Early Literacy Links

100 Picture Books That Everyone Should Know.  Take a look at these "world-class" books from one of America's world-class libraries - the New York Public Library.

A Rhyme a Week:  Nursery Rhymes in Early Literacy.  Great set of resources - share rhymes with children to help them get ready to read.

ABCs of Early Literacy.  This article from Family Knoxville News Sentinel is a great "primer" on early literacy that is written in a clear, direct, easy-to-understand perspective.

ALA Early Literacy Project:  Workshops for Parents-Caregivers.  Here's some scripts, handouts, posters, and other resources to help parents and caregivers promote early literacy skills.

Baby Talk:  EduKey.  Here arer articles selection on Baby Talk in the Early Learning & Basic Academic Skills category from an organization that believes "every moment an opportunity for his child to learn about the world."

Better Child Care:  Reading Aloud.  Reading aloud to the children in your care can be the best time of day. Sharing a good storybook is very rewarding. You can enjoy reading aloud even more if you understand its benefits for children, increase your knowledge of children's books, use read aloud guidelines, and extend the read aloud experience into other activities.

Birth to 6 - Early Literacy (Hennepin County Library).  Be sure to check out these tips to help children learn six basic literacy skills, lists of ideal books for babies, toddlers and preschoolers, fun fingerplays, song and puppet resources and MORE!

Book Lists and Early Literacy Resources.  Here's some suggested books for sharing with babies, toddlers, and preschoolers and for planning and presenting story programs for these young children

Books for Little Hands Early Literacy Education.  Through this component Books for Little Hands provides instruction concerning the stages of brain development in children ages 0-5 and the importance of early literacy experiences. Successful read aloud techniques are modeled, including the use of music, rhymes, puppets, and other story aids and props.

Brain Development in Young Children.  The importance of early brain development explained through illustrated web pages, research articles, and a short Power Point presentation entitled “What’s Going On Up There?.”

Brain Development:  Neuroscience for Kids.  The brain grows at an amazing rate during development. At times during brain development, 250,000 neurons are added every minute!! At birth, almost all the neurons that the brain will ever have are present. However, the brain continues to grow for a few years after birth. By the age of 2 years old, the brain is about 80% of the adult size.

Center for Early Literacy Learning (CELL).  This Web promotes the adoption and sustained use of evidence-based early literacy learning practices by early childhood intervention practitioners, parents, and other caregivers of young children, birth to five years of age, with identified disabilities, developmental delays, and those at-risk for poor outcomes.

Children's Activities Online.  This site is full of online reading aloud of children’s books by movie stars, activities that foster early literacy skills and games that promote a love of language and reading.

Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University.  Comprehensive website which gives teachers, librarians, parents, and students a place for designing literature-based thematic units for all subjects.   This site offers abstracts of over 5000 children's picture books; search capabilities for over 950 keywords, including topics, concepts, and skills which describe each book; and weblinks for keywords so you can integrate your up-to-date content knowledge with our picture book resources.

Database of Award Winning Children's Literature.  The purpose of this database is to create a tailored reading list of quality children's literature or to find out if a book has won one of the indexed awards.

Early Childhood - Improve Student Performance (U.S. Department of Education).  This Web lists "editors picks" - a list of links to early literacy resources.

Early Childhood Literacy Fostering the Fundamentals.  Up until the fourth grade, children learn to read. After that point, children read to learn. Consequently, children must enter school ready to learn and quickly hone their literacy skills. In middle school and high school, youth must continue to hone their skills and be encouraged to develop a lifelong habit of reading in order to succeed.

Early Childhood Literacy:  Reading for Babies.  Early childhood literacy can start at home and before the third grade. It is never to early. Even babies benefit from reading out loud.

Early Literacy:  A Resource for Teachers (Saskatchewan Education).  An online text that covers most of the important issues in early literacy as it applies to educators - great place to start.

Early Literacy and Brain Development Resources.  This is a MUST SEE - a collection of electronic and print resources compiled by Saroj Ghoting, an early childhood literacy consultant and trainer for Every Child Ready to Read.

Early Literacy Development.  This primer on early literacy development outlines the stages that children go through and how early literacy skills apply.

Early Literacy Links.  Here are some helpful in researching early literacy - both for current research and for classroom strategies and ideas.  The folks that maintain this site welcome suggestions for other sites to complement our list,

Early Literacy:  National Early Childhood Technical Assistant Center.  Federal, state, and local initiatives are taking on the challenge of improving reading achievement with literacy programs involving families, local schools, and communities. Young children with disabilities and their families need to be part of these initiatives.

