Unit 02: Teaching Print Awareness – deals with children’s

understanding of the functions of printed symbols

strategies for the such as letters, words, and pictures and how these
relate to meaning.
development of literacy
Book Knowledge – pertains to children’s
and teaching resources understanding of what a book is and how they are
exposed.
Lesson I: Strategies for the
Development of Emergent Alphabet Knowledge – is about children’s
ability to identify and say the names of letters in
Literacy Skills and Teaching the alphabet.
Resources
Phonological Awareness – refers to
Children begin to learn objects and children’s ability to identify and manipulate
vocabulary associated with certain activities at sounds and understand that various sounds are
home. Active participation in all steps of a home combined to from words.
routine can reinforce concepts and language skills.
Practices can also help a child develop sequencing
skills (first/then; start/finish), and some tasks can Literacy
be arranged in left to right order, such as setting
the table, folding clothes, or placing materials for The ability to use and understand written
play. words or symbols to communicate. Language and
literacy learning begins prenatally. It means that
before the child bustles into the world of reality,
Emergent literacy he or she learns the language of his or her mother
inside the womb. The child begins to learn the
Includes acquiring knowledge, skills, and sounds of rhythms of his or her home language in
attitudes that a child develops about reading and the womb and can begin the love for reading by
writing throughout the early childhood period, reading by being read to as a newborn.
starting at birth and before the onset of
conventional reading and writing instruction Teaching literacy is a multifaceted
(which usually happens at school entry). Emergent challenge among prospective and real teachers
literacy includes such dimensions of oral language like you and me. We do not only have to help our
(both speaking and listening), understanding that students master specific curriculum goals, but we
print can carry meaning, basic alphabet also have to deal with the sometimes difficult task
knowledge, and early phonological awareness. of engaging young adults in listening and reading.
Emergent literacy is also described as the first Occasionally, we may find that every student in a
stage in reading development towards literacy classroom requires different material and that
acquisition. This developmental milestone focuses language instruction. It is for this reason that we
on the acquisition of skills and tools necessary for need to study some strategies for the development
reading. emergent literacy skills and teaching resources.

