Early Literacy in Infants and Toddlers

Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children Regional

ConferenceCoeur d’Alene, Idaho

October 19, 2013

Your PresenterStaci Shaw

Other Read to Me Coordinators:Stephanie Bailey-White

Erica Compton

VISTA: Julie Armstrong

Who we are…

The Idaho Commission for Libraries assists libraries to build the capacity to

better serve their clientele.

Our vision is for all parents and caregivers to nurture their

children’s early literacy skills, and for all children to develop as

independent readers and become lifelong learners.

Libraries.idaho.gov/read-to-me-resources

Outcomes

Be aware of current research relating to early literacy, vocabulary development, and access to print materials

Be able to incorporate six early literacy skills children must develop in order to become successful readers into curriculum

Be able to share talking points with parents about the importance of early literacy

Learn about free resources available from ICfL and local libraries to help support development of early literacy skills

As a result of the presentation today, I hope you will:

Agenda

• What is early literacy?• Development of Six Early Literacy

Skills in Infants and Toddlers• Resources• @ your library• Q and A

“EARLY LITERACY”

What children know about reading and

writing before they learn

to read and write.

In Idaho

• IRI scores in 2012 show that approximately 19% of children entering Kindergarten did not recognize three or more letters of the alphabet. Another 25% recognized fewer than 11 letters.

• IRI scores in 2012 show that 27% of low-income children entering kindergarten (those receiving free or reduced lunch rates) did not recognize three or more letters. Another 27% recognized fewer than 11 letters.

“Proficient” on the kindergarten Idaho Reading Indicator (IRI) is knowing 11 or

more letters.

In IdahoFamily poverty is significantly associated with lower reading

achievement scores for children, and Idaho has a high percentage of families living in poverty.

In 2011, over 55% of infants born in Idaho received Women Infant Children (WIC) services. (Idaho Division of Public Health, Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics)

Some key findings…

The development of early literacy skills in a child’s life can better prepare that child for success in reading when he or she enters school.

Children who do not have early literacy experiences before they begin school start behind and tend to stay behind (the Matthew Effect).

Children who are not reading on grade level by the end of first grade have a 1 in 8 chance of catching up without costly direct intervention.

ImplicationsReading scores have important implications for later achievement. Basic

readers are more than twice as likely as proficient readers to fail to graduate from high school. Below basic readers are almost six times as likely to fail to

graduate.

Only 33% of Idaho’s fourth graders scored proficient or higher on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP); 36% scored at the basic level and 31% below basic.

Why is it important for children to get ready to read before they start school?

Children who start kindergarten with good pre-reading skills have an advantage.

They are ready to learn to read.

To become successful readers, children need to:

What do children need to learn to become good readers?

• Learn a code

• Understand its meaning

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm < / * # > + \ ** [ = ) ] ~ Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz : ]] { ++ } // ^ ! [[ (( >> \\ |

[ *<: }><#.

Reading is learning the code.

What do children need to know before they can learn to read?

What is decoding?• Noticing print• Knowing letter names and sounds• Hearing the sounds that make up words

Reading is more than decoding words. Good readers understand the meaning of what they read.

Reading is understanding the meaning.

Meg is hipple when she roffs with her mom.

What do children need to know before they can learn to read?

What is comprehension?• Knowing what words mean (vocabulary)• Understanding the meaning of printed language

Five simple practices help children get ready to read:

Help children be ready to read with simple activities every day.

Early Learning eGuidelines Provides detailed guidelines and

strategies for early childhood development

Is for parents, child caregivers, child care educators, etc.Is an electronic resource, allowing for

individualized searches http://healthandwelfare.idaho.gov/Portals/0/Chi

ldren/IELeGuidelines/Idaho_Early_Learning_eGuidelines.htm

Domain 5: Communication, Language, and Literacy

A foundation for reading…

The Six Early Literacy Skills

The Six Early Literacy Skills

The joy of, and interest in, reading books

PRINT MOTIVATION

Keeping reading FUN and sharing books is important. If the experience is not a positive one, children will relate reading to something negative, which will make them less likely to choose to read.

