March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. Therefore, this entry will focus on strategies that support young children with identified disabilities to fully participate in early literacy activities. Literacy is the thread that weaves together imagination, communication, and learning. For children with disabilities, this thread is uniquely shaped by their needs, abilities, and modes of engagement. … Read more »
Tag: Oral Language
The Many Ways to Read a Book
From the moment they first encounter a book, to the magical moments when they decode words independently, the process of learning to read is a fascinating adventure filled with discovery and wonder. Let’s explore the different ways children “read” books: Touching: For infants and toddlers, books are not just stories but tactile experiences. Little fingers… Read more »
Monkey See, Monkey Do- It’s More than Just a Game!
Why do we play imitation games with young children? Of course it’s fun, but did you know that the ability to imitate actions and sounds is a crucial aspect of children’s literacy development? Let’s explore why encouraging children to imitate actions and sounds is an important part of their literacy journey. It Builds Cognitive… Read more »
Celebrating African-American Authors and Illustrators
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is quickly approaching (1/17/22) with Black History Month to follow (February 2022). This is a perfect time to introduce children to more amazing African-American authors and illustrators. Did you know that there is an African-American Children’s Book Project? Here are some of the project’s 2021 Best Picture Books. All are … Read more »
Enjoying the Holidays in a Culturally Responsive Way
Celebrating holidays in early childhood settings is not only fun and exciting, it offers additional opportunities to develop children’s early literacy skills by connecting lessons to occasions occurring both in the context of their daily lives and cultures and those around the world. Holiday literacy lessons involve books, dramatic play, drawing/writing, cooking, crafts, games, etc. … Read more »
A Culturally Responsive Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is quickly approaching, but did you know that November is also National Native American Heritage month? During this time, be intentional about using terms that value and respect all people and avoid stereotyping by planning lessons and using materials that celebrate Native American heritage and traditions. For example, steer away from creating “Indian headbands”… Read more »
Pretending Can Build Literacy Skills
One of the many joys of being an early childhood educator is watching and developing children’s growing imaginations. Symbolic behavior play is related to the understanding of a representational system like written language and language behavior in dramatic play is related to literate language (Mielonen, Paterson, 2009). Children are also developing their oral language skills… Read more »
Literacy Rich Environments
Research affirms that a literacy rich environment promotes the development of literacy skills. You can create an accessible literacy rich environment by: Providing a wide variety of print, reading, writing, and electronic materials. Adapting literacy materials to meet children’s individual needs (e.g., pencil grips, page turning devices, Velcro, etc.) Balancing informational and narrative texts. Modeling… Read more »
Oral Language Development Beyond Building Vocabulary
Intentionally planning vocabulary instruction (see Words, words, words post) is an important part of developing children’s oral language skills, but what other research-based practices can you use? See below: 1) Ask children many open-ended (those without a specific answer) questions throughout the day. Make these interactions effective by providing scaffolding support that enables children to… Read more »
Words, words, words!
Yes, we know, vocabulary development is important! But just how important is it? Research tells us that “vocabulary is very important to reading comprehension; readers need to know the meanings of individual words to understand the text as a whole” and “oral language is a predictor of a range of expressive skills beyond comprehension, including… Read more »