To support young children in bringing all of their resources to bear on constructing meaning from print, teachers must be aware of how children learn, must make use of a variety of learning materials, and must carefully prepare the contextual setting in which children move into reading. Teachers should focus on planning a classroom reading environment that enables children's language and experiences to be brought to bear on constructing meaning. They should familiarize themselves with community resources and create a classroom environment that reflects many aspects of the community. Among the many activities they can introduce are the highlighting of children's names in contextual settings and the recording of children's observations about weather and plants. Activities can be related to children's family experiences, to their television and story reading experiences at home, and to current or seasonal interests. Teachers should also focus on developing purposes for reading that become part of daily living. Many functional classroom routines can show children the usefulness of reading, and opportunities for purposeful writing support the notion of purposeful reading. Teachers should also model reading behavior both by reading stories to children and by showing how reading meets some of their own personal needs. (GT)