Facts In Action

The International Reading Association (IRA) and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) developed a joint position statement, "Learning to Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children." The position statement outlines the following activities that enable preschool children to "explore their environment and build the foundations for learning to read and write."

Children can:

• enjoy listening to and discussing storybooks;
• understand that print carries a message;
• engage in reading and writing attempts;
• identify labels and signs in their environment;
• participate in rhyming games;
• identify some letters and make some letter-sound matches; and
• use known letters or approximations of letters to represent written language.
  

Teachers and providers can:

• share books with children and model reading behaviors;
• talk about letters by name and sounds;
• establish a literacy-rich environment;
• reread favorite stories;
• engage children in language games;
• promote literacy-related play activities; and
• encourage children to experiment with writing.

Source:
Exchange Every Day, Issue #244, October 25, 2001 (http://www.childcareexchange.com.)

For More Information:
The IRA/NAEYC position statement can be viewed in its entirety on-line at www.naeyc.org/resources/position_statements/psread0.htm.

Facts in Action, December 2001