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Early Literacy in Preschool and Kindergarten: A Multicultural Perspective, 4th edition

Published by Pearson (February 4, 2014) © 2015

  • Janice J. Beaty Professor Emerita, Elmira College
  • Linda Pratt

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  • How preschool children’s reading and writing skills emerge: The first nine chapters describe emergent reading and writing in preschool, leading up to children’s literature acquisition in kindergarten in Chapter 10.
    • Preschool teachers get an in-depth look at how preschool children’s reading and writing emerge and the activities that most encourage progress.
    • Kindergarten teachers get an overview of emergent literacy to help children transition to conventional reading and writing in kindergarten.
    • Chapter 8, "How Reading Emerges,” presents important information on how to engage preschool children in actual reading. Included are features like:
      • Repetitive-Word Book Spinoffs
      • Page-by-Page Reading
      • Picture Walking
      • Visible Speech Book Spinoffs
      • Large Font Book Spinoffs
  • Incorporating multicultural literature into the classroom: The multicultural books on which activities are based are easily located in adjacent boxes in the text’s margins.
    • NEW! Includes new learning center activities using literacy spinoffs from multicultural picture books.
    • Information about 240 picture books, including 107 new titles, is available in boxes adjacent to their spinoffs.
    • Book spinoffs are included for many relevant topics, such as teasing and bullying.
    • Children learn about today’s multicultural society through a variety of resources like puppets, dolls, character cutouts, drums, painting, MP3 recorders, ebooks, computers, role-playing, and dramatic theater that bring book characters to life.
  • Support for dual language learners, to help them learn English quickly and easily, while facilitating communication between teachers and their ELL students (Ch. 5).
  • NEW! Technology appropriate for preschool programs. Included are:
    • A list of new tools, with a discussion of each tool’s age-appropriate and educational uses.
    • NAEYC principles: The core knowledge necessary for young children to write and read is presented according to the latest NAEYC’s literacy curriculum criteria, culminating with the Common Core State Standards in kindergarten.
    • Multimedia programs and appropriate websites provide excellent supplemental material related to the text.
  • NEW! A multicultural focus includes new book spinoffs about teasing and bullying, support for dual language learners, new translation software for home languages, and easily locatable features on multicultural books adjacent to their corresponding activities.
  • NEW! Coverage of technology appropriate for preschool programs includes a list of new tools and a discussion about each tool’s age-appropriate and educational uses; NAEYC principles to guide the use of technology and interactive media; and relevant multimedia programs and websites.
  • NEW! Up-to-date research on early literacy that helps teachers choose effective brain-development activities, such as using nursery rhymes, chanting, and steady beat sounds to increase attention to language among young learners.
  • NEW! Chapter 3, Early Phonological Awareness, discusses the importance of immersion in language activities involving word sounds for young children, and provides examples for teachers to use in the classroom.
  • NEW! Print referencing is covered in Chapter 8, describing the process by which preschool children can begin to read certain words.
  • NEW! Word-segmenting coverage in Chapter 4 shows how to help children divide speech into separate words through poetry book rhymes, and how to teach syllable awareness through fun reading activities.
  • NEW! Common Core State Standards for foundational reading skills and anchor standards in kindergarten are covered in Chapter 10, providing a way for teachers to determine children’s basic skills and how best to help students progress.
  • NEW! The importance of informational texts in kindergarten is covered in Chapter 10.
  • NEW! Response to Intervention is discussed as an early intervention strategy to head off protracted failure in children’s academic programs from K-12 (Ch. 10).

Brief Contents


Chapter 1     Foundations of Early Literacy 

Chapter 2     A Multicultural Perspective  

Chapter 3     Language Emergence in Young Children   

Chapter 4     Music as a Natural Language

Chapter 5     Speaking and Listening      

Chapter 6     Art as a Natural Language 

Chapter 7     Becoming a Writer 

Chapter 8     How Reading Emerges  

Chapter 9     Home Book Experience  

Chapter 10   Becoming a Reader 

Appendix     Multicultural Paperback Books from Scholastic      

References 

Index of Children’s Books

Janice J. Beaty, Professor Emerita, Elmira College, Elmira, New York, is a full-time writer of early childhood college textbooks and a consultant and trainer in early childhood education from her home in Cape Coral, Florida. Her textbooks include Skills for Preschool Teachers; Observing Development of the Young Child; 50 Early Childhood Literacy Strategies; and 50 Early Childhood Guidance Strategies. At present Dr. Beaty is involved in an early literacy mentoring program with Foster Grandparents in schools and Head Start programs in Central Missouri.
Linda Pratt is the Executive Director of Teacher Education and a Professor of Education at Elmira College. For more than 20 years she has taught both graduate and undergraduate courses in literacy education and has directed the graduate program in teaching literacy. Her primary scholarly interests are literacy acquisition and international education. Dr. Pratt has given presentations on literacy in the United States as well as in Asia, the Bahamas and Caribbean, Canada, Europe, and South America. She and Dr. Beaty have also given presentations together, as well as coauthored the textbook Transcultural Children’s Literature, published by Merrill/Prentice Hall.

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