Typical emergent literacy skills
According to the Iowa Early Learning Standards, typically developing infants and toddlers will:
- explore or show interest in books by picking them up, mouthing them, carrying them or flipping through pages
- focus on the book or the reader when hearing stories read to him/her
- gaze at or point to pictures in books
- respond to or engage in songs, rhyming games or finger plays
They will also grasp and/or manipulate a variety of objects in his/her environment.
In addition, toddlers will:
- point to, label and/or talk about objects, event or people within books
- enjoy and repeat songs, rhymes, or fingerplays
- answer simple questions related to books
They will also scribble spontaneously, usually using a fist grip.
Typically developing Preschoolers (children 3 to 5) will:
- express an interest and enjoyment in listening to books and attempt to read familiar books
- display book handling knowledge
- show an awareness of environmental print such as pointing to familiar words or letters
- identify some alphabet letters by their shapes, especially those in his or her name
- recognize the printed form of his or her name in a variety of contexts
- show increasing comprehension of a story through retelling the story and/or recognizing story elements such as the plot or characters
- demonstrates awareness that language is made up of words, parts of words, and sounds in words
They will also attempt to communicate with others using scribbles, shapes, pictures and/or letters in writing; experiment with a variety of writing tools; use expressive language to share intended meaning of drawings and writings; and start to demonstrate an interest in learning to write letters, especially the letters in his/her name.
This Literacy Milestones chart provides a summary of what your child should be doing in the early years of literacy development. It also provides suggestions for types of books you might have available for your child and what you can do support early literacy development.
Resources for families and caregivers
These easy to read articles focus upon things that families can do every day to improve emergent literacy skills.
- Building Literacy Every Day
- Sometimes it is helpful to have some specific suggestions for books which might interest your child. Reach Out and Read offers suggestions for children birth to age 5.
- The Center for Early Literacy Learning offers a multitude of suggestions for activities which families can do with their infants, toddlers or preschoolers in order to facilitate literacy development. Each practice includes a modification for children with a variety of disabilities.
- Prairie Lakes AEA has created “Texting for Tots”. Once you sign up, you will be sent 3 text messages per week with ideas for how you can facilitate your child’s learning. Tips are currently available for children 18 months to 3 years, with messages for 3 to 5 year olds coming during the summer of 2015. In order to subscribe, parents text: “@textingfo” to 81010 and follow the directions to download the app to your phone or tablet.
- Understanding Beginning Writing Skills in Preschoolers – Families will find helpful information in regards to beginning writing skills