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Reflecting on What You Have Learned in Unit 5: The Environment We have talked about many important points for creating a prekindergarten learning environment that focuses on language and literacy goals to prepare children for success in kindergarten. We also discussed key instructional strategies that you can use every day to help your children reach this goal. Please take a few minutes to review what you have learned about the emergent literacy environment by reflecting on these questions posed at the beginning of this unit: How does your daily schedule support opportunities for children to use language and explore print? How does the prekindergarten learning environment encourage the growth of children’s language (vocabulary) and their use of language?

Conclusion

Prekindergarten provides powerful opportunities for young children who might not otherwise have the opportunity to master essential building blocks that contribute to later success in school. Recent research has found that early reading achievement and success in learning to read are influenced most strongly by the quality and richness of children’s early experiences and opportunities with print and language. The goal of this training is to give you specific strategies and tools for enhancing the quality and richness of print and language opportunities in your effort to prepare all children to experience early school success in learning to read and write. As you implement what you have learned in supporting essential emergent literacy skills and providing environmental strategies in your prekindergarten classroom you are laying the basic building blocks for every child to learn to read and write. Embrace the challenge!