Environmental Print in the classroom- Reading print from the world around us is one of the beginning stages of literacy development. The letters, numbers, shapes, and colors found in logos for products and stores such as McDonald’s, Target, Cheerios, and Campbell’s Soup all provide opportunities for emerging readers to interact with print and the written word in their own environment. We see Environmental Print everywhere, we see logos and signs in our daily lives but as adults we don’t consider it real “reading”. However, Environmental Print is often the first print a child learns to “read”.
Environmental Print is another way to build confidence in young children and get them excited about reading. When children are excited about reading and print holds meaning for them they will learn much faster and begin to make connections to the world around them. When children use the contextual clues found in Environmental Print to “read” then they will be able to transition into the functional print of school more easily.
Over the next month or so please collect cereal boxes covers, snack item packaging, the logo/labels from a new toy, Nike/Adidas shoe boxes, etc. and bring them in for us to collect and display.
