Emergent Literacy: The Role of the Preschool Teacher

Are the preschoolers in your classroom "getting ready" to read? Look again--they are reading now. They read their friend's name on his art work. They read the classroom job chart to find out who the snack helper is today. Stop signs, product logos, signs on store fronts....preschoolers are reading them all.

What is emergent literacy?

Emergent literacy is this gradual, developmental process of reading--and writing, listening and speaking--that begins in infancy. Young children learn literacy by being actively involved in meaningful literacy experiences, in an environment which encourages and facilitates this active learning. Parents, of course, have a special role to play in a child's literacy development. Preschool teachers and caregivers are also able to support the development of literacy.

What is the role of the preschool teacher?

By creating a literacy environment and planning literacy events and experiences in your classroom, a teacher is able to make reading and writing a natural and automatic part of the children's day.

A classroom environment which supports literacy development includes the following:

• Lots to read in EVERY play area: shelves labeled with words and pictures; posters and signs; recipes from cooking projects; a list of favorite songs or stories; empty food cartons and boxes (with the labels on) in the dramatic play area; art work labeled with titles and/or children's names. A chart recording the growth of plants is on display in my science center now.
• A classroom library that is attractive, comfortable and inviting. Books are in good repair and representative of the best in children's literature of all genres. Books are rotated and plentiful: display at least two books per child, with four books per child in your entire, rotating collection.
• A listening center with tape recorder and tapes of favorite books. Store each tape with the book in a labeled zip-loc bag. I store all the story-tape bags in a dishpan on a nearby shelf. Headphones for the tape player have enabled me to locate the listening center near my not-so-quiet writing center.
• A writing center which contains many ways for children to "make their mark": crayons, markers, pencils, colored pencils, a Magna Doodle, an Etch- a-Sketch. Include plenty of paper of all sizes and shapes (what do your preschoolers write on circle shaped paper? on triangles?) as well as stencils texture boards, chalkboards with chalk, and dry erase boards with markers. My assistant teacher found a personal size chalkboard and marker board at Wal-Mart. They are just the right size for the writing center shelf.

In addition to designing the literacy environment, the preschool teacher plans literacy events and experiences including:

• Reading to the children every day--individually, in small groups and to the whole class.
• Write the children's stories as they dictate them to you. Read the stories aloud to the class. Dramatize the stories using simple costumes and props. Collect them in a binder or display them in the "Author's Corner".
• Provide opportunities and materials for writing in all the play areas: provide paper and pencils to write grocery lists in the dramatic play area, offer blank invoice or purchase order forms in the "office", blank sales checks to play restaurant and cardboard in the building area to write street signs; paper and pencil at the puzzle table to make a "save" sign when the puzzle is FINALLY done. One afternoon I put blank attendance sheets in the writing center and watched several very involved children fill the sheets with names, dates and rows of X's.
• Designate an "Author of the Month". Read as many of the author's books as possible; share biographical information; display these books during the month. During our butterfly garden project, The Very Hungry Caterpillar was prominently displayed as our favorite from "author of the month" Eric Carle. That month in the art area we employed the distinctive torn paper technique that Eric Carle uses to illustrate his stories.
• Teach children how to handle books. Keep books within the children's reach. By handling books, children learn to love and value them. Trust children to treat books respectfully.

What about the child with special needs?

ALL children can benefit from being involved in print-related activities. No child is too communicatively, cognitively, or motorically impaired to be excluded from literacy related activities. Children who are exposed to using reading and writing for functional purposes can develop many skills. NCIP has important and useful information for teachers regarding the literacy development of children with special needs.

What is the preschool teacher's role? To lead all children into the love of books and reading....a love that may last a lifetime.

Links of related interest

A Guide to Children's Literature
Why should emergent literacy be part of an early childhood program?
For further reading: Research references for emergent literacy
Writing children's stories

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is maintained by
Judy Flanigan
Ken-Crest Children & Family Services
Plymouth Meeting, PA

©June 1997, Judy Flanigan

since November 18, 1999