Title

Supporting Emergent Literacy in the Early Childhood Environment

Author

Christy Jo Rafson, Concordia University, St. Paul

Date of Award

2000

Document Type

Non Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Education

Department

Education

Program

Early Childhood Education

Capstone Instructor

Fred Bartling

Second Reader

Lynn Gehrke

Keywords

emergent literacy, early childhood education

Abstract

Emergent literacy is a teaching philosophy that is on the rise for instruction in early childhood programs. Emergent literacy includes all language aspects which are listening, speaking, reading and writing. Emergent literacy begins long before a child begins school as they are exposed to reading, writing and environmental print throughout their daily surroundings. Teachers of this philosophy emphasize that children are in the process of becoming literate. Teachers of emergent literacy believe in making their classrooms language and print-rich and by providing a large amount of language experiences throughout the day. Emergent literacy involves teaching language to children in a natural manner that is developmentally appropriate according to children's needs.

This project includes a handbook for practitioners. The handbook is an informational tool for learning more about emergent literacy. It is to be used as a guide to promoting emergent literacy in the early childhood classroom. Within the handbook, there will be classroom ideas for making a classroom rich in language and print. The handbook contains pre-made labels to help educators label their classroom. It also has literacy rating scales and letters to inform parents of the emergent literacy philosophy used in the classroom.

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