Print Knowledge
In this section, you will:
Identify and understand the skills that comprise emergent literacy, including print knowledge
Print knowledge is children’s developing knowledge about the forms and functions of print. By the time children enter kindergarten, they have a great deal of knowledge about print!
Children who have well-developed print knowledge know that:
- Print is meaningful
- Print differs from other symbols
- Print has many rules
- Letters are important symbols
- Letters make up words
- Letters correspond to sounds
WHY FOCUS ON PRINT?
Children with solid knowledge about the forms and functions of print will find it relatively easy to learn to read.
Children with limited knowledge about print enter kindergarten already behind in reading development.
WHY FOCUS ON PRINT PRIOR TO SCHOOLING?
One study found that 63% of entering kindergartners with poor literacy skills were poor readers in third grade (Logan et al., 2014).
In this study, children’s alphabet knowledge (letter identification subtest) was most strongly associated with future performance on the state’s third-grade reading assessment.
Read our whitepaper on Kindergarten Readiness and “Third Grade Guarantee” here!