Teaching Literacy in Kindergarten

Lea M. McGee, EdD, is Professor of Literacy Education at the University of Alabama. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in children's literature, beginning reading and language arts, and foundations of language and literacy development. Dr. McGee is coauthor of Literacy's Beginnings: Supporting Young Readers and Writers and Designing Early Literacy Programs: Strategies for At-Risk Preschool and Kindergarten Children (both with Donald J. Richgels), and of Teaching Reading with Literature: Case Studies to Action Plans (with Gail Tompkins). She has published dozens of articles and book chapters in a variety of journals, including The Reading Teacher, Language Arts, and Reading Research Quarterly. She is also past president of the National Reading Conference.

Lesley Mandel Morrow, PhD, holds the rank of Professor II at Rutgers University's Graduate School of Education, where she is also coordinator of the literacy program. She began her career as a classroom teacher, then became a reading specialist, and later received her doctorate from Fordham University. Her area of research focuses on early literacy development and the organization and management of language arts programs. Her research is carried out with children and families from diverse backgrounds. Dr. Morrow has more than 200 publications, including journal articles, book chapters, and books, most recently Literacy Development in the Early Years: Helping Children Read and Write, Literacy and Young Children: Research-Based Practices (coedited with Diane M. Barone), Organizing and Managing the Language Arts Block: A Professional Development Guide, and The Literacy Center: Contexts for Reading and Writing. She is also past president of the International Reading Association.

Kindergarten is a time for playful and enriching learning activities that support children's literacy emergence while enhancing their social and cognitive development. The routines of a busy, engaged, productive kindergarten classroom are vividly brought to life in this information-packed book. Demonstrated are whole-class and small-group strategies for helping children acquire concepts about print and the alphabet, build phonological and phonemic awareness, learn to read sight words, develop their listening comprehension and writing abilities, and much more.

Kindergarten is a time for playful and enriching learning activities that support children's literacy emergence while enhancing their social and cognitive development. The routines of a busy, engaged, productive kindergarten classroom are vividly brought to life in this information-packed book. Demonstrated are whole-class and small-group strategies for helping children acquire concepts about print and the alphabet, build phonological and phonemic awareness, learn to read sight words, develop their listening comprehension and writing abilities, and much more.

1. A Week in Kindergarten
2. Preparing the Environment for Literacy Instruction in Kindergarten
3. What Do Kindergartners Know about Reading and Writing?
4. Whole-Group Literacy Instruction
5. Small-Group Literacy Instruction
6. Differentiating Instruction to Meet the Needs of All Learners
7. Assessment
Appendices: A. Resources for Kindergarten Teachers
B. Alphabet Letter Formation
C. ELKA Alphabet Recognition Tasks
D. ELKA Concepts about Print Tasks
E. ELKA Phonemic Awareness Tasks
F. ELKA Phonics Tasks
G. ELKA Writing Task: Invented Spelling List and Scoring Rubric.
H. Comprehension and Vocabulary Task