Literacy in Kindergarten

The term literacy is commonly used to describe reading and writing. Emergent literacy describes a child in the process of becoming a reader and a writer. An emerging reader works to understand books through reading pictures and recognizing familiar words or letter sounds. An emerging reader may not be reading the words, but she knows that a story has characters, a setting and a beginning, middle and end. Often she will use pictures and language she knows from the story to retell it and participate in the experience of enjoying a book. An emergent writer uses pictures to tell her story. She then begins to label her pictures with a few letters or known words. Next she writes sentences to tell the story. During the editing process, the student looks over her written work and records additional details to further explain her story. As a girl strengthens her knowledge of words and sounds in reading, she begins to apply these skills to her writing.

Components of the Program:

• Reading Workshop
  
• Writing Workshop
  
• Small Group Instruction
  
• Read Aloud
  
• Shared Reading
  
• Interactive Reading
  
• Interactive Writing
  
• Word Study

Star Books

Star books are quality, well-loved stories that we read numerous times. The frequent repetition improves comprehension, understanding of structure and storytelling language. After the girls have become familiar with a Star Book, they retell the story on their own, reading the pictures and some of the familiar words.

Each week new Star Books are introduced to the girls. Ask your daughter about her Star Books! The girls love to share their favorite parts, what they like or do not like about a character, and what they thought about the story. Feel free to include that story in your own family library, and one evening your daughter can tell you a bedtime story!

Last updated10.20.08

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