Furthermore, like any other developmental

process, mastery of emergent literacy skills opens Visual materials such as photographs,
the gate for later knowledge of more complex paintings, diagrams, illustrations used in teaching
literacy skills in the early primary grades and are essential to a good language program. Their
eventually reading comprehension. purpose is to enhance and home the visual
perception of children.
Specially, pictures and other visual
Oral Language – refers to children’s ability
materials constitute the most effective, most
to understand and use language through listening
to, speaking of, and acquiring new vocabulary.
plentiful, and least expensive teaching medium. It visual literacy skills, contributing to their overall
is also the medium that is least utilized. critical thinking skills and lifelong learning.
Old saying that “a picture is worth a
thousand words” may be true because one
2. Manipulatives
appropriate picture can be a catalyst that brings
about the production of thousands of words and a Aside from pictures, we can also use
multitude of creative and analytical thinking. manipulatives in teaching. Manipulatives are
physical objects that are used as teaching tools to
engage students in the hands-on learning of
1. Pictures mathematics. They can used to introduce, practice,
or remediate a concept. For example, in teaching
Used appropriately and sequentially,
math concepts, manipulatives become physical
photos can not only illustrate a topic but also can
tools of teaching, engaging the learners visually
provide the experience base children require to
and physically with objects such as coins, blocks,
profit from reading and writing numerous other
puzzles, and markers.
learning experiences, including those associated
with art programming. Abbreviated as pic, a With encouragement from their teachers
picture is a visual capture of an object. The and parents, young learners can develop the
photograph of a young lady holding an umbrella is necessary skills for life-long success and
an excellent example of something that can be confidence in math just by interacting with the
considered a picture. world around them. There are many fun and easy
ways to introduce essential math skills to young
Pictures can be created using devices such
learners without using the drill-and-practice
as digital camera, scanner, smartphone, or are
method. Much of what we do with young learners
works of art created on the computer. If a visual
will not feel like traditional math at all. Math
object is made on the computer and not captured
lessons are a common classroom application of
by another device, it may be called clip art,
manipulatives because they easily allow the
graphic, illustration, render, or screenshot.
learners to physically apply the concepts of
The use of pictures created a lot of addiction, subtraction, division, and
advances. For example, if we are teaching making multiplication. For example, learners could ‘play
inferences with pictures, the learners may quickly store’ with ‘money’ created in a separate class
get the meaning and develop the ability to make project. Developmentally, the best methods for
inferences with the help of pictures. To “infer” encouraging young learners to develop math skills
information from a text requires higher-order include:
thinking, with which a lot of learners are not yet
- Using hands-on or concrete materials.
familiar. That is why guiding and supporting them
- Promoting discovery through
in thinking a higher-order is essential for their
exploration.
understanding of a text on a deeper level. And
- Posing questions that spark intellectual
such may be made with aid of pictures.
and verbal involvement.
Even in real-life situations, it is so difficult - Promoting problem-solving skills.
to understand something without any picture. If
our friends are narrating a story, and there are no
pictures, we may not be able to grasp the story 3. Story time
entirely. Our mind finds it difficult to decipher
what is what and what is not. Is the time at which stories are told or
narrated. Stories are accounts of past events of
Many teachers have disclosed that is using imaginary or real people told for entertainment or
pictures in the classroom has led to increased morals. They have a profound effect on the
student interactively and discussion. Teaching imagination of young learners. They calm a busy
with pictures can also help develop students’ child and engages their mind into a world of
magic and sweet dreams. The bed time story is the
best way to end the children’s day and lead them Lesson II: Beginning Reading
into a night of great rest. Reading bedtime stories
Skills and Teaching Resources
to kids is beautiful way to spend the end of each
day and create memories that will last forever. One of the best ways to increase the
reading skills of beginning readers is to introduce
Reading stories may introduce children to
them to as many sight words as possible.
vocabulary development, the concept of print,
phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, Sight Words are high-frequency words that
comprehension, and handling book handling help children learn to read because once they
skills. know them; they will be able to ready texts and
books that utilize the sight words. There are many
step readers available that mainly use sight words
4. Play that are good for young readers. These books are
often give students the confidence they need to
Is an activity engaged in for enjoyment
progress to higher levels of reading.
and recreation, especially by children. Play
provides opportunities for children to learn and
make sense of and construct ideas about the social
Most beginning readers are observed to be
and natural—the people, places, objects, and
inconsistent. Sometimes, they may know a word
experiences that they encounter every day. It is
one day but not the next day. Also, they may be
essential to stimulate and integrate a wide range of
interested in a pretended reading today, and
children’s intellectual, physical, social, and
tomorrow such interest is gone. They may read a
creative abilities.
