Principles & Practices

Principle

Offering a variety of opportunities for children to explore written materials and their meanings as well as the sounds of spoken language through rhyme and alliteration builds the language and literacy skills of preschool English Learners.

The classroom should be rich with meaningful print to help children understand the connection between written and spoken language. Print is meaningful when it relates to children’s immediate and past experiences. It is critical that literacy instruction include purposeful and playful activities.

Practices

• Encourage the development of emergent literacy skills in a supportive environment by acknowledging and expanding on the child’s efforts.
• Offer a rich variety of purposeful, playful, and multisensory experiences with literacy and language such as repetition with music or clapping (Hiebert, et al., 1998).
• Ask children or their parents to share culturally relevant and teachable rhymes in their native language with the class. These can serve as a tool for building the foundation for phonological awareness skills (Reading Rockets, 2004).
• Relate literacy activities to the children’s cultures, languages, and experiences in order to motivate children’s participation.
• Use pictures, photographs, and scenes in books as a platform for interaction and discussion.
• Help children recognize their name in print by encouraging them to watch as you print the letters of their names, and saying each letter as you write it. Display children’s names in various places in the classroom—by their cubbies, in art work displayed on walls, in photo books with family pictures, etc. (Armbruster, B., Lehr, F., & Osborn, J., 2003).
• Label items and learning centers in both English and in the children’s home language(s), including sign language, picture symbols, or Braille when applicable to children in your class.
• Provide different types of reading materials throughout the classroom and outdoors instead of having books just on one bookshelf. These can include menus, phone books, catalogs, magazines, posters, recipes, and written activity instructions in addition to children’s books.
• Provide different types of writing tools and materials, both indoors and outdoors, such as chalk, markers, pencils, crayons, feathers, sponges, stamps, paintbrushes, and droppers to promote writing throughout the daily routine. Remember to adapt these materials with Velcro, vet wrap, or tubing for children with motor challenges.
• Remember to access the book collections of libraries, book mobiles, families’ homes, and other service agencies in the community. You may find a greater variety of types of books by borrowing from these sources.
• Communicate the importance of early reading and literacy activities to all adults who interact with the children, including family members and classroom volunteers.