EARLY LITERACY BEHAVIORS

Book Handling Behaviors

Behaviors related to a child’s physical manipulation or handling of books, such as page turning
and chewing.
Looking and Recognizing
Behaviors related how children pay attention to and interact with pictures in books, such as
gazing at pictures or laughing at a favorite picture. Behaviors that show recognition of and a
beginning understanding of pictures in books, such as pointing to pictures of familiar objects.
Picture and Story Comprehension
Behaviors that show a child’s understand of pictures and events in a book, such as imitating an
action seen in a picture or talking about the events in a story.
Story-Reading Behaviors
Behaviors that include children’s verbal interactions with books and their increasing
understanding of print in books, such as babbling in imitation of reading or running fingers along
printed words.

All About Early Emergent Readers

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All About Early Emergent Readers

These aspiring readers are learning basic concepts about print and a book. For
example, we read left to right, top to bottom and print continues from the end of one line
to the beginning of the next (return sweep). They are also learning to identify the parts
of a book (e.g. title, title page).

Characteristics of Early Emergent Readers:

Readers at this level are developing letter knowledge – recognizing upper and lower
case letters and their common sounds (consonant and short vowel). Before mastering
this level, they will begin to develop a bank of high frequency words, commonly referred
to as sight words.

While apparent to most adults, a child must learn the one-to-one matching of individual
spoken words to printed words. For example, the spoken sounds of “wunsupunatim”
represents the following words: once upon a time. They are also grasping sentences
and becoming aware of punctuation.
Early emergent readers are also learning and practicing reading strategies. They rely on
pictures and contextual clues to understand the text. They can retell a simple story and
make a connection between what they know and what they just read.

Ideal Reading Material for Early Emergent Readers:

When selecting books for an early emergent reader, look for the following
characteristics:
 Each page displays the print in the same place

 Sentences are written in a pattern (1-2 sentences repeated)

 Illustrations provide support for the text
 Contains familiar objects (e.g. dog, letters of the alphabet ) and experiences (e.g.
going to school)
 Contains and repeats high frequency words

Twenty Recommended Books for Early Emergent

Readers:
While reading, let an early emergent reader turn the page and trace the sentences with
his finger as you read the following recommended books:

 Ann Morris, Hats, Hats, Hats

 Barbara Gregorich, The Fox on the Box
 Bernard Most, The Cow That Went Oink
 Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
 Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
 Carolyn Bordelon, Octopus Goes Walking
 Chris Van Allsburg, The Z Was Zapped
 David Ellwand, Ten in the Bed
 Dr. Suess, Green Eggs and Ham
 Eric Carle, Do You Want to Be My Friend?
 Gail Gibbons, Trains
 Jerry Pallotta, The Icky Bug Alphabet Book
 Jose Aruego, Look What I Can Do
 Mitsumasa Anno, Anno’s Counting Book
 Nelly Palacio Jaramillo, Grandmother’s Nursery Rhymes
 Paul Galdone, The Little Red Hen
 Shel Silverstein, A Giraffe and a Half
  Sue Williams, I Went Walking
 Tana Hoban, Is It Red? Is It Yellow? Is It Blue?
 Wendy Cheyette Lewison, Buzz Said the Bee
5 Stages to The Reading Process
(Taken from Literacy for the 21st
Century 4th edition by Gail E.
Tompkins)
1. Prereading

 Set Purposes
 Connect to past personal experiences
 Connect to prior literary experiences
 Connect to thematic units or Special
Interests
 Make Predicitions
 Preview the Text
 Consult the index to locate
information

2. Reading

 Make Predicitions
 Apply skills and strategies
 Read Independently; with a partner, using shared reading or guided reading; or listen to the text read
aloud
 Read the illustrations, charts, and diagrams
 Read the entire text from beginning to end
 Read one or more section of text to learn specific information
 Take notes

3. Responding

 Write in a reading log

 Participate in a grand conversation or instructional conversation

4. Exploring

 Reread and think more deeply about the text

 Make connections with personal experiences
 Make connections with other literary experiences
 Examine the author's craft
 Identify memorable quotes
 Learn new vocabulary words
 Participate in minilessons on reading procedures, concepts, strategies, and skills.

5. Applying

 Construct projects
 Use information in thematic units
 Connect with related books
 Reflect on their interpretation
 Value the reading experience