particular word correctly on one page, but they
have to stop and sound it out again on the next
page. When we listen to a beginning reader, we
Analysis may head short, choppy words with little attention
Visual media surround today’s learners in to punctuation. Sometimes, a new reader can tell
their everyday lives. With their heavy use of the us very little about what they have just read.
internet, they are accustomed to accessing At the beginning stage of reading, all of
information in both textual and visual forms. The these reading behaviors are to be expected.
use of image in the classroom is a pedagogical Beginning readers are building their fluency. It
strategy to engage students who have grown up in means they are working to make several skills,
a media-rich environment. such as matching a letter to a sound and decoding,
Digital technology has made images more more, smooth, accurate, and automatic. Without
readily available and more comfortable to fluency, each word must be decoded, and takes
incorporate into teaching and learning materials. time and energy. It means that other reading
However, parents must guide their children as to behaviors such as reading with expression and
the proper use of digital technology. Aside from comprehension, have less focus. Beginning
digital images, pictures, manipulatives, short readers must master phonemic awareness. For this
stories, and plays may be utilized to introduce reason, children must receive proper and adequate
strategies for the development of emergent phonics instruction, fluency instruction,
literacy skills among children. These strategies vocabulary instruction, and comprehension.
discussed may also be used as rich resources for
teaching.
Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic awareness and phonological
awareness are often used interchangeably.
Phonemic awareness refers to children learn to
read print, they must become more aware of how
the sounds of work together to form words. They
must understand that words are made up of speech trouble learning to read later. Consequently,
sounds, or phonemes (the smallest part of sound in children must be taught correct, proper, and
a spoken word that make a difference in a word’s adequate phonics instruction.
meaning. On the other hand, phonological
awareness includes this ability, but it also can
hear and manipulate larger units of sounds, such Phonemic Instruction
as onsets and rimes and syllable. The onset is the
beginning sound that can be heard when words are Phonics refers to a system of teaching
sounded out. reading that builds on the alphabetic principle.
Such a system should involve the teaching of
The rime is the part of the world that is correspondences between letters or groups of
left after the onset is removed. It is the beginning letters and their corresponding pronunciations.
sound that can be heard when words are sounded
out. When the two parts are separated, it is called Decoding deals with the process of
onset-rime segmentation. There are two types of converting printed words to spoken words.
onset: onset-letter onset and two-letter onset. Readers use phonic skills, letter/sound
correspondences to pronounce words, and then
One-letter onsets are not blends or chunks. attach meaning to them.
One-letter onsets are single letters at the
beginning of a rime. One-letter onsets are a single Phonemic awareness and phonics are
syllable. For example, the “d” in the dog is a one- never the same. However, in teaching, phonemic
letter onset, as well as the “h” in the horse. awareness and phonics are always together. It
means that phonemic awareness is an essential
The letter stands alone from the rest of element of phonics. When we teach phonics,
rime. Other examples are: best, bag, beard, book, children should develop phonemic awareness.
cat, card, cook, dig, deep, etc. Two-letter onsets
are made up of blends that typically start a
sentence. Five Methods Used in Phonics
A blend is when two syllables come Instruction
together to make a new sound different from the
Analogy Phonics
original sound. The English language has 35
double letter blends. The following is a series of This method uses an analogy when the
blends that make up some of the two-letters already known words match or are identical to
onsets: ch. Tr, sh, th, bl, pl, sn, br, and pr. With an unfamiliar words. It means that when the onset is
onset-rime such as brook, the onset-rime is the removed, the rime can still be attached to another
“br”. Examples are church, trend, shake, thanks, onset if they are similar.
bleak, plant, snake, brand, and proud.
Ex: The known word sick is identical to the word
It is necessary to identify the difference kick.
between a two-letter onset and a one-letter onset
when it is time to segment. It is vital to use
segmentation to help children build rhyming Analytic Phonics
words and patters. For example, when children
add another onset to the rime, they have created a Here, we teach children how to analyze
rhyming pair. letter-sound relations in previously learned words
to avoid pronouncing sounds in isolation.
For instance, if we say “dog”, and drop off
the “d” and be left with “og.” When children add Ex: We say suit /süt/, but we say suite /swēt/.
“l” and I say the word “log”, they have found a
pair of rhyming words. It is an essential early
reading skill for children to be able to segment Embedded Phonics
onset rimes. When children find difficulty in
This method is taught when:
segmenting the onset rimes, they often have
 - There is a focus on real-world reading  Repeated Exposure to Words –
experiences. This technique simply means that the more
- When the need to teach phonics arises. children are exposed to unfamiliar words,
- Repetition and immersion over time the more likely they will learn them.
arise.
 Keyword Method – This technique is
similar to pre-teaching because before
Phonics through Spelling children read the text, they must be first
introduced with unfamiliar words. Here,
Here, children segment words into
we have to present the keywords and
phonemes and unique letters for those phonemes.
phrases before reading the text.

