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. 

Student Actions 

Teacher Actions 

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

• Students will begin to understand that letters make up words.

• Students will understand that spaces separate words. 

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

• Teachers discuss how letters can be combined to create words.  

• Teachers model recognizing how letters combine to make words by highlighting words in poems and other class read aloud.

• Teachers discuss how words are separated by spaces.

• Teachers use text to show how words are separated by spaces.

Resources

Teacher Insights 

Balanced Literacy Diet:  Concepts of Print (webpage/videos)

• Students need guidance and support when recognizing that letters make up words and are separated by spaces.
• When students begin to understand that letters represent words, they are moving from the logographic or pre-alphabetic stage to the early alphabetic stage.
• In this stage, students begin to understand that letters represent sounds and make up words.
• There is sometimes the belief that students will eventually figure out the concepts of words in sentences simply by interacting with texts. Students secure these skills and understanding more efficiently with intentional instruction and repeated exposure through interactions during reading time.
•  Morning messages and mini-writing lessons allow time for students to be exposed to concepts of print, including the need/reason for spaces between words in a consistent and casual setting. Use this time to intentionally point out concept of print. 

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.