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