 Word Maps – Here, we have to preview

Synthetic Phonics
the text. Then we classify (what class or
In this method, children convert letters into group does the word belong to), cite
sounds (phonemes) and then blend them to form qualities (what is the word like), and
recognizable words. examples.

 Root Analysis – Since many of the

Fluency Instruction words in the English language are derived
from Latin or Greek roots and prefixes, we
It is construed that parents must be the first
may start with them.
ones to provide opportunities for developing
reading fluency among children. For example,
 Restructuring Reading Materials
parents should ready with and for children.
However, in school, during the formal reading – When we restructure reading materials,
instruction, teachers should model proper reading, we have to provide synonyms or simple
allow children to read aloud some phrases words to replace unfamiliar words.
repeatedly.
Implicit Instruction

Vocabulary Instruction Means spontaneous, natural, and

unplanned vocabulary instruction. Under this, we
Knowledge of vocabulary is requisite of have:
comprehension. For teaching vocabulary among
children, the following may be of help:  Incidental – When difficult words are
used in a text, Incidental vocabulary
learning occurs because children will have
Explicit Instruction to look for their meanings for
understanding.
When we say explicit, it means  Context Skills – are used when
that teaching vocabulary is planned or children know how to use clues about the
intentional. Under explicit vocabulary meanings of unfamiliar words. By merely
instruction, we have the following looking at clues such as captions, pictures,
techniques: illustrations, examples may be considered
as clues that helps children understand the
 Pre – teaching Vocabulary – One text or meanings of unfamiliar words.
of the best ways to teach children language
is to introduce unfamiliar words in the text
before reading it. Comprehension Instruction
 The teaching of comprehension may help
children to become independent because the
moment they understand the text, they will read
even without adult supervision. There are at least Lesson III: Developing
seven ways of teaching comprehension.
Functional Literacy
 Summarizing helps children remember (Participatory Approach)
what they have ready and identified critical
points in the text. Literacy refers to our reading, writing,
 Recognizing story structure helps children and numeric abilities. But what do we mean by
identify the parts of the content in the reading? We may be able to read the words in the
story, such as characters, settings, events, text, but do we grasp its meaning? In other words,
problems, or solution. reading without comprehension is never reading at
 Graphic and semantic organizers illustrate all. How about writing? We may write or type
concepts and relationships between sentences, but do we express complete, coherent,
concepts using graphs, tables, charts, and meaningful thoughts?
maps, or illustrations.
Then, there is functional literacy.
 Answering questions may be helpful
because when children can answer, it Functional Literacy refers to the
means that they understand the text. practical skills needed to read, write, and
 Generating questions may also be of help numeracy for real-life purposes, so we can
in children’s comprehension. It is done by function effectively in our community. This
checking whether they understand the text definition comes from the United National
or they do not. Succinctly, if they cannot Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
answer, they do not understand. In classes, (UNESCO).
they may also be encouraged to ask
Functional literacy is vital in our everyday
questions to check comprehension.
life. Without the basic ability to understand simple
 Monitoring comprehension means that
reading material, we cannot grasp the meaning of
children know what to read, what they
texts for academic purposes.
read, and when they do not.
 Metacognition can be defined as “thinking If we have a weak reading, writing, and
about thinking” or “cognition about numeric abilities, we find ourselves at the losing
cognition.” Children who are good readers end. Without our ability to read and understand
use metacognitive strategies to think about simple text or instruction, we cannot function
what they read, why they read, and have effectively. For example, we buy medicine at a
control over their reading. drugstore; we forgot what the doctor said
regarding the dosage. How we read and
understand the label?
Analysis In teaching, we must provide a wide array
Teaching reading is not an easy task. It is a of opportunities for students to help them learn to
joint task between parents and teachers. Parents succeed in life.
should model proper reading models as teachers In reading, there is what we call the
hone the reading skills of their children. There are traditional approach in which we think that
a lot of strategies for teaching reading. Beginning reading materials are huge repositories of
readers must master phonemic awareness because learning. Materials are viewed as dispenser of
this seems the foundation for reading. It is for knowledge. Today, with the advent of technology
reason that children must receive proper and where the information lies at the tip of our fingers,
adequate phonics instruction, fluency instruction, the participatory approach to literacy is gaining its
vocabulary instruction and comprehension popularity.
instruction.
 Participatory Literacy is about a mix education, among others. It is functional literacy
of materials that includes magazine articles, that forms not only our cognition but also our
student-generated materials, hypermedia attitude to participate and collaborate effectively
productions, visuals, and so on. It means, in all aspects of development in society.
providing students the opportunity for people to Functional literacy allows us to understand
be involved in deciding how something is done. In diversity of customs and culture on both national
other words, participatory literacy includes and international dimensions.
elements of creativity, reasoning, critical thinking,
and collaborations. Lesson IV: The 21st Century
Literacy Skills and Teaching
Since creating and sharing content has
been part of a technology, we can encourage Resources
students to focus their attention on making Everything changes; nothing remains the
contributions to blogging, social networking, or same all the time. Things have changed over time;
virtual world that reply upon creativity, reasoning, an example is that one day, the concept was an
critical thinking and collaboration. outhouse, so it was stuck or a concept in our brain
Creativity is our meaningful ideas, forms, for so long. The next day the indoor toilet was
methods, or interpretations. The reasoning power invented, and the outhouse concept faded. A
is about forming conclusions, judgments, or concept changes; the ideas evolve, and our
inferences based on facts. Critical thinking refers outlook also changes. Time changes; our needs
to our ability to analyze information objectively also change. In this world, as the demands of
and make a reasoned judgment. It involves companies and industries change, we must adapt
evaluating sources, such as data, facts, observable to the changing conditions by developing our
phenomena, and research findings. Collaboration skills. We must be equipped with 21st-century
is about working well with others. skills.