Early Literacy Resources:  Books, Articles, Studies and Web Sites.  This set of links delivers everything it promises in the title.  This list was originally prepared for "Early Literacy @ Your Library," a program at the
Minnesota Library Association Annual Conference, September 2003, and subsequently updated.

Early Literacy Skill-building.  From Children, Youth and Families Education Research Net (CYFERnet) - this site site brings together the best, children, youth and family resources of all the public land-grant universities in the country. Materials are carefully reviewed by college and university faculty. Through CYFERnet you can also interact with your colleagues and share your work nationally.

Early Literacy Technology Project:  Lessons.  As part of the grant activities, participating teachers have worked with their school teams creating and implementing lessons and activities that use technology to support early literacy.

Early Literacy Tip Sheets & Resources.  Check out these links to printable tips sheets, activities and newsletters that support early literacy from a wide variety of sources; many available in multiple languages.

Early Literacy Toolkit (Head Start Information & Publication Center).  Research shows that exposing very young children to print, books and reading aloud provides them with important concepts and establishes a foundation for reading. Head Start places great emphasis on preparing children for reading and ensuring their school readiness.

Early Literacy:  What Is It and Why Is It Important?  This site offers a comprehensive set of links to explain this topic - includes downloadable, printable .pdf files.

Every Child Ready To Read (ALA).  Current research on early literacy and brain development indicates that it is never too early to prepare children for success as readers. Parents of newborns, toddlers and preschoolers must be informed of their critical role as their children's first teacher.

Every Child Ready to Read® @ your library®" Wiki.  The purpose of this wiki is to both share information about the project and to solicit ideas and feedback.  If you have used the Every Child Ready to Read @ your library materials, ideas or training, please share in this wiki, your successes, challenges, materials you have developed, anything you feel would be helpful to others. You can write about it in the wiki and/or provide a link to outside coverage.

Fathers' Role in Children's Academic Achievement and Early Literacy (ERIC Digest).  Family involvement has been a key theme in early childhood education for more than three decades (Fantuzzo, Tighe, & Childs, 2000). However, because early childhood educators tend to engage more with mothers than with fathers, the study of fathers' involvement in children's development has been neglected. This Digest explores what is known about the role of fathers in young children's academic achievement and early literacy.

[Early Literacy Home] [Print Motivation]
[Phonological Awareness] [Narrative Skills] [Enriched Vocabulary]
[Print Awareness] [Letter Knowledge] [Story Time]
[Books: Babies] [Books: Talkers] [Books: Pre-Readers]
[Early Literacy Links] [Print Resources]
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Focus on the First Years:  Birth to 6 - Early Literacy Resources (Baltimore County Public Library).  Here you will find links for Books and Booklists, Online Resources, Developmental Tips, Promoting Brain Development, and Reading Aloud to Young Children.

Good Start, Grow Smart. Literacy Resources for Parents and Early Childhood Educators.  Recent research has brought about a new understanding about how infants, toddlers, and preschoolers learn language and early literacy skills. This includes development in areas such as vocabulary, awareness of word sounds and rhythm, interest in print and books, recognition of their own name, and early scribbling and pretend writing.  Learn more about all of this here.

Inkless Tales:  Animated Alphabet, Online Stories, Math, Reading, Craft Projects and more Learning Fun!  Here's an entertaining and educational sampling of stories, crafts, games, and poetry for young children. Attractive and easy to navigate, this site also includes children's book reviews and other "cool links" for kids.

Internet Resources for Parents and Child Care Providers.  From the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, here are some Federal agencies and federally funded projects, national organizations, and State agencies and organizations have Internet resources designed specifically for parents. Many of these are also appropriate for child care providers.

Kidsite Early Literacy (Montgomery County Public Library).  Here's a wonderful presentation on early literacy - while focusing at how these skills are taught at the library, there is a clear presentation of the issues and tips and booklists for parents or caretakers too.

Learning to Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children.  This is Part 1 of a 4 part set online document - links to each of these 4 parts are at the bottom of this page.  Children take their first critical steps toward learning to read and write very early in life. Long before they can exhibit reading and writing production skills, they begin to acquire some basic understandings of the concepts about literacy and its functions. Children learn to use symbols, combining their oral language, pictures, print, and play into a coherent mixed medium and creating and communicating meanings in a variety of ways.

Lil' Fingers Storybooks Directory.  This is a great listing of books, on different themes, that are appropriate to share with babies as they grow through and preschool.

