Print Awareness
Reading with children helps them understand, almost by osmosis, the conventions of print or print awareness. This knowledge really enhances children’s ability to learn to read. In fact, print awareness at school entry is a very good indicator of children’s future reading success.

Children who have print awareness know that

bulletthere is a front and a back of a book
bulletthe print in a book goes from left to right and top to bottom on the pages
bulletthe little black things on the page (print) are linked to the story that is told in the book
bulletprint has different functions depending on where they see it, for example on a sign or in a book
bulletthere are letters in words
bulletthere are spaces between the words

Many children develop print awareness before they start school. Young children begin to understand that the story in the print lies in the symbols (letters) that make up words. This happens when they see print every day in the world around them, the people in their lives explain print to them and they are read to from an early age.

 

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  Gaining Print Awareness