Participatory does not mean making

student participate. The keyword is being involved 21st-century Skills
in decision making. For example, if our teacher
shares the lesson via FB, we encourage students to We are referring to a broad set of
comment to share their thoughts and creativity. knowledge, skills, work habits, and character traits
that are believed—by educators, school reformers,
educators, employers, and others—to be critically
Analysis important to success in today’s world, particularly
in collegiate programs and contemporary careers
Functional literacy is used in our everyday and workplaces. Generally speaking, 21st-century
life situations. It is where we apply our skills in skills can be applied in all areas of life and in all
writing, reading, and using numbers. Without personal life setting throughout life.
these skills, we may not be able to function
These specific skills deemed to be “21st-
effectively in our community.
century skills” may be defined, categorized, and
We are all social beings, and we need determined differently from person to person,
economic welfare. A healthy society, in turn, place to place, or school to school. The term
needs healthy literate individuals. To make reflects a general—if somewhat loose and shifting
literacy worthwhile, it must be functional. —consensus.
Functional literacy signifies not only knowledge
The following list provides a brief illustrative
of 3R’s (reading, writing, and arithmetic), but it
overview of knowledge, skills, work, habits, and
also indicates our ability of to discharge our
character traits commonly associated with 21st-
economic, social, and civic duties in an efficient
century skills:
manner.
Functional literacy enables us to
understand social issues about health, security, or
  Critical thinking, problem-solving, Is an essential tool of inquiry. It is the
reasoning, analysis, interpretation, process of independently analyzing, synthesizing,
synthesizing information. and evaluating information to guide behavior and
 Research skills and practices, interrogative beliefs. Critical thinking is not related to good
questioning. thinking. Critical thinking is a pervasive and self-
 Creativity, artistry, curiosity, imagination, rectifying human phenomenon. The ideal critical
innovation, personal expression. thinker is habitually inquisitive, well-informed,
 Perseverance, self-direction, planning, trustful of reason, open-minded, flexible, fair-
self-discipline, adaptability, initiative. minded in evaluation, honest in facing personal
 Oral and written communication, public biases, prudent in making judgments, willing to
speaking and presenting, listening. reconsider, clear about issues, orderly in complex
 Leadership, teamwork, collaboration, matters, diligent in seeking relevant information,
cooperation facility in using virtual reasonable in the selection of criteria, focused on
workspaces. inquiry, and persistent in seeking results which are
 Information and communication as precise as the subject and the circumstances of
technology (ICT) literacy, media and inquiry. There is an element of biased reasoning in
internet literacy, data interpretation and the process.
analysis, computer programming.
To understand reasoning, it is necessary to
 Civil, ethical, and social-justice literacy.
pay careful attention to the relationship between
 Economic and financial literacy,
thought and language. The relationship seems to
entrepreneurialism.
be straightforward: “thought is expressed in and
 Global awareness, multicultural literacy,
through language.” But this idea is misunderstand
humanitarianism.
us; we all use words not merely to express our
 Scientific literacy and reasoning, the
thoughts. Developing our critical thinking skills,
scientific method.
therefore, requires an understanding of how words
 Environmental and conservation literacy,
can express our opinions.
ecosystems understanding.
 Health and wellness literacy, including
nutrition, diet, exercise, and public health
and safety. Creative Thinking
Is looking at something in a different way.
It is the same as “thinking outside the box.” More
The concept of “21st-century skills” often, creativity involves what is known as lateral
encompasses a wide range and amorphous thinking or the ability to perceive patterns that are
body of knowledge and skills that are not easy not obvious. Creativity means being able to come
to define, and that has not been officially up with something new. For example, we can
codified. These skills may be divided into make a unique decoration from pieces of colored
three broad categories: learning skills, literacy paper that are considered trash.
skills, and life skills.

Normally, we use reasoning to solve

Learning Skills problems. It is known as logical thinking that is
used to solve problems in a direct, straightforward
When we say learning skills, these include
way (also known as vertical thinking). Lateral
critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration,
thinking, however, looks at things from a
and communication, otherwise known as the four
sideways perspective (also known as horizontal
C’s. We must develop these skills when we are
thinking), to find answer that are not immediately
trying to learn something.
apparent.

Critical Thinking
Collaboration
 Skills enable us to work well with others. sender, subject, purpose, medium, receiver, and
These skills, include understanding various context.
perspective, managing priorities from everyone in
the group, and meeting expectations as a reliable
member of a team. Producing Information
In the past, students were mostly
consumers of information. When they made
Communication
information, it was largely for a single reader—the
Skills allow us to understand and be teacher—and was produced for a grade. It was,
understood by others. These can include but are therefore, not an authentic communication
not limited to effective communicating ideas to situation, and students felt that writing was a
others, actively listening in conversations, giving purely academic actively. Now writing is one of
and receiving critical feedback, and speaking in the main ways students communicate. It has real-
public. world applications and consequences. Students
need to understand that they write can do great
good or great harm in the real world and that how
Literacy Skills are essential because these help they write determines how powerful their words
us gain knowledge through reading as well as are. Students need to take on the role of
using media and technology. These skills also help professional writers, learning to be useful and
us create knowledge through writing as well as ethical producers of information.
developing media and technology.

