Literacy Skills: Print Motivation, Letter Knowledge and Print Awareness

This post will be part one of my discussion on literacy skills. Today, we'll cover the last three after we covered the first three yesterday.

Print Motivation:
What is it?
Children who have print motivation like being read to and enjoy books. They may also pretend to write, ask to be read to and enjoy trips to get new books.
How can you help?
One of the simplest ways to encourage this literacy skill is to make reading time a special time through music, activities or a special spot. Make sure that books are easy for children to access and show them that you, too, enjoy reading. It also helps to make examples of reading and writing in everyday life to demonstrate how important it is.

Letter Knowledge:
What is it?
Knowing that letters have different names and different sounds is the foundation of letter knowledge. During storytime, we practice letter knowledge with the letter of the day.
How can you help?
Reading and writing activities can both help with letter knowledge. Pointing out and naming the letters in various applications including books or signs will also increase your child's letter knowledge. For younger kids, drawing the letters or talking about shapes will help them.

Print Awareness:
What is it?
Print awareness teaches children the rules of English such as the directions that we read in (top to bottom, left to right). Being able to point to words on the page on command is an example of print awareness.
How can you help?
Asking your child to point out and discuss the words in books or on signs is a great way to work on print awareness. This will also be a game they are familiar with from when they accomplished letter knowledge.