3. Interactive read-alouds with a comprehension and vocabulary focus. The teacher reads aloud age-appropriate books and other materials, print or digital, including sets of texts that are thematically and conceptually related and texts that are read multiple times. 4. Play with sounds inside words. Teachers help children develop phonological awareness of sounds within language and especially phonemic awareness , which involves the ability to segment and blend individual phonemes within words. 5. Brief, clear, explicit instruction in letter names, the sound(s) associated with the letters, and how letters are shaped and formed. Instruction that is effective in fostering development of letter-sound knowledge is supported by tools such as cards with the children’s names, alphabet books, and references throughout the day to letters and sounds in the environment. 6. Interactions around writing. Adults engage in deliberate interactions with children around writing. Opportunities for children to write their name as well as informational, narrative, and other texts that are personally meaningful to them are at the heart of writing experiences. These deliberate interactions include interactive writing and scaffolded writing techniques. 7. Extended conversation. Adults initiate open-ended conversations with children, sharing stories of past events and discussing future events. 8. Provision of abundant reading material in the classroom. The classroom includes: a wide range of books and other materials connected to children’s interests that reflect their backgrounds and cultural experiences, including class- and child-made books, recorded books, books that children can borrow to bring home and/or access digitally at home, and comfortable places to look at books, frequently visited by the teacher(s) and by adult volunteers recruited to the classroom. 9. Ongoing observation and assessment of children’s language and literacy development that informs their education. Closing Thoughts Even very young children acquire complex understandings about print when they have been involved with innumerable print encounters and interactions—noticing print in the environment, talking with adults about the functional print they use every day (e.g., the print on kitchen appliances, on food products, on electronic gadgets, and so on), listening to and discussing stories that are read aloud to them from a favorite storybook, playing with language through riddles, rhymes, songs, and so forth (MacPhee, 2018; Cunningham and Zibulsky, 2014; Bennett-Armistead, Duke, and Moses, 2005; Harwayne, 2009). And as they engage with print, young children are not only learning about written language and how it works, they are also learning about the world and how it works. The conceptual knowledge they acquire and the background knowledge they build is cumulative and invaluable.
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EARLY READERS
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