Every parent wants to know that his or her child will enter school and be placed in an environment that will foster language and literacy development.

It is a known fact that new school entrants thrive in environments in which teachers engage in frequent conversations about topics that interest children.

In addition, they are learning about letters and the printed word, so they benefit from lots of exposure to letters and print as well as many opportunities to write each day.

How can parents assess this environment to ensure the quality of the instruction their child will receive?

Engaging talk

Do the teacher and children talk together often?

Parents should look for environments in which teachers and children talk together about new words and ideas.

Environments in which teachers listen to children and ask them questions are best for language development.

Daily read aloud

Is there daily read-aloud time? Classes in the early years and even preschool should offer at least one daily read aloud in which the teacher not only reads to children but also encourages response and discussion about the book.

Extension activities like art or projects can extend children's understanding of a book.

Phonemic awareness

Is there instruction in phonemic awareness? Phonemic awareness, or the ability to hear fine distinctions between letters and sounds, blend sounds together to form words, and break words into individual sounds, is essential for learning to read.

Quality instruction is about finding a variety of ways that promote phonemic awareness from rhyming games to sorting objects beginning with the same sounds, to reading books involving language and play.

Letters and words

Do children learn letters and words? Quality instruction in the first years weave letters into a wide variety of activities, including reading Big Books (very large size, large print books designed for group reading), doing ABC colouring pages, making cookies with cookie cutters, and doing ABC puzzles.

The new school entrant should also be learning some commonly used words, such as "the" and "you", as whole words.

Learning how print works

Do children learn about the way print works?

Gaining a basic understanding of the way print works is essential to learning to read. Knowing that print goes from left to right, that the spoken word corresponds to the one written word, and that we use periods and other marks of punctuation to separate sentences are important concepts for young children to understand.

These concepts can be taught through reading Big Books together and talking explicitly about the way print works.

Suitable books

Are age appropriate books available? For the new school entrant, picture storybooks and colourful informational books on topics that interest children, such as animals, transportation, and dinosaurs are necessary.

There should be access to short books designed for beginning readers.

Books should be placed so that children can get them easily and sorted by level, genre, or topic so that children can begin to practice selecting appropriate books.

Comfortable spot for reading

Is there a comfortable spot for reading? Very young children entering school still love to cuddle up and look at books.

Parents should look to see if classrooms have a cosy "book nook" with pillows or soft seating.

Opportunities for writing

Are there opportunities for children to write? The ideal classroom provide children with many, many opportunities to write throughout the day.

Children at this age can learn to write individual letters and write their names.

They can also draw pictures and write labels, make lists, write stories, use writing in pretend play, and write cards and letters.

Children's writing should be on display to demonstrate the value of their efforts.

Classrooms should reflect race and culture

Do you see your child's racial or cultural background reflected in the classroom? All children should have the opportunity to see books with characters that look and speak like them.

Parents can make sure their children see evidence of his or her background in the classroom, either through diversity of teachers and students, or through books and other materials.

Linking home and school

Is the link between home and school valued? Children learn best when their parents and teachers work together. Look for environments in which teachers have ways of communicating with parents regularly, such as newsletters or notes about children's days.

Schools can offer evening workshops or have lending libraries of parents' resources.

literacymatters@logic.bm