Print Concepts
What are Print Concepts?
It is an awareness of print in our everyday environment. Concepts about print involve understanding the difference between letters, words, punctuation and directionality. Print concepts foster reading comprehension and vocabulary growth.
Print Concepts Include Knowing:
Book Concepts Include Understanding:
Ways To Help Your Child With Print Concepts:
It is an awareness of print in our everyday environment. Concepts about print involve understanding the difference between letters, words, punctuation and directionality. Print concepts foster reading comprehension and vocabulary growth.
Print Concepts Include Knowing:
- What a letter is
- What a word is
- What a sentence is
- That there are spaces between words
- That sentences start with capitals
- What the various punctuation marks mean (. , ? ! "") and when they are used
- That oral language can be written and then read
- That print provides the reader with a message or information
Book Concepts Include Understanding:
- That a book is for reading
- The function and location of a book’s front, back, top, and bottom
- How to turn the pages properly
- That in the English language we read from left to right
- Where to begin reading
- The difference between print and pictures
- Where to locate the title, dedication page, author, and illustrator
- Where to locate the index or glossary pages if applicable
- Understand the difference between a story book and an informational text
Ways To Help Your Child With Print Concepts:
- During shared reading, point out concepts of books (i.e., front cover, author/ illustrator and their roles, top and bottom of page, where you should begin reading, etc.).
- Using your or your child's finger to point at text during shared reading. This reinforces the concept of word and word boundaries as well as directionality.
- Re-read the text and point out print and book concepts in the story.
- When reading go on a scavenger hunt. Find letters, words, sentences, punctuation and capitals in story books, poems, newspapers or billboards.