Words All Around
February 22nd, 2008 by admin
Most young children express interest in print at a very early age. In fact, this is one of the many reading readiness skills that should be welcomed and nurtured. Print Awareness is a group of skills that allow your child to make important discoveries about how words and letters work. The core skills include understandings that words are made of letters and letters stand for sounds, that each printed word represents a spoken one, that we read from left to right and top to bottom, and that print is a consistent way to symbolize spoken words.
Parents, caregivers, and teachers want to build and nurture these skills because they form part of the foundation for developing literacy. Any time children show interest in printed symbols is cause for celebration. It’s a teaching opportunity that cannot be ignored.
Many children are naturally interested in environmental print. They quickly learn to attach meaning to symbols they see on a regular basis, such as associating the symbol for a favorite restaurant with pleasant family outings and kids’ meal toys. Stylized printing of names helps them recognize favorite stores long before they can truly read. As teachers and parents, we can channel this interest to nurture vital skills. Point out the sound that the giant first letter of the store’s name is making. Talk about other words that begin with the same sound. Have your child point out the last letter of the word or identify other letters he or she recognizes.
Another way to use environmental print is to find words and letters around the house or room. Encourage the children to speculate about what message the words might contain. Labels on clothing may have laundry instructions and words on switches may tell what they do. You can also orchestrate rainy day fun by sending young prereaders on a scavenger hunt. Choose one letter to find as many places as you can, try finding letters in a name, or look for all the letters of the alphabet.
You can build other print awareness skills when you read together. Point to the words as you read to help your child make the one-to-one connection between printed and spoken words. Don’t undermine this skill by skipping or changing words as you read, either! When you read and point, you also demonstrate the left-to-right and top-to-bottom progression of print. Go for a treasure hunt on a page to find words that match or those that start with the same letter. Be on the lookout for rhyming word families (they end with identical letter groups. An example would be words like sat, fat and rat.
Take advantage of every teachable moment. Each idea about words and print that you can convey to your child is one more tool that will make reading easier. Your child can learn many, many things about written language long before formal reading instruction begins, and in fact, will have an easier time learning to read if these readiness skills are mastered well before school.
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© 2007 Sandra Fleming
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