Ignite

What is emergent literacy?

o Emergent Literacy assumes that the child acquires some knowledge about
language, reading, and writing before coming to school. Literacy development
begins early in life and is ongoing. There is a dynamic relationship among the
communication skills (reading, writing, oral language, and listening) because each
influences the other in the course of development (Morrow, 2012, p. 15).
Why are emergent literacy skills important for children?
o Emergent Literacy acknowledges a childs scribble marks on a page as
rudimentary writing, even if not one letter is discernible. The child who knows the
difference between such scribble and drawings has some sense of the difference
between writing and illustration. When children narrate familiar storybooks while
looking at the pictures and print and give the impression of reading, we
acknowledge the activity as literacy behavior, but not conventional reading
(Morrow, 2012, p. 16)
o It accepts children at the level they are functioning and provides a program for
instruction based on individual needs. It exposes children to books early; it is a
child-centered social constructivist approach with more emphasis on problem
solving than on direct instruction of skills (Morrow, 2012, p. 16).
Examples of emergent literacy skills
o Alphabet Knowledge
o Phonological awareness
o Phonemic Awareness
o Rapid automatic naming (name a sequence of random letters or numbers also of
objects or colors based off of pictures)
o Writing ones name
o Phonological memory (remember spoken info for a short period of time)
o Concepts about print
o Print knowledge (combining all these skills)
o Oral language (the ability to understand and produce spoken language with vocab
and grammar)
o Visual processing (ability to match or discriminate visually presented symbols)
How do we teach children these skills?
o Assessments to see what they know
Concepts About Print
Letter Identification
Written-Dictated Story
Yopp-Singer
Writing Vocabulary
o Name activities to help develop skills
Children learn through play.

It gives children the opportunity to try out new words or sounds

and converse with classmates.
Through music!
Examples from Music and The Child
Writing Center (children can write letters, their name, etc.)
Books in the classroom for children to read
Read to the class every day
Childrens names: every day if you have a job chart, have them spell their
name to you before they sit down
Art activities (scribbles to drawings-example from martens)

Call to Action
o Make learning about literacy fun. If a child has a positive experience with
emergent literacy and learning different skills, they will most likely feel the same
way about reading.