As I mentioned in my previous emails, Children's Reading Partners surveys teachers at the beginning and the end of our programs to see where students need help and how they have improved. Over the next few weeks, I will continue sending you weekly tips to address the areas where our students need the most help, based on the results of our fall evaluations. I want to thank you for taking the time to read these emails as these tips are designed to specifically target your students' literacy needs.  

Our fall 2016 Elementary Express survey found that over half of all kindergarten students need improvement in their early concepts about print. This foundational literacy skill involves an understanding of how books work. Children who have mastered early concepts about print understand that:  

  • The letters on a page represent spoken language.
  • When people read books, they are reading the text, not the pictures.
  • In English, print is read from left to right across the page, and from the top to bottom of the page.
 
When children are frequently exposed to books, they usually enter kindergarten with a solid awareness of early print concepts. However, students who do not receive early literacy support at home are usually not as familiar with these foundational reading skills. 

How to help: As a child has more experiences with books, he or she will become more aware of early concepts about print. You can speed up the process by asking the child specific questions the next time you are reading a book together. For example, if I were reading Goodnight Moon, I could ask:

  • Can you show me the front cover of the book?
  • What about the back cover?
  • The author of this book is Margaret Wise Brown. Can you tell me what an author does?
  • The illustrator of this book is Clement Hurd. Do you know what an illustrator does?
  • Where should we start reading? 

The questions should be asked in a casual, friendly way so your student doesn't feel as if he or she is being "quizzed." You can also occasionally point to the words as you read them to reinforce the directionality of print. While kindergarten students usually need more guidance in learning early print concepts, you can also build on an older student's concepts about print by asking him or her to make connections to the text or inviting the student to write his or her own picture book.

Happy reading!

Alana

Alana Butler
Director, Children's Reading Partners
860.727.6152