Standard 2: Reading Foundations

Students will develop foundational skills for future reading success by working with sounds, letters, and text.

PRINT CONCEPTS: Students will demonstrate their understanding of the organization and basic features of print, including book handling skills and the understanding that printed materials provide information and tell stories. 

PK.2.PC.2 Students will understand that print carries a message by recognizing labels, signs, and other print in the environment with guidance and support. 

Student Actions 

Teacher Actions 

*Students at this level require guidance and support during instructional opportunities for this objective.

• Students will recognize that print in the environment has meaning.

Students at this level require guidance and support during instructional opportunities for this objective. 

• Teachers use opportunities to point out signs, labels, and posters and explain their meanings.

• Teachers may use easily recognizable business signs, logos, and symbols to show meaning in print.

• Teachers may gather samples of environmental print and sort in various ways, such as, (food, clothing, restaurant, etc), or matching beginning letters. 

• Teachers monitor and provide opportunities for students to receive feedback when interacting with print in the environment.

Resources

Teacher Insights 

Florida Center for Reading Research:  Pre-K Activities(webpage)

• Classrooms that are print-rich, having labels, poems, charts, and books, provide many opportunities for students to interact with print.

• Explaining environmental print gives purpose to print and introduces students to the idea that text carries meaning.

• Environmental print is the name given to the print that appears in signs, labels, and logos that our students see around them every day.

• Recognition of environmental print helps students merge into the logographic or pre-alphabetic stage of literacy development.

• Students will begin to recognize the sign or logo from their favorite restaurants or toys before recognizing normal words in print.  

• It is a misconception that students recognize the letters and are reading or sounding out words of items they are are seeing every day. In actuality, students see environmental print as a logo or single entity with no attention to specific letters or sounds. 

Due to recursive nature of the standards, it is essential that teachers are aware of how all objectives within and between strands work together for optimal instruction.