Concepts of Print Instructional Strategies

     It’s important to engage students with as many different forms of print, like books, magazines, comics, poems, because it takes away that fear of something new that can block students’ ability to focus on the task at hand. The classroom should be a print rich environment with the alphabet, word walls, samples of quotes and poems etc. Talking with the students about the richness of such a variety of print can also feed many other topics. The ability to tie ideas and concepts together in ways that reinforce each other over and over again helps students use the real world as a tool to strengthen their background knowledge. There are a multitude of activities to help teach and strengthen students’ concepts of print:

• Reading to the class is a great way of modeling the relationship and meaning of words. The younger you start the better!!!
  
• When reading to the class, using a variety of types and sizes of books, or magazines.
  
• Encourage students to interact with the text via predictions as to what will happen, picture talks, highlighting text, meanings, and disusing different book features.
  
• Reading poems that relate to the content of lessons is great in helping students flexibility.
  
• It’s important to model when reading what the print is saying ie. Fluency: pausing when there is a coma, stopping at the end of a sentence, tone for excitement and questions.
  
• Assessment (what will be learned and one way that it is assessed)
• Use pointers when reading in a big book to help students learn how to track print

​References​

• ​Holdgreve-Resendez, R. T. (2010a). Concepts of Print and Genre. Extracted from www.angel.msu.edu on October 13, 2010. Concept of Print and Genre.
• Admin. (2022, June 14). 20 tips for teaching concepts of print. Little Learning Corner. Retrieved July 30, 2022, from https://littlelearningcorner.com/2020/08/20-tips-for-teaching-concepts-of-print.html