Language

Jessica George – Early Childhood Education 1A

Learning Objective:

• Demonstrate knowledge of
language/literacy activities.
What is Language?

• Language is composed of two different

components reading and writing.
• Reading is the action or skill of reading written or
printed matters silently or aloud.
• Writing is the activity or skill of marking coherent
words on paper and composing text.
 What are some
activities that could
promote language in
classrooms?
Literacy Connection in
Classrooms:
• Young children need writing to help
them learn about reading, they need
reading to help them learn about
writing; they need oral language to
help them learn about both.
Literacy Connection in
Classrooms:
• Anything that will promote the use
and development of language, the
exposure, experience, and
recognition of letters and sounds, and
the exposure to beginning writing
strokes through repetition and
practice.
Promoting the Use and Development
of Language:
• The foundation for understanding,
communicating, reading, and writing
is language.
Promoting the Use and Development
of Language:
• Language development needs
interaction and practice such as
participating in interactive activities
like: talking, listening, reading,
singing, finger plays, seeing words,
writing, everyday playing, etc.
Language Strategies:

• Expansion – adding correct grammar to

what a child says.
• Extension – restating what the child says
and modeling correct syntax.
• Repetition – repeat what they child says.
Language Strategies:

• Parallel Talk – describe the child’s actions.

• Self Talk – talking to yourself.
• Vertical Structuring – asking a question
about the child’s statement.
• Fill In – letting the child fill in a sentence,
usually with a noun.
Promote the Recognition of Letters &
Sounds through a Literacy Rich
Environment:
• Exposure to and experience the letters through
concrete, sensory, and tactile, methods instead
of just holding a pencil and tracing letters.
• Children learn the sound of letters before writing
and recognizing them.
Promote the Recognition of Letters &
Sounds through a Literacy Rich
Environment:
• Books and reading area • Post the child’s name

• Place word labels on • Teacher models writing

items in the room
• Writing center
• Letter and word wall
• Literacy related
• Pictures or symbols activities in all
curriculum areas
Reading
Encouraging Reading in
Children:
Read with children every day
Take children to the library
 Create a library of books and a
reading area in your classroom
Writing
Provide Exposure to Writing Strokes
Needed for Traditional Writing:
• Eye Hand Coordination – allows the
child’s hand to react to what the eye
sees
• Fine Motor Skills – needed to hold and
control a writing utensil and to make
basic writing strokes
 When are children
ready to write?
They are beginning to write when they begin
to represent pictorial or writing ideas using
straight or squiggly lines and circle drawings.
Stages of Writing:

• Scribbling Stage – random marks on

paper, knowledge of letters and
shapes.
• Linear Repetitive Stage – horizontal
writing, stringing letters across a
page.
Stages of Writing:

• Random Letter Stage – using

acceptable letters in random order.
• Letter Name or Phonetic Writing –
write the letters whose names are
the same. Example: “U” for you.
Stages of Writing:

• Transitional Spelling – more standard

or conventional spelling but phonetic
writing is still used.
• Conventional Spelling – words
spelled correctly.