Concepts About Print refers to an appreciation of the concepts and conventions of print, what print represents and how it works; that it is speech written down in a consistent manner. It includes understanding the difference between words and letters, punctuation and directionality.
Concepts About Print facilitates reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition. In order to learn to read, young children must learn how books work.
Concepts About Print are vital components that support the development of reading. Research shows that the young child’s awareness of print concepts provides the important basis on which early literacy skills are formed.
Phonological awareness is about being aware of the sounds of oral language and not listening to the meaning. It is both an auditory and an oral skill. It is the understanding of the different ways that the spoken word can be broken into smaller parts and manipulated.
Phonological awareness skills incorporate the skill of rhyming. Recognition of rhyme is one of the first ways that a child demonstrates phonological awareness; an important part of literacy development. Rhyme is important to reading and spelling because it can help children appreciate that words that share common sounds often share common letter sequences. Recognition of rhyme also helps the young child develop the ability to break words into smaller parts and recognise smaller parts in words. This is an important skill that is needed for reading and spelling.
Letter / Sound knowledge is the ability to understand that all letters have corresponding sounds. A child’s development and skill in reading and spelling will progress more quickly if he or she has a good knowledge of the sounds of the alphabet.
Alphabetic knowledge is one of the strongest predictors of future reading success in young children. It refers to knowledge of the names and sounds made by letters of the alphabet.
Alphabetic knowledge is one of the strongest predictors of future reading success in young children. It refers to knowledge of the names and sounds made by letters of the alphabet.
Blending is an important skill in early reading acquisition. It involves the skill of decoding words where sounds are stretched and then blended together to form words.
Word families are groups of words with a common and predictable pattern. The ability to blend these sounds together with ease, promotes successful reading.
Sight Words are the most frequently used words in the English language. In order to read fluently, a child must be able to decode or identify words accurately and quickly. The automatic identification of sight words is an important step leading to an understanding of the text read. Building a child’s sight word vocabulary is a good way to strengthen early reading skills.
Comprehension is the ability to understand the text that is being read. Comprehension depends on the ability to identify familiar words quickly and automatically, which includes fluent reading as well as the ability to identify new words. It also depends upon the understanding of word meanings and the text that is being read.
The ability to handwrite fluently and legibly is an essential pre-requisite skill for writing. Handwriting is a physical skill and should be enhanced by activities that are developmentally appropriate. Children are taught how to write in the handwriting script used in schools.
