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Knowledge and Skills Statement

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--beginning reading and writing. The student develops word structure knowledge through phonological awareness, print concepts, phonics, and morphology to communicate, decode, and spell.

Observe students during small- or whole-group instruction (shared reading, shared or interactive writing). Ask questions to assess whether students recognize that sentences are comprised of words separated by spaces.

Example Questions:

  • What do you see in this sentence?
  • What are these called? (teacher points to words and/or spaces)
  • What do we need between words?
  • What do I need after I write this word?
  • If my word does not fit here, what should I do?
Print awareness is the understanding of the characteristics and uses of print including the following print concepts: Printed text conveys meaning, sentences are comprised of words separated by spaces, and texts have unique print features that influence meaning.
Word boundaries are the beginning and end of words. They can most easily be recognized by noting the spaces between words.

Research

Zucker, T.A., Ward, A.E. & Justice, L.M. (2009). Print referencing during read-alouds: a technique for increasing emergent readers' print knowledge. The Reading Teacher, 63(1), 62–72. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/40347652

Summary: Daily classroom read-alouds provide an important context for supporting children's emergent literacy skills. Utilizing print referencing during read-alouds can foster the development of print knowledge in children.