Concepts of Print...
DEFINITION:
Concepts of print involve a student’s understanding of how different forms of print are read. These include the basics of the English language that we read from top to bottom and left to right. It is the basis of literacy.
KEY TERMS:
KEY CONCEPTS:
Book Concepts –
Front and back cover
Top and bottom
Turning pages
Where to start reading
Title
Author & Illustrator
Print Concepts –
Read left to right
Letters
Capital letters
Words
Sentences
Spaces between words
Punctuation
Oral language can be written and then read
- Book Awareness – Books have a certain orientation. They must be opened a certain way and pages must turn left to right. The pages go in order of the story and are read from front to back. There are certain aspects of books that may include table of contents, cover page, author, illustrator, etc.
- Print Awareness – Print is also held “right side up” and has a certain orientation. Different styles of print have different ways in which they are read. This orientation may be portrait or landscape. Words are still read left to right across the page. After reading a line, go back to the left side, and drop down one line, then read it across. Words are separated by spaces and sentences are separated by punctuation. There is a beginning, middle, end and were written by an author (maybe an illustrator as well). Different kinds of print may have additional categories/divisions that the reader must be aware of.
- Alphabetic Principles – This is the knowledge and understanding of the alphabet and what those letters mean. Each letter has a certain way up, if the letter is rotated it may become a different letter. Each letter has a sound associated with it.
KEY CONCEPTS:
Book Concepts –
Front and back cover
Top and bottom
Turning pages
Where to start reading
Title
Author & Illustrator
Print Concepts –
Read left to right
Letters
Capital letters
Words
Sentences
Spaces between words
Punctuation
Oral language can be written and then read
DEVELOPMENT:
Concepts of print generally are developed at an early age without students really realizing it. At a lower level, they need this understanding in order to build on their understanding of the English language. Children must know how to read different texts and many learn to read them unintentionally. For example, if a child looks at the nutrition’s chart on a cereal box they can figure out that it is not the same as a book.
At a higher education level, students are fine tuning their understanding of various prints. They may be more commonly exposed to a greater amount of complex texts. For example, they will be working more with glossaries and indexes of text books rather than the orientation of the book. It is not that they no longer know their initial concepts of print, but they have grown to accommodate the types of print they are commonly exposed to.
A DEVELOPMENTAL SEQUENCE OF DIFFICULTY
AMONG PRINT AWARENESS TASKS:
These concepts of print are associated to genre knowledge and know how to read different genres. Concepts of print should be connected to oral language, vocabulary, reading aloud, phonemic awareness, and learning letters.
Concepts of print generally are developed at an early age without students really realizing it. At a lower level, they need this understanding in order to build on their understanding of the English language. Children must know how to read different texts and many learn to read them unintentionally. For example, if a child looks at the nutrition’s chart on a cereal box they can figure out that it is not the same as a book.
At a higher education level, students are fine tuning their understanding of various prints. They may be more commonly exposed to a greater amount of complex texts. For example, they will be working more with glossaries and indexes of text books rather than the orientation of the book. It is not that they no longer know their initial concepts of print, but they have grown to accommodate the types of print they are commonly exposed to.
A DEVELOPMENTAL SEQUENCE OF DIFFICULTY
AMONG PRINT AWARENESS TASKS:
- Print not picture
- Front of book
- Knows where to begin reading print
- Directionality
- Voice-print matching (concept of word)
- Concept of letter
- Concept of first and last
- Lower and upper case letter
- Reversible word
- Does the print look right?
- Punctuation
These concepts of print are associated to genre knowledge and know how to read different genres. Concepts of print should be connected to oral language, vocabulary, reading aloud, phonemic awareness, and learning letters.
ASSESSMENTS:
- Regularly monitor daily reading activities. Make sure that students are utilizing books and print correctly, starting at the beginning, etc.
