Reading Ever After®

The Skills of Early Literacy

Early literacy development is gradual and begins at birth. Research shows that children with early literacy skills will more likely be prepared to learn to read. The skills of early literacy are:

Print motivation is a child’s interest in and enjoyment of books. Visit the library often for books and to attend Storytime. Keep books around the house and let your child play and pretend read with them. Have fun reading together and soon sharing books and stories will be a treasured activity for all.

Print awareness is an understanding that printed words have meaning and that they follow patterns. It means knowing the parts of a book and that there is a difference between print and pictures. As you read with your child, let him or her hold the book and turn the pages. You might point to the first word on the page of the story. Read everyday print on the cereal box and street signs.

Vocabulary is knowledge of words and their meanings. Narrative skill is the ability to understand and tell stories and to describe things and events. Together they build the foundation for oral language. Read and reread good story books. Gently encourage children to tell stories or describe events in their life. Talk about the things you do as you go through the day -— in the house, at the store or on a walk. Children who are talked and read to, begin school with larger vocabularies.

Alphabetic knowledge is the ability to recognize the names, shapes and sounds of letters. Help your child find the letters in his or her name in an ABC book. Play and sing letter games. For example, find and name everyday objects that begin with the first sound in your child’s name.

Phonological awareness is an understanding that words are made up of sounds and recognizing rhymes and repeated sounds. Sing silly songs, recite poems and read stories written in rhyme. Old-fashioned nursery rhymes and fingerplays are a great and fun way to play with the sounds of language.

Illustration from WHOSE SHOES? by Anna Grossnickle Hines. Illustration copyright ©2001 by LeUyen Pham.
Used by permission of Harcourt, Inc.