Because it is important to encourage children in their attempts, Building Language for Literacy provides strategies and activities to encourage these explorations, such as creating lists, writing stories, recipes and more. Classrooms that provide children with regular opportunities to express themselves on paper, without feeling too constrained for correct spelling and proper handwriting, also help children understand that writing has real purpose. The emphasis in the writing activities in Building Language for Literacy is to provide opportunities for children to recognize different functional uses for writing and drawing. Throughout the program, writing activities relate directly to the poems, songs, books, and projects that children are working with. Classrooms filled with print, language and literacy play, storybook reading, and writing allow children to experience the joy and power associated with reading and writing while mastering basic concepts about print that research has shown are strong predictors of achievement.
Most young children enter school curious about the world of print.
Building Language for Literacy builds on this curiosity to help children develop literacy skills. The program components provide fiction and nonfiction trade books, word cards, song and poem charts, and alphabet cards. The Unit Guides encourage teachers to provide a print-rich environment by offering suggestions for bulletin boards, learning centers, and activities that make use of print or encourage children to write their own print materials. In Kindergarten Knowledge of the forms and functions of print serves as a foundation from which children become increasingly sensitive to letter shapes, names, sounds, and words. Because knowledge of the forms and functions of print serves as a foundation from which children become increasingly aware of letter shapes, names, sounds, and words, one of the foundational goals of Building Language for Literacy is to develop print knowledge.