Content Review

• Respond to each item. Each response should be concise and between 2-3 paragraphs in length.

• Use MS Word to write your responses, and submit your answers to all three questions in one Word document.

• Copy and paste each question within the document, so that your Instructor can see to which question you are responding.

1. Consider what you have learned about scaffolding and then briefly explain how you would "scaffold" learning for a 4-year-old child who knows the first letter and sound of his or her name. As part of your response, describe how you would present to the child's parent the purpose and importance of activities that scaffold learning about print. Cite this week's Learning Resources to support your answer.

2. Imagine you are a new preschool teacher in a program that has several children who are English-language learners. (Each of these children's home language is different and you are not fluent in any of them.) You observe that these children mainly engage in independent play, and when you inquire, the other teachers explain that they don't speak the children's languages and don't know what else to do but "let them play." In response to this situation, write a short script or list ideas for how to actively support young English-language learners in developing print-based literacy skills. Include suggestions for meaningful learning through play, and describe a specific instructional strategy that can work with all children, regardless of their first language. Cite evidence from the Learning Resources in the script or list to defend your reasoning.

3. In your own words, explain your understanding of the terms emergent reader and emergent writer and how concepts of print, phonemic awareness, and alphabet knowledge help children become emergent readers and writers. Cite evidence from this week's Learning Resources to support your reasoning.

Learning Resources

This page contains the Learning Resources for this week. Be sure to scroll down the page to see all of the assigned resources for this week. To view this week's media resources, please use the streaming media player below.

Required Resources

• Course Text: Barone, D., & Mallette, M. (2013). Best practices in early literacy instruction. New York: Guilford Press.

o Chapter 9, "Phonological Awareness and Alphabet Knowledge: The Foundations of Early Reading" pp. 155-172

• Course Text: Vukelich, C. (2016). Helping young children learn language and literacy, birth through kindergarten (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

o Chapter 4, "Organizing Early Language and Literacy Instruction" (pp. 71-98)
o Chapter 5, "Developing Oral Language Comprehension" (pp. 99-111)
o Chapter 6, "Sharing Good Books with Young Children" (pp. 112-128)

• Article: NAEYC/IRA. (1998). Learning to read and write: Developmentally appropriate practices for young children [Electronic version]. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PSREAD98.PDF. Learning to Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children" [Joint position statement of the International Reading Association (IRA) and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)] Copyright 1998 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Reproduced with permission of the National Association for the Education of Young Children via Copyright Clearance Center.

Media

• Video: Laureate Education (Producer). (2009). Early literacy: Emergent literacy: Developmentally appropriate practices [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Sue Bredekamp clarifies literacy-related curriculum and practices that are developmentally appropriate for preschool classrooms.

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 19 minutes.

Accessible player --Downloads--Download Video w/CCDownload Audio

Optional Resources

• Web Article: Phonological Awareness is Child's Play

http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200901/BTJPhonologicalAwareness.pdf

• Web Article: Taking Stock of What You Do to Promote Literacy

http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200303/PromotingLiteracy.pdf