What are the Building Blocks?
Recent findings from emergent literacy research have demonstrated that children who easily learn to read and write have a variety of experiences with reading and writing that enable them to profit from school literacy experiences (Cunningham & Allington, 1999). In kindergarten classrooms teachers can provide a variety of reading and writing experiences from which all children develop these six critical understandings, which are the “building blocks” of their success. • Children learn that reading provides both enjoyment and information, and they develop a desire to learn to read and write. • Students also learn many new concepts and add words and meaning to their speaking vocabularies. • Children learn print concepts, including how to read from left to write, how to read from top to bottom, etc. • Children develop phonemic awareness, including the concept to rhyme. • Students learn to read and write some interesting-to-them words, such as “Pizza Hut,” “cat,” and “bear.” • Students lear
