Contributions of Emergent Literacy Skills to Name Writing, Letter Writing, and Spelling in Preschool Children

The purpose of this study was to examine which emergent literacy skills contribute to preschool children's emergent writing (name-writing, letter-writing, and spelling) skills. Emergent reading and writing tasks were administered to 296 preschool children aged 4-5 years. Print knowledge and letter-writing skills made positive contributions to name writing; whereas alphabet knowledge, print knowledge, and name writing made positive contributions to letter writing. Both name-writing and letter-writing skills made significant contributions to the prediction of spelling after controlling for age, parental education, print knowledge, phonological awareness, and letter-name and letter-sound knowledge; however, only letter-writing abilities made a significant unique contribution to the prediction of spelling when both letter-writing and name-writing skills were considered together. Name writing reflects knowledge of some letters rather than a broader knowledge of letters that may be needed to support early spelling. Children's letter-writing skills may be a better indicator of children's emergent literacy and developing spelling skills than are their name-writing skills at the end of the preschool year. Spelling is a developmentally complex skill beginning in preschool and includes letter writing and blending skills, print knowledge, and letter-name and letter-sound knowledge.     

Developmentally Appropriate Practice and a National Literacy Strategy

This paper questions the introduction of national teaching strategy for all ages from five to eleven. It is proposed that the lack of developmentally appropriate practice in the early teaching of literacy is inappropriate and may be counter-productive to the long term goals of high literacy standards.     

Name Writing: A Window into the Emergent Literacy Skills of Young Children

This article discusses the potential significance of name writing skills in addressing many important questions about the development of early literacy skills. Young children are inherently interested in producing their own names in print. Furthermore, young children appear to construct their understandings of name writing skills in a predictable, sequential pattern. Questions raised include whether the development of name writing skills mirrors the development of other important cognitive skills, the potential of name writing skills to offer insight as to how young children learn important literacy concepts, the use of name writing as a developmental indicator for children that may be at risk for reading difficulties, and the potential for structured activities using name writing to facilitate the development of emergent literacy skills.     

Using Clicker 5 to Enhance Emergent Literacy in Young Learners

Best practices in emergent literacy instruction for young children acknowledge and facilitate the smooth progression between children’s early engagement with print materials and subsequent fuller literacy mastery. In so doing, model programs target five key emergent literacy skills. The rapid rise in the breadth and depth of educational technology, including computer software, is offering early childhood education professionals new and powerful tools in teaching early literacy. This paper offers a brief review of best practices in emergent literacy, notes the growth of technology in this instruction, and examines the potential contributions of one specific software program, Clicker 5, in helping diverse emergent literacy learners acquire and practice initial reading and writing skills.     

Promoting School and Life Success Through Early Childhood Family Literacy

Early childhood family literacy programs have great potential to positively influence children and families. This article presents the core values and key components of high quality early childhood family literacy programs. The benefits and cost effectiveness of these programs are also discussed.     

The Scaffolding of Emergent Literacy Skills in the Home Environment: A Case Study

The ways in which parent-child interactions can encourage the development of emergent literacy skills in young children remains to be fully explored. The present report describes how one parent scaffolded her young child’s emergent writing and letter knowledge in the home. Environmental print provided many rich and meaningful examples for the parent to show that print conveys meaning and is constructed with letters that have names and make sounds. The parent used idiomorphs, a multisensory approach incorporating the tracing of letters and whole body movements, and common household objects to guide the child’s learning of letter names, sounds, and shapes. Emergent writing skills were scaffolded by using directional language and by the child copying environmental print. The strategies and examples that are described may give guidance to parents and teachers on how to provide engaging opportunities for literacy learning in the home environment or in an early educational context.     

Emergent Environmental Literacy in the Nonnarrative Compositions of Kindergarten Children

This article shows how links between science and literacy offer kindergarten children the opportunity to create and express their individual understandings about environmental change through emergent environmental literacy. This article reports on one of the science experiences in a kindergarten classroom in which the children explored the phenomenon of environmental change. The kindergarten science program can help children learn how scientists look at the world; young children can express these concepts through nonnarrative compositions. The article concludes with suggestions for teaching practice in the kindergarten science program.     

