Early Literacy, Ch. 5: Print Awareness

Now on to our next Early Literacy skill, Print Awareness. Children with this skill know how books work. They know the front of the book from the back, the direction the print usually flows, and upside-down vs. right-side-up. I still always get excited when my 21-month-old son picks up a book and turns it around so that it is facing the right direction. I also love when he then looks at the cover, throws it down, and picks another book. He definitely has his definite preferences according to his mood. But that's another story, and I'm sure you don't want to hear me prattling on about my little boy.

Things you can do to encourage your child's development of Print Awareness:

• Get one of those little photo albums that fits one picture per page (you can find them at a dollar store). Take some pictures of your child's favorite people and things and then type or write up one- or two-word labels to put in the other sleeve that faces that picture.
• Leave books in places where they are available for your child to experience in his/her own way, not way up on a forbidden shelf.
• Let your child help with the grocery list, even though s/he don't know how to write or spell yet. Just remember what s/he told you for each thing s/he wrote down, because the scribbles will probably only make sense to him/her.
  

Join me in a couple of weeks with my final installment of Early Literacy, Ch. 6: Vocabulary.