Early Literacy

What is Early Literacy?

Reading BearEarly Literacy skills are the things children need to learn before they start kindergarten in order for them to be successful at school. They include:

 Pre-reading Skills

  • Vocabulary
  • Narrative and conversation skills
  • Print awareness
  • Sound awareness
  • Letter knowledge
  • Love of stories

Pre-writing skills

  • Fine and gross motor skills
  • Narrative skills
  • Letter knowledge
  • Recognizing shapes

Executive Control

  • Self-control
  • The ability to manage emotion

How can you practice Early Literacy skills with your child at home?

Talk, Sing, Read, Write, and Play!

  • When you TALK with your child they learn vocabulary, narrative skills, and how conversation works.
  • When you SING with your child they learn vocabulary they might not come across in their daily life, and that words are made up of sound parts.
  • When you READ with your child they learn how a book works, how words flow on a page, narrative skills, how symbols represent ideas, the shape and orientation of letters, and how stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end.
  • When you WRITE (or just color) with your child they learn fine motor skills, the shape and orientation of letters, and they gain practice expressing themselves with symbols.
  • When you PLAY with your child (especially imaginative play) they learn fine (and gross) motor skills, narrative skills, and all of the executive control skills.
Early Literacy

Tips on Youtube

Click on this link to watch Early Literacy Tips from our librarian.