Volume 10: Environmental Print and Your Child
What is "Environmental Print"? Environmental Print is the first print that children learn. It is the symbols, signs, numbers, and colours in the signs around us. Signs that we see on a daily basis. Signs that we don't have to read, we just know what they stand for or what they say. A few examples would be food labels, store signs, street signs, traffic signs and various logos.
As adults, we don't have to "read" these signs. We look at them as we are driving by. Our eyes catch the colour, shape and symbols and immediately process the message. This is what children need to learn.
Environmental Print typically is a concept that is "taught" or "introduced" in Kindergarten and Grade One. However, having said that, our children are exposed to Environmental Print from a very early age. What can you do as a parent to help your child with their pre-reading skills? Point signs out while walking or driving in your neighbourhood or town. Eventually, they will begin to recognize the signs on their own and be able to "read" them with confidence. Confidence is key to learning how to read. Help your child feel empowered by exposing them to Environmental Print.
Just be careful, because it may come to bite you in the behind ;) My 2 year old daughter can "read" many signs that I wish she never knew (e.g. McDonad's, Tim Hortons, etc.). Knowing how to read these signs can be cause for terrible two tantrums!
This month, I plan on making my daughter an Environmental Print book. I will sit down with her and read the flyers and ask her to point to the stores that she knows. We will cut the pictures of those words together and then glue them into a homemade book that she can read. Children have so much fun reading these books. The books are theirs. They belong to them and are made especially for them.
To learn more about Environment Print and your child, please visit:
No comments:
Post a Comment