About Early Literacy

Learning to read and write is one of the most important undertakings children will ever achieve. Literacy is key in a child’s opportunity to succeed in school and to reach his or her human potential. Literacy learning should begin early and be suited to children’s developmental level. Instruction for young children should be playful and imaginative, as well as intentional and systematic. SEEL uses an understanding of early literacy, making it an effective program for helping children develop strong reading skills.

The Components of Literacy

The components of literacy are broad categories of learning that are made up of many individual targets of patterns. The broad categories of literacy include:

phonological and phonemic awareness
letter-sound associations
letter names
phonics & decoding
print awareness
oral language development
vocabulary
story comprehension

Literacy Targets

A literacy target is one or more individual literacy skills or patterns for which attention is given in SEEL instruction. The ability to name the letter M and give it’s sound or say a word that rhymes with /COOK/ are examples of literacy targets. Children must learn these skills to move ever closer to becoming conventional readers and writers.

Learning Literacy Involves Being Engaged

Playful engagement in a variety of literacy-building activities and materials are at the heart of SEEL instruction. Activities, designed to capture children’s interest and give them massive amounts of practice with literacy targets, include telling and enacting stories, exploring interesting materials, making and doing things, playing games, engaging in scripted role-play events, and participating in classroom routines. Within these activities, teachers highlight targeted skills (e.g., words, letters, rhyming words, main story elements) as they interact naturally with the children. During activities, teachers comment on the children’s actions, ask informational questions, give choices, offer turns, and acknowledge children’s comments and ideas.

SEEL