From birth to preschool years, before the young children become conventional readers and writers, children are involved in a developmental process known as "emergent literacy," a concept that was coined by Marie Clay (a New Zealand scholar) in 1966. During this stage, children engage naturally in unconventional literacy behaviors such as…

Learning in a child's mother tongue is crucial for enhancing critical thinking, the skills to learn a second language, and literacy skills. Since 2009, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) in Vietnam increased its focus on early childhood education through curriculum renovation, providing facilities and establishing teacher policies. Over…

Despite significant investments over the past decade in the expansion and improvement of preschool programs, too many children, particularly poor children, enter kindergarten behind their peers. Because it is critical that voluntary pre-kindergarten (VPK) classrooms offer educational programs that both address the needs and developmental levels of…

Names hold great meaning for children and are, for many, the first word they learn to recognize by sight. Children have a great interest in learning to write their names as well as the names of their family and friends. Adults working with young children can take advantage of this interest to introduce a variety of early literacy concepts. Using…

Describes learning activities related to Halliday's schema of functional language development that teachers can use as a guide for planning early reading experiences. (Author/RH)

Discusses activities of emergent preschool writers and editors involved in the Writing Table Project at the Child and Family Center of the University of Nevada at Reno. (BB)

Describes an instructional approach that encourages teachers to guide children in narrating stories based on actual or imagined experiences, particularly those that transpire in the classroom. Discusses ways of incorporating events from dramatic play and everyday occurrences into storytelling activities and offers a story sampler that exemplifies…

Examines evidence relating to factors that affect the quality and maturity of children's play and discusses three resources parents can readily use to enrich play: adult involvement, materials, and time. Explains parent roles of play initiator, coplayer, and play facilitator. Offers guidelines for the selection of toys and playthings and for…

Explores the experiences of one preschool teacher as she introduced story writing activities into her classroom, including changes in teacher expectations. Describes children's story writing, which used pictures and letter-like forms, and notes the relationship between child temperament and eagerness to share stories with other children. Describes…

Contends that play-based literacy offers a much-needed reasonable response to the increasing expectations placed on young children and their teachers for literacy development. Presents first-hand accounts of preschool teachers' responses to new play- based literacy activities. Notes that these changes resulted in significantly increased levels of…