Table of Contents (includes selected charts and forms) Acknowledgements ................................................................................................... v Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 Overview of Resource ............................................................................................ 1 Chart: Developmental Differences Between Children in the Emerging Phase ........... 1 Chart: Foundations of Early Literacy Development .......................................... 2 Developmental Continuum ...................................................................................... 5 Suggestions for Use ............................................................................................. 11 Summary of Essential Practices .............................................................................. 13 Chart: 10 Essential Practices and Related Strategies ....................................... 14 Chart: Building Confidence and Capability .................................................. 15 Chapter One: Supporting Oral Language Development ................................................. 21 Assessment of Oral Language Abilities ..................................................................... 22 • Observing Children’s Social Communication ..................................................... 22 Chart: Language Categories for use with Assessment Checklists and Forms .......... 23 Sample Checklist/Form: Sample Checklist for Observing Children’s Social Communication .................................................................................... 25 • Recording Children’s Language Use and Communicative Behaviours ....................... 26 Sample Checklist/Form: Sample Form for Recording Children’s Language Use and Communicative Behaviours ...................................................................... 27 • Repeat my Sentence ................................................................................... 28 Sample Checklist/Form: Sample Assessment Form for Repeat My Sentence ......... 32 Strategies and Activities ....................................................................................... 33 • Supporting Oral Language Development within Structured Play .............................. 33 • Supported Role Play for Social Problem Solving ................................................ 36 • Speaking and Listening Opportunities in Creative and Collaborative Work ................. 41 • Language Experience Approach ..................................................................... 42 • Class Meeting/Group Time Activities .............................................................. 45 Chapter Two: Enjoying Literature and Learning from Books ......................................... 49 Assessment Tools and Techniques ........................................................................... 49 • Retelling ................................................................................................. 49 Sample Checklist/Form: Sample Checklist for Assessing Retelling in the Emerging Phase ................................................................................................. 52 • Assessment of Interest in, and Enjoyment of, Books/Reading ................................. 53 Sample Checklist/Form: Sample Checklist for Assessing Interest in, and Enjoyment of, Books ............................................................................................ 54 Strategies and Activities ....................................................................................... 56 Reading for Enjoyment .................................................................................... 56 Chart: Choosing Fiction Books for Reading Aloud ........................................ 56 • Reading to Children Daily ............................................................................ 57 Chart: Choosing Nonfiction Books for Young Children ................................... 58 i • Enlisting Other Adults and Older Students to Read to Small Groups of Students .......... 60 Chart: Reading to Children in the Emerging Phase of Literacy .......................... 60 • Book Browsing ......................................................................................... 61 Responding to Literature .................................................................................. 62 • Read, Talk, Act, Draw, Write ....................................................................... 63 • Retelling as an Instructional Strategy ............................................................... 65 Learning from Books ...................................................................................... 67 • Using Big Books and Predictable Books to Develop Concepts of Print ...................... 67 • Walk the Sentences .................................................................................... 70 • Using Big Books to Develop Basic Book Knowledge ........................................... 70 Chapter Three: Learning About Sounds and Letters ..................................................... 73 Assessment Tools and Techniques ........................................................................... 76 • Phonemic Awareness .................................................................................. 76 Sample Checklist/Form: Phonemic Awareness ............................................. 77 • Letter Recognition, Letter Formation, and Letter-sound Knowledge ......................... 78 Sample Checklist/Form: Sample Multi-use Diagnostic Assessment Form for Letter-sound Knowledge ......................................................................... 79 Strategies and Activities ....................................................................................... 80 General Listening Activities .............................................................................. 80 • Sound Walks ............................................................................................ 80 • “Which Sound Did You Hear First?” .............................................................. 82 • “What’s My Pattern?" ................................................................................ 83 Phonemic Awareness Activities .......................................................................... 84 • Exploring Sound Patterns ............................................................................. 85 • Count the Words ....................................................................................... 89 • Clapping Syllables ..................................................................................... 89 • Oral Word Segmentation and Blending Activities ................................................ 90 • Representing Phonemes with Concrete Materials ................................................ 91 • “Say that Word Again but Don’t Say___” ........................................................ 92 Letter Recognition and Letter Naming Activities ..................................................... 93 Chart: Developmentally Appropriate Ways to Support the Development of Visual Discrimination in Young Children ............................................................. 93 • “What’s in a Name?” ................................................................................. 94 • Guess My Letter ....................................................................................... 97 Graphophonic Strategies and Activities ................................................................. 98 • Ways to Use the “Alphabet Song” .................................................................. 99 • One-letter Books ...................................................................................... 101 • Sensory Exploration of Letters ..................................................................... 102 • Using Alphabet Books................................................................................ 102 • “Who has this Letter in their Name?”............................................................. 104 • Making Words ......................................................................................... 104 • ABC and Word Study Center ....................................................................... 107 • Action Words for the Consonants .................................................................. 110 ii Chapter Four: Supporting Independence in Reading and Writing ................................... 111 Assessment Tools and Techniques .......................................................................... 111 • Reading and Writing Interview for Emerging Literacy Learners ............................. 111 Sample Checklist/Form: Reading and Writing Interview for Emerging Literacy Learners ............................................................................................ 113 • Assessment of Bank of Sight Words and Spelling Patterns .................................... 114 Strategies and Activities ...................................................................................... 116 Supporting Children in Viewing Themselves as Readers and Writers ........................... 116 • Incorporating Literacy into Social Dramatic Play ............................................... 116 Chart: Literacy Materials for Social Dramatic Play Centers ............................. 120 Supporting Fluency Through Developing a Bank of Sight