What is Early Literacy?

Early 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.