Emergent+Literacy

What is Emergent Literacy? Emergent literacy is how young children interact with books and with reading and writing. Emergent literacy is a continuing process that takes place over time from birth until a child can read and write in what we consider to be conversational sense. The key term when focusing on literacy is the interrelatedness of all parts of language: speaking, listening, reading, writing, and viewing. Children Learn literacy through active engagement with books and writing opportunities. The functions of reading often promote the learning of reading. They can reconstruct their knowledge by rereading favorite books and by using “invented spelling.” Listening to books also plays an important role in the literacy development of children. As a parent or guardian reading to children each day is one of the most beneficial ways to help promote literacy. Children pass through the stages of emergent literacy in different ways and at different ages. These developmental stages lead to skills needed for both reading and writing acquisition.

**//__Ideas for parents to promote early literacy!__//**
 * Surround children with a literature rich environment filled with books, magazines, games etc.
 * Reading simple stories with one central character and basic plot
 * Responding to questions your child might have about print in your house or elsewhere in the environment
 * Supporting early writing by making sure that paper, crayons, pencils and markers are available.

***these are just a few ways to help jump start emergent literacy.**