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(Unit 2) Topic 8: Promoting Early Literacy

3 Clock Hour of Early Childhood Education

Stages of Early Reading Experiences

Even very young children enjoy and benefit from reading, but it is important to plan experiences that fit their development. 

​Topic 8 Page 7

Click here to take notes.

Use the suggestions below (Corporation for National Service [CNS], U.S. Department of Education, & U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1997) as a guideline. Keep in mind that each child develops at an individual rate. Some will need to work at a higher or lower level than the guideline for their age. Read only as long as the child shows interest. If the child becomes restless or distracted, offer another activity.

Birth to Eight Months

• Hold the baby in your lap as you share short books with bright pictures.
• It’s normal for the child to want to handle the book and even chew on it. Use cloth, plastic, or board books that can be cleaned after each use.
• Name pictures for the baby and respond to the baby when he/she points to the pictures.
  

Eight to Eighteen Months Old

• Continue to read one-on-one. Children this age love to hear the same book again and again.
• Follow the child’s lead. When the child brings you a book, do your best to find time to read it.
• Relate pictures in the books to the child’s life.
• Keep sturdy books within the children’s reach for them to explore on their own.
• Offer books about everyday activities. Make some books yourself that include photos of the children and the classroom.

Eighteen to Twenty-Four Months Old

• Read to the children both one-on-one and in small groups, but don’t insist that the children stay in the group.
• After hearing the same book often, the children will begin to join in and tell what happens next.
• Point to the words as you read.
• Encourage the children to talk about the stories.
• Add related props to the centers so the children can incorporate the stories into their play.

​Three to Five Years Old
The preschool years are the time during which children’s emergent literacy abilities develop. In fact, these skills are the foundation onto which children’s later reading and academic abilities will build off of. Most important for literacy is the development of phonological awareness (often called phonemic awareness), the ability to recognize and manipulate the sound units that make up words, be these individual phonemes (sounds) or syllables. Once a child can auditorally distinguish individual sounds, they learn to link the sound with the visual representation — the letter or the individual word. Children this age begin to play with language. They make up stories based on fantasy, but tell these tales as if they are real. Encouraging story-telling will advance their cognition, linguistic abilities, and creativity. They are beginning to understand concrete riddles (”Knock, Knock.” “Who’s there?” “Boo.” “Boo who?” “Why are you crying?”), love silly language, nonsense rhymes, and bathroom talk. 

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Plan Reading Experiences Throughout the Day

Try to read to every child at least once every day. You may find it helpful to create a chart you can use to record times you read to each child. There are many times during the day that you can read to children and the more opportunities you take to read, the better. Nap time is a traditional story time for many children. However, you can also give a child a book to look through when sitting in a seat, read a book as you sit on a blanket outside, or share books any time the child shows interest. If you find yourself reading the same book over and over again, that is not a problem. Young children thrive on repetition. You will probably tire of a book before the children do, but keep reading anyway. The benefits are worth the effort.

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