Emergent/Beginnin

g Literacy Skills

Christine Ryall, Ph.D.

IRC Mentor Collaborative

Concepts of Print

• Layout• Print• Orientation• Letters• Words• Punctuation• Pictures

Concepts of Print…with text

print carries a message

there is a one to one correspondence between words read and printed text

there are conventions of print

• Left to right:Directionality• Book parts: cover, spine, pages,

words, punctuation, pictures • Syntax…letters to words to

sentences• Function of illustrations

Conventions of PRINT

• Break down the foundation…• Consider the vowels and

consonants • Alphabet Knowledge–Match Upper case–Match Lower case–Production…write them

Concepts of Print

• Develop concepts through practice, consistent help, repetition

–many have limited experience–Environmental Print–Language Experience

Explicit Instruction is needed

Letter Identification

• one of the best predictors of reading success• 26 letters• 44 sounds• Write, say, trace, search and

find• Use more than books…• Use environmental print

Letters

ReinforcementLowercase lettersCapital lettersVarying font styles

Varying representations????

Letters

• Names• Big Books• Dictionaries• Newspaper scavenger hunts• Sandpaper, cereal, paint,• Playdough, string, pipe cleaners• Games…bingo!

Letter-based activities

Phonemic Awareness

• An important ingredient in learning to read• NOT the same as phonics/letters• Phonological awareness is a

predictor of reading readiness. • Stretch the sounds of word

beginnings and endings…without letters…show objects and pictures.

Phonemes

• Blending• Rhyming–Onset /c/–Rime /at/

• Segmenting–Elkonin boxes–Clapping–Body motion

Sound processes

• Say the sounds (not the letter)• Blend them to make the word• Say the word•Write the letters• Say the word

Step by step…

• Have FUN with sounds• Clap the sounds in words and

use manipulatives • Sight Word Identification

Skills to build on

Bridges to Vocabulary

• Sounds…face-to-face reproduction– Use mirrors, “sound phones,” modeling– SING familiar songs…talk about the words– Play the sort and identify objects game!– Use “pictures only” books to build discussion– Create word banks from familiar

activities/locations– REPETITION