Print MotivationModel fun of reading and of playing with

language-- enjoy book and interaction yourself

Begin reading books early—even when baby is a newborn.

Make sure you and child are in a good mood.Have a comfortable area to share reading

time.Stop reading when child becomes tired or

loses interest.Read aloud every day

Suggested books

• Cloth or “indestructible” books• Board books with bright, simple illustrations• Board books with photographs of other babies• Books with contrast• Let child choose books for you to share

• Note: Not all “board books” are for babies/toddlers

Early Learning Guideline

Goal 59: Understand information from oral stories, reading books, and pictures.

Knowing that print has meaning, knowing how to handle a book, and recognizing print in the environment

PRINT AWARENESS

Being familiar with printed language helps children feel comfortable with books and understand that print is useful.

Print Awareness

• Use board books or cloth books and let child hold book and turn pages

• If there are only a few words on the page, point to each word as you say it

• Run finger under title and/or repeated phrases

• Talk about environmental print (road signs, menus, food labels)

• Point out different kinds of print within books

• Video

Suggested books

• Any book! • If there are only a few words on each page,

point to each as you read it.• Books with repetitive text• Books with writing as part of the pictures• Books with different kinds of typeface

Early Learning Guideline

Goal 58: Know that languages and words can be in written form.

Print Motivation and Print Awareness in my child care setting:

Retelling stories, retelling events, and adding descriptions

NARRATIVE SKILLS

The ability to describe things and events, and the ability to tell stories, helps children better understand what they read.

Narrative Skills

• As you talk with your children, give them time to “talk” back to you• Have props available so your children can

retell stories with puppets, a flannel board, props, or creative dramatics.• Encourage your children to talk and expand

their descriptions of things.• When baby coos or babbles, talk back to

them.• Video

Suggested books• Board books with photos or illustrations of everyday

things• Board books with animals• Books with a repeated phrase or repetition

in the plot• Books that tell a cumulative tale

Early Learning Guideline

Goal 54: Comprehension in Language

Knowing the names of things, understanding the meaning of words

VOCABULARY

The more words young children know before they enter school, the better.Children who have never encountered a word will have a hard time reading it in a book later on.

Vocabulary development

• Children should learn about 3,000 or more new words a year, according to Honig

• Vocabulary is richer and broader in picture books vs. watching TV

• Children need to be exposed to a word at least 12 times before they can start to use it in their vocabulary

VocabularyTake time before or during the reading of a book to

explain an unfamiliar word (don’t replace the word)

Talk about feelingsAdd descriptive wordsSpeak “parentese,” as in a slightly higher pitch,

speaking more slowly and in short sentences After reading a book, go back to an interesting

picture and talk about it, adding less familiar wordsShow real items when possible; for babies and

toddlers, point to and name objects

Suggested books

• Any book! Just read, talk about, and name objects in the book.

• Non-fiction books• Picture books that illustrate concepts- big/little,

up/down, etc.

Early Learning Guideline

Goal 51: Use responses that demonstrate an increased knowledge of specific concepts and to use phrases and sentences with functional and descriptive vocabulary.

Narrative Skills and Vocabulary in my child care setting:

Knowing letters are different from each other, that the same letter can look different, and that each letter has a name and relates to specific sounds.

LETTER KNOWLEDGE

Letter KnowledgeHelp babies/toddlers see and feel

different shapesPoint out letters on toys, food boxes and

other objectsPlay matching games (alike and different)Encourage scribblingHave letters available to “play” with:

magnetic, foam, flannelSing the alphabet song, including

different versions

Suggested books

• Board books with shapes, colors• Shapes/colors books• Alike and different books• Alphabet/number books

Early Learning Guideline

Goal 57: Recognize letters as special symbols to represent spoken language.

Letter Knowledge in my child care setting:

Ability to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words

PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS

Includes rhyming, breaking words apart and putting word chunks together, and hearing beginning sounds.