- Use checklists to record and document their progress in different types of concepts of print
- Evaluate their print concepts:
• Front of the Book • Knows that print contains the author’s message • Knows where to start reading • Knows which way to go when reading • Return sweep to the left • Word by word matching • First and last concept • Bottom of the picture • Left page before right • Notices one change in word order • Notices one change in letter order • Knows the meaning of the question mark (?) • Knows the meaning of the period (.) • Knows the meaning of the comma (,) • Knows the meaning of quotation marks (“ ”) • Can identify the first and last letter of a word • Can identify one letter and two letters • Can identify capital letters
- Taken from Teaching Children to Read. Reutzel, Ray and Cooter, Robert B. Prentice Hall, 2004. Used and adapted with Permission.
- This checklistquestionnaire gives questions to ask and how to ask them to assess a student’s ability to display their concepts of print.
http://teams.lacoe.edu/DOCUMENTATION/classrooms/patti/k-1/teacher/assessment/print/concepts.html- ASSESSING CONCEPTS OF PRINT - questions to ask in regards to the book awareness
- ASSESSMENT - steps for a teacher/parent to take to assess their concepts of print. This is more informational; text format
MLPP
Steps to intervene problems with concepts of print: This is a how-to with different challenges for teachers to correct a misconception.
Presentation: This is a presentation from USU about concepts of print, research, methods, and the developmental stages of it.
TEACHING CONCEPTS OF PRINT:
Model how to read and work with books
Discuss the parts of books
Show students/draw attention to the concepts of print
Can show as a whole class, in small groups, or have students work with partners
Use matching cards for students to identify
- Regularly monitor daily reading activities. Make sure that students are utilizing books and print correctly, starting at the beginning, etc.
- Use checklists to record and document their progress in different types of concepts of print
- Evaluate their print concepts:
• Front of the Book • Knows that print contains the author’s message • Knows where to start reading • Knows which way to go when reading • Return sweep to the left • Word by word matching • First and last concept • Bottom of the picture • Left page before right • Notices one change in word order • Notices one change in letter order • Knows the meaning of the question mark (?) • Knows the meaning of the period (.) • Knows the meaning of the comma (,) • Knows the meaning of quotation marks (“ ”) • Can identify the first and last letter of a word • Can identify one letter and two letters • Can identify capital letters
- Taken from Teaching Children to Read. Reutzel, Ray and Cooter, Robert B. Prentice Hall, 2004. Used and adapted with Permission.
- This checklistquestionnaire gives questions to ask and how to ask them to assess a student’s ability to display their concepts of print.
http://teams.lacoe.edu/DOCUMENTATION/classrooms/patti/k-1/teacher/assessment/print/concepts.html- ASSESSING CONCEPTS OF PRINT - questions to ask in regards to the book awareness
- ASSESSMENT - steps for a teacher/parent to take to assess their concepts of print. This is more informational; text format
MLPP
Steps to intervene problems with concepts of print: This is a how-to with different challenges for teachers to correct a misconception.
Presentation: This is a presentation from USU about concepts of print, research, methods, and the developmental stages of it.
TEACHING CONCEPTS OF PRINT:
Model how to read and work with books
Discuss the parts of books
Show students/draw attention to the concepts of print
Can show as a whole class, in small groups, or have students work with partners
Use matching cards for students to identify
SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS:
Concepts of print may be difficult for SLL because concepts of print vary by culture. For example, the Chinese read from bottom to top and right to left; this is completely different than English reading. In addition other types of print may not be as readily available or in a different format.
Concepts of print may be difficult for SLL because concepts of print vary by culture. For example, the Chinese read from bottom to top and right to left; this is completely different than English reading. In addition other types of print may not be as readily available or in a different format.
BOOK REFERENCES FOR CONCEPTS OF PRINT...
Bunny Cakes by Rosemary Wells
Bunny Mail by Rosemary Wells
City Signs by Zoran Milich *
I Read Signs by Tana Hoban*
I Read Symbols by Tana Hoban*
School Bus by Donald Crews
Signs by Susan Canizares
Signs at the Store by Mary Hill
Bunny Cakes by Rosemary Wells
Bunny Mail by Rosemary Wells
City Signs by Zoran Milich *
I Read Signs by Tana Hoban*
I Read Symbols by Tana Hoban*
School Bus by Donald Crews
Signs by Susan Canizares
Signs at the Store by Mary Hill