Helping Young Learners Develop Concepts of Print

Emergent readers must master twelve essential skills, or concepts of print, before participating in a formal reading program. The hands-on activities encourage children to explore the function of letters, words, sentences, and punctuation and to practice tracking print. Tips for evaluating children's progress and an assessment tool are also included.

Building Blocks for Beginning Readers highlights twelve essential skills emergent readers must master before they can fully participate in a formal reading program. This resource explains how print is organized and presented in books and other printed materials, and provides tips and fun activities for reinforcing each concept of print.

Children will differentiate between uppercase and lowercase letters, examine how letters make words, explore how words make sentences, and identify that a sentence begins with an uppercase letter and ends with punctuation. Children will also learn one-to-one correspondence and left-to-right and top-to-bottom orientation as they practice tracking print. Tips for evaluating children's progress and an assessment tool that incorporates the twelve concepts of print are also included in this resource.

Building Blocks for Beginning Readers offers teachers and parents simple yet interesting activities that will help the youngest learner develop twelve prerequisites for literacy development.