Emergent Literacy in an Early Childhood Classroom: Center Learning to Support the Child with Special Needs

A child with special needs will flourish and benefit from an early childhood environment that empowers learning. Center learning empowers a child to be actively engaged in self-directed learning based on strength, ability, and interest. Center learning can enhance interactive language, story response, art, reading and writing-like behavior, collaboration, buddy activity, and independence. All of these empowering areas of development are strongly related to the child's emergent literacy development. The variety of center learning experiences is limited only by the imagination; this article provides a selection of start-up ideas for the early childhood educator.     

Activity Settings and Daily Routines in Preschool Classrooms: Diverse Experiences in Early Learning Settings for Low-Income Children

This paper examines activity settings and daily classroom routines experienced by 3- and 4-year-old low-income children in public center-based preschool programs, private center-based programs, and family child care homes. Two daily routine profiles were identified using a time-sampling coding procedure: a High Free-Choice pattern in which children spent a majority of their day engaged in child-directed free-choice activity settings combined with relatively low amounts of teacher-directed activity, and a Structured-Balanced pattern in which children spent relatively equal proportions of their day engaged in child-directed free-choice activity settings and teacher-directed small- and whole-group activities. Daily routine profiles were associated with program type and curriculum use but not with measures of process quality. Children in Structured-Balanced classrooms had more opportunities to engage in language and literacy and math activities, whereas children in High Free-Choice classrooms had more opportunities for gross motor and fantasy play. Being in a Structured-Balanced classroom was associated with children's language scores but profiles were not associated with measures of children's math reasoning or socio-emotional behavior. Consideration of teachers' structuring of daily routines represents a valuable way to understand nuances in the provision of learning experiences for young children in the context of current views about developmentally appropriate practice and school readiness.     

An Early Education Pilot Program Using a Developmentally Appropriate Practice for Children With Language and Learning Problems: The Guidelines for the Early Learning (GEL) Program

The Easter Seal Society of Southwest Florida's GEL Program (Guidelines for Early Learning), based on the developmental theories of Piaget and Chomsky, is an early education program using a developmentally appropriate practice for children four to six years old who have demonstrated language, learning, and/or developmental problems. The program staff consists of a multidisciplinary team of early childhood specialists, early childhood educators, a pediatric neurologist, an occupational therapist, and a speech and language pathologist. The program is developmental in nature and was designed to guide and encourage language, cognitive, social, and motor development. This paper describes how this special program was planned and implemented in a nonprofit organization.     

A Model for Involvement of Fathers in Literacy Development with Young At-Risk and Exceptional Children

Early involvement in literacy activities can provide many benefits for at-risk and exceptional children and their fathers. These benefits include development of children's reading and writing skills, increased bonding, and positive self-esteem of fathers. Early childhood professionals can foster male involvement by describing benefits, suggesting appropriate activities, materials and expectations, and by providing ongoing feedback. A model for getting fathers involved in literacy activities with their young at risk and exceptional children is described. The four major approaches in this model are early social interaction, reading books, incidental preliteracy activities, and school involvement.     

An Early Education Pilot Program Using a Developmentally Appropriate Practice for Children With Language and Learning Problems: The Guidelines for the Early Learning (GEL) Program

The Easter Seal Society of Southwest Florida's GEL Program (Guidelines for Early Learning), based on the developmental theories of Piaget and Chomsky, is an early education program using a developmentally appropriate practice for children four to six years old who have demonstrated language, learning, and/or developmental problems. The program staff consists of a multidisciplinary team of early childhood specialists, early childhood educators, a pediatric neurologist, an occupational therapist, and a speech and language pathologist. The program is developmental in nature and was designed to guide and encourage language, cognitive, social, and motor development. This paper describes how this special program was planned and implemented in a nonprofit organization.     

