Early literacy (sometimes referred to as emergent literacy) is what children know about communication, language, reading, and writing before they can actually read and write. It encompasses all of a child's experiences with conversation, stories (oral and written), books, and print.
From: 2011 policy Brief from Zero to Three. A Window to the World: Early Language and Literacy Development.
Early literacy can be described using different terms in different ways, but the basics are the same. Divided into a set of Six Components, children will need each of these skills to become good readers.
These are some of the tips we used with our StoryWalk stories. Literacy tips can be found in a multitude of websites and books, most of which contain the research to help caregivers understand and trust the given information.
The following Five Practices will help children with early literacy development.
TALK |
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SING |
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READ |
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WRITE |
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PLAY |
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Activity Prompts help caregivers encourage communication about different aspects of the stories in order to develop and strengthen literacy skills. Here are some of our generic examples, but remember: each story is different so activity prompts should fit with the story. Taking what a character does on a page and having your child do the same action will help the child relate to the story and to the words that have been read.