A List of Eight Important
Environmental Considerations
There are many ways you can encourage and promote
age-appropriate interactions with print. Let’s
take a look at some things you might consider.
- How do you post and use
purposeful and meaningful print in your classroom?
- For example, is your daily
schedule posted with words and graphics?
- Do you point to this as you start each
day and show children how you use
the schedule
to remind you what is coming next?
- Do you have directions
posted for special activities,
like how to make Play-doh™, or clean-up steps
for after you finish painting?
- Do you have a children’s
art gallery that displays the child-artists’ names
in large print and child-dictated titles for
the masterpieces?
- Do you have language
experience charts posted that include
photographs and captions of a field trip you
took with the class?
These are just a few examples of the many ways
to use and post meaningful examples of print in
your classroom.
- Do you have alphabet
posters hanging at the children’s eye
level?
- Do you refer to these posters often for
instance, when you are showing
children how to make a “D” when
writing
"Dear" at the beginning of the
note you are writing for the class?
- Are your students encouraged to use alphabet
posters to write their own messages?
- Do you have lots of
high-quality, age-appropriate story and informational
books in your classroom? Do you have
theme-appropriate books in each center, like
books about trucks and construction in the block
area?
- How do you help children notice the conventions
of print?
- Do you point
to print while reading and talk about how
the print is organized as you are writing
with children?
- Do you use enlarged
print with familiar
songs, finger plays, and rhymes?
- Are children
allowed to use the pointers and charts during
their center time to pretend read and sing
their favorites?
- Do you have a child-friendly, comfortable
and inviting book corner in your room?
- Do you have an inviting writing
center available for your students during
center time? Is it well-stocked with plenty
of enticing writing tools and materials?
- How do you create literacy-enriched
play settings in your classroom?
- For example, do you turn your pretend
center into a restaurant with menus and
order pads, or a flower shop with pots
of labeled flowers, order pads, and catalogues?
- Have you ever made a veterinarian's
office in your classroom? If so, did you
include books about different pets, reference
manuals, prescription pads, and bills?
- Do you play in these centers with your
students to show them how to use the reading
and writing props in the center and teach
them new words to use for their pretend-play?
- Do you have appropriate books and writing
supplies in every center?
- Are there colorful, inviting and engaging
alphabet materials
and books such as magnetic letters,
letter puzzles, and letter charts available
for students to manipulate?
- Is there plenty of student-to-student conversation
and adult interaction with students—in
other words, do you provide an active classroom
with regular opportunities for children to talk
with each other and with you?
Many of the activities mentioned will be shown
in the next video. Keep in mind that your classroom
will grow and develop as you learn more about
the importance of keeping language and literacy
goals in mind to encourage this growth. Often,
maintaining an adequate level of staffing and
ensuring availability of materials can be challenging.
We hope you will be able to place the important
materials available to you in the areas that have
been suggested.
|