Organizing Early Language and Literacy Instructions Essay

Describe a writing center and explain how each item/feature encourages early literacy. How does Functional Print help children learn about literacy?

A writing center is classroom section that is allocated to facilitate children's writing skills. This special area contains items such as pens, pencils, markers, as well as papers that differ in colors, textures, and sizes. These items contribute to early literacy in various ways.

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A variety of paper needs to be at the writing center. Some of the important pieces of paper at the writing center include typical story paper, lined theme paper, unlined paper, cards, and envelopes among others. These materials encourage early literacy by allowing the children to practice their writing skills on different platforms. The more exposure the children have to different kinds of writing paper, the better they will be able to judge their own writing skills and take measures aimed at improving. The paper also enables the children to practice other skills such as art.

A variety of writing tools are also made available at the writing center. These tools may include felt-tip pens, crayons, markers, and pencils. All these items are used differently depending on the task at hand. Crayons help the children to practice the coloring skills on after drawing. Pencils are important for children can easily erase what they have written bearing in mind that at a young age they are allowed to make mistakes in writing. Also, the purpose of the felt-tip pens is to allow the children to become neat and effective in their writing. It is evident that these items complement each other to improve the literacy of the children.

An alphabet chart can be an important part of the writing center. This chart is the most important item for children who are still learning the alphabet. It helps the children can use this chart to learn how different alphabetical letters are written in lower case and upper case. The writing center can include a file drawer for the storage of file folders. The file drawer is important because it keeps the writing center neat and tidy. More importantly, it is used to store important material which can be used for reference by children in future dates. This can help the children to see writing mistakes that they have made in the past and take corrective measures with the help of the teachers hence improving the literacy of the children during that time.

Some teachers also recommend a bulletin board for a writing center. The importance of this board is that it displays the samples of the work that has been done by children. Some of the work may include stories, postcards, and letters. The bulletin board encourages early literacy learning by displaying some of the best work for the children to learn from. The walls of the writing center may include posters of children writing. The posters encourage early literacy by providing an environment that encourages learning. I feel that the children will be more comfortable in an environment which has posters of them learning.

Card sets are also important items in the writing center. The children use the card sets to write special words. This encourages literacy learning as the children learn at an early stage in life how to use make special notes on cards. These are skills that can be applied at later stages in their lives to write special notes for special occasions such as birthdays, weddings, and burial ceremonies. Therefore, the card sets facilitate early literacy learning by providing an opportunity for children to practice skills for writing on cards.

Furthermore, every writing center needs computers. The computers must be enabled with word processing programs. In the information age, it is essential for every child to understand not only how to write but also how to type the same information on the computers. Therefore, computers encourage early literacy by enabling helping the children to sharpen their typing skills at an early age.

Functional Print refers to the materials provided in print-rich environment to encourage early literacy learning. Functional print includes inventory lists, sign-up lists, messages, calendars, schedules, directions, lists, and schedules. These types of functional print types help the children to develop early literacy in various ways.

The teacher may use labels to delineate tasks for the children. They can also be used in the organization of the classroom. For instance, labels can be placed on children's belongings to avoid confusion and loss. Labels can also be used for indication of the content in containers around the classroom as well as on shelves to show where to find different items around the classroom and their names. These labels make it easier for the children to know where to return the items once they are no longer in use.

Functional print can also be used to provide directions or instructions on how some items around the classroom are used. This may include rules and regulations that the children must adhere to as well as instructions on how electronics such as computers can be used. It is important to provide such instructions because children tend to make mistakes hence they may spoil some of the important items in the classroom. In that manner, functional prints help the children in learning literacy.