To investigate what and how a child was learning about reading, a case study was conducted of one preliterate child's retelling of a story. The 5-year-old child (Jamie) heard the story in its complete form on the first session and then retold it each week for 8 weeks. The adult listener answered her questions but did not help unless asked. The…

Twenty-six articles and books, both pro and con kindergarten reading instruction, are selected to encourage objective consideration of the wisdom of early reading instruction, at least for some children. Research reports, descriptions of kindergarten programs, and studies of various aspects of readiness, ranging in date from 1937 through 1965, are…

During the spring of 1971, a study was made of early reading responses of four, five, and six year olds in a Finnish preschool in order to discover clues to the onset of reading when beginning reading instruction focuses on a phonetic approach and when the language (Finnish) has a highly phonetic regularity. Sixty-two children were tested,…

Results of a study of early reading responses of young children in a Finnish preschool challenge the belief that grapheme-phoneme regularity is a critical factor in beginning reading. (JM)

Alphabet names that don't correspond to their sounds can throw beginning readers off the track. This reading specialists renames some of the letters and teaches them to kids. (Editor)

A position paper which discusses different aspects of reading and its relation to school, home, and lifelong activities, and suggests instructional implications. (CM)

The rapid, disjointed, and vivid style of Sesame Street may impede rather than promote progress toward literacy and the development of voluntary attention. It robs children of the ability to create mental pictures. Contends that it is a failure as an instructional medium. (DM)

The question of whether children should be taught to read before first grade has long been discussed, but never settled. As the educational level of the people and the demands of industry increase, the rate of functional illiteracy also rises, provoking criticism of school programs and creating a need to find new ways of dealing with the problems.…

Described is a preschool science activity in which students use shell collections. This activity demonstrates how language development and reading readiness skills are interrelated with science. Prereading and reading activities are described involving the students in direct interaction with the shell collection. (DS)

The relationship of concrete operations to beginning reading was investigated with three samples of early readers and prereaders: prekindergarten and kindergarten children who were early readers and those who were not yet reading. Piagetian tasks on conservation of number, conservation of quantity, seriation, multiple classification, and class…

This document contains materials for games which are intended to give teachers and parents of young children ideas for making learning games which will provide experiences appropriate to their interests and abilities. While the games may be used by children in small groups, they were designed primarily for the child to explore alone. The games are…

Argues that wordless books allow prereading children to create their own stories, enhance vocabulary acquisition, help children develop "top to bottom" and "right to left" concepts, and promote observation, sequential, visual, and inferential thinking. Describes several ways to use wordless books. Includes bibliography of 36…

Explores recurring themes in early childhood education that strengthen professional identity and commitment. Historical issues of continuing relevance are discussed, including school entrance age, kindergarten and early reading, child care services as social change agents, increase of child care services due to the changing role of women, and…

Presents evidence that reading can be learned by the same informal and unstructured methods as speech, and calls for a concentration on slow readers. (CRH)

Literacy development begins in the very early stages of childhood, even though the activities of young children may not seem related to reading and writing. In 1966, New Zealand researcher Marie Clay introduced the term "emergent literacy" to describe the behaviors seen in young children when they use books and writing materials to…