Learning to read begins long before a child starts school. Print is everywhere in our society and children can’t help but be curious about all the squiggly lines they see. Children begin to understand that certain symbols represent meaning – the golden arches mean McDonald’s. Soon they begin to notice that adults point to those squiggly lines and say words. Some children may even start to “read” those same words.
Before preschool most children do not understand that those squiggly lines are made up of individual letters and that those letters have a sound that is blended together to create the pronunciation. They have just memorized the shape of that word or its location on the page.
As adults it is hard for us to remember how many concepts have to be learned to become an effect reader. Many of the very early skills we take for granted. But these very skills are predictors of future reading achievement and “… serve as the very foundation on which orthographic and phonological skills are built.” (Adams, page 338)
Literacy knowledge includes understanding concepts such as (not an exhaustive list):
Project Manager, Progress in the General Curriculum Network
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