Early Childhood Literacy Program

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• Depper’s Now Hear This! Incorporating Early Literacy Messages into Storytimes, not only provides a template to pair storytime activities with early literacy elements, but it also breaks down why the template was created, who it is for, and how it works (2014).

  • Templates provide information in a very straightforward and accessible format, allowing users to fill in the blanks.

  • Storytime is provides a joy-filled outlet for kids to experience literacy in (Depper, 2014).

  • Demonstrating a strong correlation between joy and literacy is crucial when kids are young (Depper, 2014).

  • In the template provided by Depper, the storytime activities are all designed to be enojyable.

  • There is singing, playing, arts and crafts, as well as an explanation of how these activities are encouraging the development of ECL skills.

  • Being well-organized and understanding what a storyteller is doing is an important element to providing storytimes where kids are safe and happy. This allows them to better develop ECL skills (Depper, 2014). 

 

• Saroj Ghoting’s chart, The Five Practices And The Early Literacy Components Support Each Other, contains important early literacy content.

  • She creates a clear path between the components of early literacy (phonological awareness, vocabulary, print awareness/conventions, letter knowledge, and background knowledge), early literacy practices (sing, talk, read, write, play), examples of what they look like in practical applications (such as storytime), and why the factors work together that way (Ghoting, n.d.l).

  • Ghoting’s chart is an example of using organizational strategies to connect the dots of early literacy skills.

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• Using family-inclusive language is also an important element to incorporating all caregivers into the development of a child's ECL skills (Middleton, 2014).

  • Margaret Middleton provides an excellent chart to guide family-inclusive language usage.

  • Being able to recognize oneself in the role of caregiver may seem simple or obvious, but if all resources for fostering a child's literacy are directed to the specific audience of “parent”, many caregivers may feel inadequate or that it is not their place to assist (Middleton, 2014).

  • Having caregivers who feel included and who work to strengthen children’s early literacy skills helps those children to advance their ECL foundation (Middleton, n.d.). 

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