Phonological Awareness• Sing songs and repeat them • Say nursery rhymes so that child hears words that

rhyme-- emphasize rhyming words• Add actions as you sing a song or recite a poem--

This helps child break down language into separate words

• Change initial sound in familiar songs, or a repeated phrase in a story

• Make up your own silly, nonsense rhymes• Say rhymes and sing songs in language most

comfortable for you Video: Songs & Language.wmv• Sing throughout the day

Suggested books

• Books with rhyme• Books with alliteration• Books with sounds of animals and other things• Songs in book format• Books of Mother Goose rhymes• Poetry books• Any book!

Early Learning Guideline

Goal 56: Purposefully engage in activities that promote phonological awareness and to manipulate phonemes to make new words and to rhyme.

Phonological Awareness in my child care setting:

ICfL/Read to Me Resources

• Support materials• ELL @your library• Early Literacy Centers• Parent/caregiver activity sheets (al

so in Spanish)

libraries.idaho.gov/page/read-to-me-resources

New Resources:

• DayByDayID.org• TumbleBooks™ through library website• Read to Me on Facebook

• The Bookworm monthly newsletter subscription

Scan with your Smartphone or tablet to

go directly to page

The Bookworm

Subscribe: http://libraries.idaho.gov/bookworm

Have you visited your library lately?

• Storytimes• Play areas (dramatic, blocks)• Books • Music CDs and audiobooks, DVDs• Storykits• Computers• E-Books (e-audio, e-pub)• Other programs: Music and

Movement, Bilingual, School-Age, Parents, Child Care, STEM

The most successful way to improve the

reading achievement of low-income

children is to increase their access to print.

ACCESS TO PRINT MATERIALS

Access to Print Materials

• increases in the amount of reading children do

• increases in children’s emergent literacy skills

• improvements in children’s reading achievement

There is a causal role between increased access to materials and-

Access to Print Materials Improves Children’s Reading ~study commissioned by Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), 2010

Partnering with Library:

• Provides access to books for families who may have barriers to getting to the library.

• Library provides a bin of books-- 15 bags with 3 books in each bag.

• Parents check out a bag to take home. • Each bag also contains a Bookworm literacy

handout, a contents page with a literacy handout, and a quick survey.

• Library can apply now

Partnering with Library:

• September through May: Library visits once per month for storytime

• Children receive one book each month to take home and keep (total 9 books)

• Parents receive Bookworm each month• Age groups: Birth – 2; preschool; kindergarten• Library hosts one early literacy parent workshop or

family event• Libraries apply February-April

Partnering with Library:

• Library hosts 3-hour workshop on Early Literacy Skills• If facilitated by ICfL “Approved Trainer” attendees can

receive 3 IdahoSTARS credits—free!• Each classroom receives free Literacy Kit: 20

paperback books, music CD, large letter magnets, and a professional resource

• Targeted to preschool-age, but can customize• Libraries apply anytime

Some useful handouts for parents:

See CD with handouts

I used to think…

But now I know…

Support Materials

• See packet of support materials

Additional Early Literacy SupportMaterials, handouts, research, and professional development that is available…

• Saroj Ghoting, Early Literacy Consultant: www.earlylit.net/

• Hennepin County Library: www.hclib.org/BirthTo6/EarlyLit.cfm

• Washington Learning Systems: www.walearning.com/

• Ohio Ready to Read: www.ohreadytoread.org/

• Center for Early Literacy Learning (CELL): www.earlyliteracylearning.org/

• Zero to Three – School Readiness Interactive Tool

• Washington County Cooperative Library Services (WCCLS) www.wccls.org/kids

• Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy (CLEL) Storyblocks: www.storyblocks.org/

Thank you for joining me today. Please let us know how we can support your efforts

to strengthen literacy in your child care setting.

Staci Shaw: staci.shaw@libraries.idaho.govStephanie Bailey-White: stephanie.bailey-white@libraries.idaho.govErica Compton: erica.compton@libraries.idaho.gov Julie Armstrong:julie.armstrong@libraries.idaho.gov

Idaho Commission for Libraries325 W. State St., Boise, 83702334-2150 or toll free 1-800-458-

3271

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT (NICHD)

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS

READING IS FUNDAMENTAL

IDAHO STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION

SOURCES

Individual studies and citations can be provided upon request