Literacy Center Education Network.   The National Research Council's study "Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children" states that children who are exposed to reading at an early age make the symbol/language connection and are more likely to be reading at the appropriate age level by the end of third grade.  The Literacy Center aims to provide safe learning activities for parents and teachers to share with young children.

Literature for Literacy.  This site presents an in-depth set of links for phonemic awareness.

Making Connections:  How Children Learn - A Summary of Recent Brain Research.  Many parents, child care providers, and volunteers have instinctively understood the importance of the language activities they share with children beginning in the first years of life. These activities are not limited to reading, but also include storytelling, singing, and ordinary exchanges that take place in the course of everyday life. Now, after more than 20 years of focused study, new brain research is confirming the merit of these activities.

Parents as Teachers:  Reading Together to Build Early Literacy.  Did you know that you can help your child get ready to read even while he is very young? When an infant shows excitement over pictures next to his crib, or a toddler turns the pages of a board book, or a preschooler recognizes the first letter of his name on a cereal box, each is demonstrating emerging literacy skills. Reading to your child from birth is the best way to make him a successful reader when he starts school.

Preschool English Learners:  Early Literacy.  Children who are read to often experience the joy of reading. Even though most children come into the world ready to learn spoken language and, through exposure to books and listening to stories, become increasingly interested in literacy, they will need carefully planned instruction to learn to read or make sense of written language.

Preventing Reading Difficulties Before Kindergarten.  Reading is essential to success in our society. The ability to read is highly valued and important for social and economic advancement.  This link is to Chapter 5 of the online book of the same name.  Click HERE for a the complete contents of this online manuscript.

Read to Me.  Research has shown that children's literacy development occurs under the same conditions that are present when children's spoken language develops. In other words when children learn to speak they do so in an environment where they hear language being used. They are immersed in spoken language, and their first attempts at using language are accepted and encouraged, not criticized or corrected.  Check out the many different resources at this site.

Reading Is Fundamental.  RIF programs offer enriching activities that spark children's interest in reading. And every child involved with RIF gets to choose and keep new books, at no cost to the children or their families.

Reading Rockets Reading Comprehension & Language Arts Teaching Strategies for Kids.  When children learn to read, they open wide a kind of magic door to the world. For many kids, the key to learning to read is a teacher who understands what children with different learning strengths, motivation, and background knowledge need in order to become enthusiastic, independent readers.

Scaffolding Early Literacy Program ( McREL).  Here is an early literacy curriculum and instructional approach, focused around A Framework for Early Literacy Instruction.  It includes a program of professional development that links theoretical concepts with teaching and provides opportunities for teachers to practice new applications with ample feedback.

storytimestandouts.com.  Make connections between learning to read and great children’s books - you will find alphabet, nursery rhyme, phonics and reading printables for preschool and kindergarten children here along with loads of tips for parents, caregivers and teachers.

StoryPlace Pre-school Library.  This Web is full of great activities for you to explore. Choose a theme below to start the fun!

Teach More/Love More:  Cognitive Development.  Teach More/Love More is a public awareness campaign sponsored by The Early Childhood Initiative Foundation and United Way Success By 6. The campaign not only alerts parents to the stark consequences of failing to prepare our children -- all our children -- for school and success in life, but also offers solutions for overcoming the challenges that all parents face.

Tips & Activities for Developing Early Literacy Skills.  Between birth and five years of age, children develop six essential pre-reading skills that will help them learn to read when they start school. Techniques for developing the skills defined in the blocks below are available for the following age groups:

What is Early Literacy:  Birth to Six (Multnomah County Library).  Children prepare to read long before they enter school - early literacy is everything children know about reading and writing before they can actually read and write. Early literacy is a baby who chews on a book, a toddler who wants his favorite book read over and over, and a preschooler who "reads" the story to you from memory.

Zero to Three Early Language and Literacy.  Many people believe that children learn to read and write in kindergarten or first grade. But developing literacy skills begins at birth through everyday loving interactions—sharing books, telling stories, singing songs, talking to one another, or pointing out and naming objects. Even painting, drawing or picking up things serve a purpose. These activities help develop hand muscles and coordination—skills necessary for learning how to write.

[Early Literacy Home] [Ready for School] [Print Motivation]
[Phonological Awareness] [Narrative Skills] [Enriched Vocabulary]
[Print Awareness] [Letter Knowledge] [Story Time]
[Books: Babies] [Books: Talkers] [Books: Pre-Readers]
[Early Literacy Links] [Print Resources]
[ Top ]