As with information literacy, the key is to

Information Literacy recognize the elements of the communication
situation—sender, message (subject and purpose),
Students need to work effectively with medium, receiver, and context. These elements are
information, using it at all levels of Bloom’s constant regardless of the medium used. By
Taxonomy (remembering, understanding, broadening the student’s perspective to see all
applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating). media as part of a larger communication situation,
Information literacy involves traditional skills we can equip students to receive and send
such as reading, researching, and writing; but new information in any medium effectively. Students
ways to read and write have also introduced new must learn to recognize the strengths and
skills: weaknesses of each medium and to analyze each
message they receive and send.

Consuming Information
The current excess of information requires Technology Literacy
students to gain new skills in handling it. When We are living through a technological
most information came through official revolution, with huge changes taking place over
publications like books, newspapers, magazines, brief periods. As decade ago, facebook didn’t
and television shows, student encountered data exist, but now many people could not live without
that had been prepared by professionals. Now, it. The average cellphone is now more powerful
much information is organized by amateurs. than computers from several years ago.
Some of that work is reliable, but much is We are surrounded by technology, and
not. Students must take on the role of the editor, most of it performs multiple functions. In
checking and cross-checking information, Growing Up Digital: How the Net Generation Is
watching for signs of bias, datedness, and errors. Changing Your World, the following are the eight
Students need to look at information as the expectations students have of technology.
product of a communication situation, with a
  Freedom to express their views,
personalities, and identities.
2. Foster a Love of Books
 Ability to customize and personalize
technology to their own tastes. It is hard to learn to read, but it’s a whole
 Ability to dig deeper, finding whatever lot harder if it is forced upon you. Introducing
information they want. children to books early on, so they associate them
 Honesty in interactions with others and with positive emotions and are interested in them,
with organizations. is vital. You want your child to be curious about
 Fun to be part of learning, work, and print and motivated to learn to read.
socialization as well as entertainment.
 Connecting to others and collaborating in Having plenty of books in your home
everything. library is an excellent way to get the ball rolling.
 Speed and responsiveness in You can read to new-borns, infants, and toddlers.
communication and searching for answers. The earlier you start introducing books and
 Innovation and change, not settling for a making a routine of reading, the better.
familiar technologies but seeking and Children’s books often include bright
using what is new and better. colors, pop-ups, and other tactile learning tools so
6 ways to help children that you can stimulate the development of
develop pre-literacy skills multiple skills at a time. Reading with a baby is
also an excellent opportunity to work on
vocabulary.
1. Expand their Vocabulary Toddlers may enjoy going to the library,
looking though books, reading them together with
Developing a child’s language is crucial
their parents, and choosing their favorites to take
because he or she will find it much easier to read
home. If you can get a toddler excited about
and write words that are already known. Early
reading, they are well on their way!
reading requires decoding or moving slowly from
letter (and attached sound) to letter. If the parts
add up to something that sounds familiars, the
whole process is a lot more fun. 3. Show Them Plenty of Print

Parents can help children learn words by There’s a lot to look at and see when you
teaching them to how describe the world around are new to this world. Parents can help early
them. Books are an excellent way to introduce literacy skills along by ensuring there’s plenty of
vocabulary that may not be in the child’s print in their baby’s field of vision. Looking at
immediate environment, merely talking to books, words on cereal boxes, posters, signs, even
children, so they learn to recognize familiar words clothing tags and pointing them our encourages
and what they stand for. children to pay attention to print.