Explaining the Predictive Accuracy of Teacher Judgments of Their Students' Reading Achievement: The Role of Gender,Classroom Behavior,and Emergent Literacy Skills in a Longitudinal Sample of Children Exposed to Poverty

The factors that explain why teachers are ableto accurately predict their students' futurereading ability were examined in a longitudinalstudy from first- to third-grade in childrenexposed to poverty (N = 170). Teacher ratingswere similarly based on both their students'emergent literacy skills and classroombehavior. Meanwhile, the influences ofclassroom behavior on later variability inreading skills were much less than, and almostcompletely redundant with, prior emergentliteracy. Virtually all of the shared variancebetween teacher ratings and later readingskills was explained by prior levels ofemergent literacy. Implications of the resultsand future research were discussed.     

Using ‘Constraints’ to Design Developmentally Appropriate Movement Activities for Early Childhood Education

Teachers of young children know the importance of designing developmentally appropriate activities to encourage motor development but are not always prepared with the information they need to accomplish this design. When teachers choose movement activities, motor development theory must be understood and utilized in the planning of activities to ensure that the choice of the movement task, equipment, and the movement environment interact to encourage developmentally appropriate movement experiences. Basic motor development theory is explained as the basis for examples of appropriate movement tasks for young children.     

早期学习标准与发展适宜性教育的冲突、融合及其启示

本文分析了美国发展适宜性教育与早期学习标准的发展历程以及两者之间的冲突与融合.结合我国学前教育的文化背景与发展特点,笔者对即将颁布的<3～6岁儿童学习与发展指南>的实施提出了三方面建议:谨防标准导向下的课程变成为标准而标准的训练;标准的落实需要质量监管与评价机制作保障;标准实施的关键在于有效的教师专业准备.     

多元读写模式及对习作教学的启示——以三名中国移民儿童的海外读写经历为例

学生习作能力的培养一直以来被看成是课堂教学的任务,对移民英国的三名中国儿童的海外读写经历研究发现,儿童读写能力形成的途径是多元的,非正式、非正规读写学习有效地支持正规读写学习,三种读写学习模式相互独立又密切相关。读写学习的目的不仅要帮助儿童培养读写能力,还要提升儿童的读写素质。     

Preschool Literacy Intervention for Low-Income,Ethnically Diverse Children: Effects of the Early Authors Program Through Kindergarten

Contemporary perspectives on emergent literacy in preschool emphasize the importance of providing developmentally appropriate, authentic, early writing experiences and supporting students’ home language and culture. The current study analyzed kindergarten outcomes for 82 linguistically diverse, low-income children (60% Black, 40% Latino) who participated in the Early Authors Program (EAP) during preschool , and those for a demographically similar comparison group of 33 children who did not receive the intervention. The intervention emphasized family involvement and cultural sensitivity and involved children self-authoring books about themselves and their family. Children in the EAP program scored higher than comparison children on school readiness screeners a year or two later in kindergarten, and were more likely to be classified as “ready’ for school. EAP children also outperformed comparison children on emergent (English) literacy skills in kindergarten as measured by the DIBELS. Boys in the EAP group received higher grades in kindergarten than boys in the comparison group. The positive effects of the Early Authors Program appear to be sustained through kindergarten.     

Shaping the Learning Environment: Connecting Developmentally Appropriate Practices to Brain Research

Connections are shown between recent findings in brain research and principles of Developmentally Appropriate Practices to explore the implications for early childhood learning environments and teaching practices. New research on how the growing mind learns appears to bear out the value of NAEYC's constructivist approach to early childhood education where environments are designed to gain the learner's attention, foster meaningful connections with prior understanding, and maximize both short- and long-term memory through patterns and active problem solving. Each unique learner needs to feel challenged, but not fearful, so that stimulating experiences result in an exchange of ideas and promote deeper understanding.     

Pre-K Music and the Emergent Reader: Promoting Literacy in a Music-Enhanced Environment

Emergent literacy may be nurtured in an early childhood environment that integrates literacy experiences with meaningful music activities in which young children develop skills necessary for success in both areas simultaneously. Early childhood educators can develop the knowledge and skills needed to bring music into the classroom as an engaging and stimulating element of literacy education.