• There are six early Literacy skills that began to develop at birth: Vocabulary; print motivation; print awareness; narrative skills; letter knowledge; and phonological sensitivity.
  • Children get the foundations for their language development and learning to read from their daily experiences.
  • Children who enter kindergarten with strong pre-literacy skills are more likely to become strong readers.

Learning to read and write begins very early in children's development, well before they enter kindergarten or first grade. In fact, children begin to develop the language skills that they need for reading when they are babies. Babies listen to the sounds that adults make when they talk and then try to imitate what they hear. As they grow, babies will begin to understand common words and use them one by one. Around age 2, children start to put together simple sets of words. By age 3, he or she can begin to express opinions, needs and feelings.

As children have conversations with adults, listen to books being read aloud, and engage in new experiences, their vocabularies grow. By the preschool years, most children can participate in conversations and tell stories. They can share feelings and ideas, and may try to imitate adult writing. These language skills are part of the foundation that children need in order to be able to learn to read.

More than 20 years of research has shown that in addition to basic language skills and vocabulary growth, certain kinds of skills are especially important for young children to be ready to learn to read. These skills can be divided into three areas or domains. These domains are print knowledge, emergent writing and linguistic awareness.

Print knowledge is a child's understanding of printed letters, words and how books work. Some examples of print knowledge skills include:

  • Understanding that print and pictures are different
  • Understanding that print carries meaning
  • Knowing that print has a variety of functions (street and store signs, lists, letters to a friend, etc.)
  • Book rules (how a book opens, turning pages, title and author on cover, etc.)
  • Print components (letters, punctuation, sentences)
  • Rules of print
  • Naming letters

Emergent writing is a child's first efforts to create and use print in a meaningful way. Some examples of emergent writing skills include:

  • Scribbling
  • Drawing
  • Copying
  • Printing letters
  • Printing name
  • Invented spelling
  • Message composition

Linguistic awareness is a child's understanding of how words and language work. Some examples of emergent writing skills include:

  • Active listening
  • Vocabulary
  • Rhyming words
  • Segmenting sentences
  • Segmenting words

Information provided by Get Ready to read. For more information about Early Literacy or to take an Early Literacy on-line Screening with your child visit Get Ready to Read.

This report was made possible by grant number 90LO0071 from the Child Care Bureau, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not represent the official views of the funding agency, nor does publication in any way constitute an endorsement by the funding agency.

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