindergarten, is for students to become confident, proficient readers who LOVE to read!

Guided reading in kindergarten can be conducted one-on-one or in small groups using books with predictable text, decodable text, books containing a large number of sight words, specially leveled books in a series, or trade books. ECEs in a half-day setting may meet with each guided reading group once or twice a week while full-day kindergartens may be able to meet daily.

During guided reading children are learning to:

 

Writing

Independent writing

During independent writing, children are encouraged to get their ideas down on paper using pictures, letters, and words. Children are writing with little or no teacher support and the message is typically related to an individual experience. This form of writing builds power, fluency, and independence for the child. Some examples of independent writing are: journals, poems, letters, short stories, reflections, directions, and instructions.

During independent writing, children are learning to:

Shared writing

Shared writing is an approach to writing where the children and the ECE work together to compose stories or messages in a small group or whole group setting. The children provide the ideas and the teacher acts as a scribe, putting their ideas onto paper. The message is usually related to some individual or group experience. The ECE provides full support and models the process of putting ideas into written language. The text created becomes good material for children to read and should be displayed in the room. Some examples of shared writing are: poems, short stories, lists, directions, and reports.

During shared writing, children are learning to:

back to top