Communication, Language, and Literacy
"Emerging literacy skills depend on language, and language, in turn, is driven by the child's need to communicate" (Post, Hohmann, and Epstein 43).
My mother, a teacher, is a great listener. She will always listen to me when I come to her with questions about teaching preschoolers. She always says, "You have this many words,"while spreading her arms out wide. She'll then say, "Your students have this many words," while bringing her hands back together. "Always remember that when you're talking to them." Children are just learning how to communicate at an early age, and sometimes we forget this when we're trying to teach our infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. I always remember my mom's words whenever I see a toddler crying or screaming. However, we can reduce everyone's frustration by teaching our children how to communicate their feelings and thoughts in a clear, safe, and respectful manner.
Activities that focus on language, literacy, and communication development help children to comprehend stories and language, to verbally speak for themselves, to learn new vocabulary terms and phrases, to pronounce their words and letter sounds correctly, to identify the different letters in the alphabet, to read with pleasure and to understand the concept of print and why it's important in books, to demonstrate knowledge about books and stories, and to practice writing on their own.
Materials for the classroom: books, magazines, books on tape, magnetic letters, paper, pencils, crayons, letter blocks, storybook stuff animals, whiteboards and dry erase markers
Activities that focus on language, literacy, and communication development help children to comprehend stories and language, to verbally speak for themselves, to learn new vocabulary terms and phrases, to pronounce their words and letter sounds correctly, to identify the different letters in the alphabet, to read with pleasure and to understand the concept of print and why it's important in books, to demonstrate knowledge about books and stories, and to practice writing on their own.
Materials for the classroom: books, magazines, books on tape, magnetic letters, paper, pencils, crayons, letter blocks, storybook stuff animals, whiteboards and dry erase markers
Activities for Infants (0 - 18 months)
Activities for Toddlers (18 - 24 months)
Activities for Preschoolers (3 - 5 years)