Literacy skills for the young child include all activities that involve speaking, reading, listening, writing, alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, print knowledge, and oral language.

Language development is one of the main foundational skills of The Creative Way program. “Language development is crucial in preparing children for reading.” (Harvard Graduate School for Education, Tufts University, Clark University, and The Education Development Center l987) Learning to read well is essential for economic, academic and social advancement. It is the teachers’ (and parents’) responsibility to teach children the importance of reading. In order to build language, children should be exposed to a language-rich environment, filled with interesting conversations, stories and explanations. All subjects including social studies, science, art, music, math and drama, expand a child’s knowledge and experience and ultimately help build a child’s language development and literacy skills. Children learn in situations that are significant and purposeful. They develop language through interactions with adults and other children.

“A well-organized and systematic presentation of skills is necessary to literacy development.” (Literacy development in the early years, Mandel-Morrow, p.31, 2009) The developmental psychologists from the early twentieth century like Gesell (1925) advocated maturation as the most important factor in learning to read which happens at age six. “However, based on many studies starting in the 1930’s it was shown that it is important to provide experiences early on that help children become ready for reading.” (Literacy development in the early years, Mandel-Morrow, p.23, 2009)

To facilitate children becoming ready for reading, The Creative Way program will teach a variety of “reading readiness skills” such as:

  1. Auditory Discrimination – the ability to identify sounds, rhyming words, and the sounds of letters.
  2. Visual Discrimination – the ability to recognize colors and shapes, and identify letters.
  3. Visual Motor Skills – the ability to read from left to right (also known as left-to-right eye progression), cutting on a line with scissors, and coloring within the lines of a picture.
  4. Large Motor Skills – the ability to skip, hop, and walk on a line.

A reading rich environment, such as Mimi’s Place classroom, contains books and other medium for reading and writing throughout the room. There will be a special reading/listening center, and a writing center, as well. The program will focus on integrating reading, writing, and speaking with all content areas such as music, art, social studies, science, mathematics and play.

The National Institute for Literacy (2003) has stated that there are certain skills children must learn to read well.

Beginner readers need to be able to:

  1. Recognize and identify letters;
  2. Manipulate the sounds in words;
  3. Associate sounds to letters;
  4. Use the sounds to build words and; 
  5. Read words spontaneously, easily and accurately.

“Alphabet recognition and phonemic awareness are the two best predictors of reading success.” (Marilyn Jager Adams, MIT 1990) Phonological awareness involves the understanding of sounds in spoken words and is highly predictive of a young child’s success in beginning to read. Research shows that children’s progress in learning how to read often depends on their phonological awareness they have when they enter kindergarten. Young children need to practice the concepts repeatedly and frequently.

Teachers and parents can practice these skills with children whenever a teachable moment presents itself throughout the day. In order to motivate children to learn the skills, one must captivate a young child’s interest by engaging them in an interesting and playful way. Reading to children with enthusiasm helps instill the joy and love of reading. Sharing books creates opportunities for adults and children to enjoy together the sounds of words, the illustrations, and the story. Reading and conversing with children often, and on a daily basis, is the most important step to teaching young children literacy skills. It provides the opportunities to teach literacy skills such as:

  1. Recognizing that there is meaning in print;
  2. Predicting how a story will progress and/or end;
  3. Understanding how illustrations help give the story meaning;
  4. Expanding and developing their vocabulary;
  5. Recognize letters, sounds and words; and
  6. Understanding the concept of word and sequence of story events.

Demonstrating writing to the students will show children that we can communicate with other people through the written word. It also shows children how to write and that we can write the words that we think and say. Most important, a child’s vocabulary and experiences will influence their comprehension of what is being read to them.

Objectives:

  1. Phonological awareness and phonemic awareness – learns the phonic sound that corresponds with the alphabet (in the beginning, learning the sound of a letter in the alphabet is more important than memorizing its names); rhymes, claps syllables in their name, initial consonant sound of words, creates words by substituting one sound for another (e.g., What is the first sound in rose? Do pen and pipe begin with the same sound?).
  2. Listen and focus – learns how to “stop, be quiet, and listen;” listens carefully to sounds in the environment such as music, birds, wind, leaves blown by the wind, garbage truck, helicopter, conversation, story, instructions or the initial consonant in a word.
  3. Verbal expression – learns how to use words and new vocabulary to communicate their thoughts and needs and retell stories to others.
  4. Comprehension – shows interest, understands and engages in a conversation about the story as books are being read to the child.
  5. Letter knowledge – identifies letters of the alphabet (capital/upper and lower case).
  6. Print and book awareness – recognizes that letters make words and words tell a story; reads left to right; identifies front of book, back of book, title, author and illustrator.
  7. Book awareness and appreciation – “reads” daily and enjoys listening to stories and looking at books.
  8. Written expression – attempts to write messages, dictate words and phrases to adult who records them on paper, draw and write their name and letters.

The ultimate goal of the Literacy is for an early learner to have the readiness skills to read and write, to understand a language, to think and reason, and to communicate effectively.

Literacy is developed by continually exposing children to oral and written language. By gaining simple letter and sound knowledge, and building on that knowledge day by day, a child becomes increasingly more literate.

Pictures, play, and listening, together with the printed word help the child understand the symbolic representation that underlies reading and writing.

TIPS FOR TEACHING THE ALPHABET

  • Read, read, and read! Read books, nursery rhymes, picture books, silly stories, real life stories, chapter books – just keep reading!
  • Help each child learn the letters of his/her name.
  • “Letter of the Week” can be a helpful structure for designing learning activities. Read books for each letter, do fine motor activities, learn simply songs, create fun arts and crafts projects, and have fun!
  • Put the alphabet on display.

WEBSITES WHERE MORE ACTIVITIES CAN BE FOUND

More Activities by Subject and Theme