Thinking Thursday: Emergent Literacy #1

Emergent Literacy #1: Print Motivation
Emergent Literacy #2: Print Awareness
Emergent Literacy #3: Letter Knowledge
Emergent Literacy #4: Vocabulary
Emergent Literacy #5: Phonological Awareness
Emergent Literacy #6: Narrative Skills

I've mention it before, and I'll probably say it again in the future: I love the library. It's always been a happy place for me. To pass that along to my little ones, I love to take them to the library. And I must admit, the library makes it easy by providing programs appropriate for little ones.

The other day I had the opportunity to go to the library all by myself to participate in a program appropriate for me! I am a laptime teller at the library. (Laptime is one of the programs for little ones.) Each year the library offers a series of workshops to help us be better tellers. This year the first two workshops are devoted to Emergent Literacy. Literacy is such an important part of growing up and succeeding as an adult so I thought I'd share what we are learning about how to encourage and motivate little ones in their literacy development.

Pre-Readng Skill #1
Print Motivation
Print Motivation means thining that books and reading are pleasant. How do we do that? We make going to the library a pleasant experience. We create a cozy environment for reading with our little ones. We share our own passion for reading. We let our little ones choose their own books from the library.

Some new things I learned about Print Motivation: Use nonfiction books to help children understand the word around them. I've actually done this, unkowingly! Sammi watched construction crews work on our road for days last summer. She asked me "What's that?" a thousand times. She was not satisfied with my answers, "It makes the road flat." "It digs." "It pours the asphalt." She wanted names and she wanted them FAST! So we went to the library and found some books on construction vehicles and learned all their names. Now she has learned (1)books have information and (2)when Mommy doesn't know, go to the library! What great lessons to learn at such a young age.

The goal here is to help little ones have successful experiences with books and other forms of print. They will look forward to spending time with books.

What have you done to create a pleasant experience with books in your family?