Keep in mind that many children’s book As they grow older, they may begin to
from your local library, especially Dr. Seuss reach for and interact with their parents’ electronic
books, use a particular set of vocabulary words devices, such as mobile phones, tablets and
repeated over and over again. These words come computers. There is plenty of print to be found in
from the Dolch list and are among the most gadgets, especially on their keyboards!
frequent words in the English language.
Mastering this vocabulary can make life 4. Teach ABC’s
much easier for children who are learning to read
as it gives them a familiarity with most of the When children are exposed to enough
words on any given page. It allows them to print, at some point, they will begin to identify
concentrate their cognitive resources on the new common patterns, such as the letters of the
vocabulary they encounter in a text. alphabet. You can introduce a child to the letters
in his name as an initial foray into breaking a children when it comes time for them to learn to
word into its parts. read and write.
Additionally, children learn letters by Parents might encourage children to talk
looking at shapes, playing with puzzles, talking about what they’ve done during the day or narrate
about the different forms, and of course, studying activities as they’re happening.
the pages of the books their parents read to them.
They key is making sure they get plenty of
Reading alphabet books, singing the practices telling and listening to stories of all
alphabet song, and even letting toddlers play with shapes, kinds, and sizes.
keyboards will ensure children get plenty of
practice identifying letters to prepare them for
writing and de-coding later on. Life skills are the abilities and behaviors
that help you deal effectively with the events and
challenges of everyday life. They are the skills
5. Play with Sounds that allow you to handle everything from
interactions with others to identifying and
Adults know that letters stand for sounds
processing your emotions.
but consider the situation for children. They can
use and process spoken language, which means Talking about life skills, we include
they instinctively know the sound it consists of, flexibility, initiative, social skills, productivity,
but that doesn’t mean they know how to split the and leadership. However, the expression “life
phonemes up along the arbitrary lines our spelling skills” refers to the skills we need to make the
rules have assigned them. most out of life. Any skills that is useful in our life
can be considered a life skill. Trying our
To learn to read, you need to be able to
shoelaces, swimming, driving a car, cooking our
map sounds to letters to sound out your first
food, and using a computer are for most of us
words. Phonics can be especially tricky for a
essential life skills. Aptly put, the term “life skills”
language like English in which different letters
is usually used for any of the skills needed to deal
can stand for the same sound.
competently and effectively with the challenges
Songs, such as Old MacDonald Had a and adjustments of life. The following may be
Farm, is excellent for working on sound considered essential life skills: communication,
recognition, think (El-l-ee-i-oo), as are children’s decision making, problem solving, self-awareness,
books with exaggerated animal sounds and other equanimity, self-control, self-confidence,
silly content that may not make much sense to the resilience, leadership, interpersonal, study or
adult eye. learning, and parenting skills.
Communication Skills are the
abilities we use when giving and receiving
6. Present Narratives different kinds of information. Some examples
Story time at your local library may include communicating ideas, feelings or what is
consist of someone reading to a group of toddlers. happening around us. Communication skills
You can see the children listening, some of the involve listening, speaking, reading, writing, and
quite alternatively, and making sense of the story viewing. It is also helpful to understand the
as they look at the pictures and process the differences in how to communicate through face-
language. If the readers stops to ask questions and to-face interactions, phone conversations, and
comment on the books, they can perform a sort of digital communications, like email and social
comprehension check to be confident the children media.
are following along.
Decision-making skill is a process of
Recognizing a narrative and being able to arriving at a good or wise decision that will
produce one by talking about one’s day and benefit all.
organizing steps into a logical order assists
 Problem-solving skill is a process of Parenting skill deals with engaging
identifying issues and problems and finding the with children so that they develop the knowledge
right solutions to implement. and emotional well-being so that they become
productive individual members of society.
Self-awareness skills is one of the
critical components of emotional intelligence. It is
an ability to recognize your own emotions and
Specific skills may be more or less
their effects. If you have ability:
relevant to you depending on your life
 Know what emotions others are circumstances, culture, beliefs, age, geographic
feeling at any given time, and why; location, etc. however, in 1999, the World Health
 Understand the links between their Organization identified six critical areas of life
emotions and their thoughts and skills:
actions, including what they say;
 Understand how their feelings will
therefore affect their performance; Communication and interpersonal
and skills – it broadly describes the skills needed to
 Be guided in how they feel by their get on and work with other people, and mainly
values. transfer and receive messages either in writing or
verbally.
Equanimity skills is an essential
practice for our troubled and problematic times. Decision-making and problem-solving
The steadiness of mind characterizes stability – it describes the skills required to understand
under pressure. It is the quality of being calm and problems, find solutions to them, alone or with
even-tempered under pressure; it is a balanced others, and then take action to address them.
state of mind distinguished by the lack of strong
attachments. If we have developed equanimity, we Creative thinking and Critical thinking
remain poised and calm even when under pressure – it describes the ability to think in different and
beset with problems. unusual ways about problems, and find new
solutions, or generate new ideas, coupled with the
Self-Control skills is the ability to ability to assess information carefully and
control ourselves in terms of having mastery over understand its relevance.
our desires.
Self-awareness and empathy – which are
Self Confidence skill is understanding two key parts of emotional intelligence. They
what we trust our judgment and abilities. We describe understanding yourself and feel for other
value ourselves and feel worthy, regardless of any people as if their experiences were happening to
imperfections or of what others many believe you.
about us.
Assertiveness and equanimity, or self-
Resilience skills is our ability to adapt control – these describe the skills needed to
to challenging situations or adversity. stand for yourself and other people and remain
Leadership skills is our ability to calm even in the face of considerable provocation.
possess decisiveness, integrity, honesty, Resilience and ability to cope with
motivation, initiative, and proactivity. problems – describe the ability to recover from
Interpersonal skill includes setbacks and treat them as opportunities to learn,
communication, cooperation, and empathy. or only experiences.

