We’re constantly bombarded with messages about making sure our kids are prepared to succeed in school. “Try this app, read this parenting book, watch that DVD…” and so on. Many of those materials can offer good suggestions (we have a great selection of parenting materials at YDL, for example) but being pulled in so many different directions, while trying to survive on less than 8 hours of sleep, can be overwhelming!
YDL librarians are here to help. Let’s start by talking about early literacy skills, defining them and unpacking the mystery that “experts” create around them.
What is early literacy?
At its core, early literacy is about the ability to read and write, before you’re old enough to read and write. This means, as researchers, librarians, and educators discovered, a child, under the age of 5, has to be able to know and do certain things, before they can learn how to read and write.
What are those things?
These are the six early literacy skills, as named by Every Child Ready to Read (ECCR), a research-based program developed by the Public Library Association (PLA) and Association for Library Service to Children:
- Print Motivation: A child’s interest in and enjoyment of books.
- Print Awareness: Noticing print everywhere, knowing how to follow the words on a
page, knowing how to handle a book. - Phonological Awareness: Phonological awareness is the ability to hear and play with
the smaller sounds in words. - Vocabulary: Vocabulary is knowing the name of things.
- Narrative Skills: The ability to describe things and events and tell stories.
- Letter Knowledge: Letter knowledge is knowing that letters are different from
each other, knowing their names and sounds, and recognizing letters everywhere.
Print Motivation? Phono-what? How can I remember all of that?
You don’t have to. Sometime after ECCR came out, librarians figured out a new, easier way to remember to promote early literacy skills through 5 easy practices:
- Talk
- Sing
- Read
- Write
- Play
If you do these things with your child on a regular basis, with activities suited to their age and development level, then your child will have the early literacy skills needed when they begin kindergarten.
What does that mean, “suited to their age and development level”?
For example, an eight-month old baby cannot grasp a pencil and write on a piece of paper. But baby does have muscles in her/his fingers, hand, and wrist that need to develop strength before s/he can hold a pencil. Activities that promote opening and closing their hand, reaching for things, using their pointed finger and thumb to pick things up, etc. will build these muscles.
I’ve heard of early learning–is that different from early literacy?
Yes and no. Sometimes the two terms are used interchangeably, but early learning can refer to all of the things a child under the age of 5 needs to learn–including crawling, walking, eating, and other physical skills. Early literacy focuses on school readiness and learning to read and write.