Study or learning skill refers to an

array of skills, including the process of organizing It is also true that different life skills will
and taking in new information, retaining such be more or less relevant at other times in your life.
information, and dealing with careful analysis of For example:
facts.
 When at school or university, you’ll need Venn Diagrams – is a prompt students
to study skills. These may include understanding to compare and contrast. For instance, we could
how to organize yourself for study, do research, ask students to analyze a character, using a Venn
and even write up a dissertation or thesis. These diagram to sort traits belonging to the character,
are not skills that everyone will need, but writing traits belonging to the reader, and ones shared by
skills are likely to be useful in various careers and both the character and reader. When we use this
jobs. technique, we encourage students to use their
analysis. And analysis is a form of higher-order
When buying a house, you may need to
thinking skill.
employ negotiation skills, and you will certainly
need plenty of patience and good temper. These
skills are also likely to be high on your ‘essential
life skills’ list if you have children! Cooperative Decision-making – is
another technique for evaluation purposes. Your
You will need to work on your friends came over to your house for window
employability skills to get a job, and will also shopping at the mall. One of your friends brought
need to think about how you apply for a job, and another friend, so there are more people than you
how you might cope in an interview; planned. You want to pass out the drinks, but you
only have five cans of soda, and you need 6 for
When you have a job, you may need to
everyone to have one. What could you do? This
develop leadership skills, especially if you need to
situation accounts for cooperative decision-
lead teams or groups;
making.
When you start a family, you will need
parenting skills. You may also find that time Analysis
management and organizing skills become much While reading and writing are not typically
more critical. taught until after preschool, children can begin
developing the skills they need to become strong
readers from a very young age. Early literacy
Teaching resources skills are pre-literacy skills and include looking at
books, following narratives, recognizing print,
Student-led activities are useful because
learning vocabulary, and identifying letters and
these can help them learn ideas faster. Students
sounds.
may act as leaders to form discussion groups,
brainstorm, or conduct conferences and role- There are several types of literacy skills
playing. that, when learned in early childhood, provide the
foundation for reliable reading and writing
Cooperative learning is another one. It is
capabilities. The necessary skills make it possible
an instructional strategy that enables students to
for a person to process information to be
work together on a standard task or assignment.
understood, written, or described orally.
Student-driven, inquiry-based learning Vocabulary skills, narrative and phonological
occurs in a classroom environment where students skills, and the ability to understand printed words
are encouraged not only to develop their inquiry are essential. Reading comprehension skills and
but also to lead their research. writing skills are also necessary.
Teachers have to be concerned with the Vocabulary is one the essential literacy
development of higher-order thinking skills skills. Reading involves knowing thousands of
(HOTS). Considering Bloom’s taxonomy for this words, and without this knowledge, following a
matter, we may find the six levels: remembering, story, whether it is fiction or nonfiction, is
understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, impossible. Learning vocabulary starts at an early
and creating. The last three levels are considered age and even preschool age children can be taught
higher-order thinking. words just having older people point out items at
home, in the store, or outdoors, and telling them
what the things are.
 Literacy skills include more than just
knowing what things are. An essential skill is also
the ability to understand what letters and words
sound like. It is necessary for reading and writing,
and it even assists in the creative process because
phonological skills make it possible to piece
together parts of words and make rhymes. The
ability to put a word and sound elements together
makes it easier to process reading material.
It is essential to know what each letter is
and how each can be arranged to for words. Letter
recognition doesn’t always mean recognizing the
sound of each, but these to concepts together
improve literacy skills drastically. Understanding
how print is organized on a page does this as well.
In the English language, this means knowing the
left-to-right and top-to-bottom organization of a
narrative. Knowledge of sentence structure and
punctuation are additional literacy elements that
need to be learned and understood.
Without any of these literacy skills,
reading comprehension is complicated. This lack
of understanding also make it hard to tell a story,
which is a skill in itself. Narrative skills rely on a
person’s internal skill set to say or write what
happened at a particular event. They also help
children understand what they are learning when
books are read to them or when they are being
taught to read. All of those literacy skills can be
applied to many analytical and computational
tasks later on, and they are imperative from
anyone to be able to read and write well.
As a corollary, life skills are essential in
today’s living. In teaching, we can be creative at
the same time resourceful so that we provide
activities to hone the learning, literacy, and life
skills of our students.