Creating a Literacy Rich Environment

The most important thing we as parents and teachers can do to support children's literacy development and literacy learning is to create a literacy-rich environment. According to Reading Rockets, a literacy-rich environment "emphasizes the importance of speaking, reading, and writing in the learning of all students." This environment offers all students a wide range of literacy experiences and actively engages them in regular opportunities to read, write, speak, and listen. Repeated exposure and practice with literacy tasks are essential to children's literacy development and learning.

What would a literacy-rich environment look like?

A literacy-rich environment would have a wide variety of reading materials available to children. Books, magazines, signs, flyers, dictionaries, and more could be used to provide this variety. A variety of content is also valuable; books in different genres, including both fiction and nonfiction, and materials covering different topics provide a plethora of reading opportunities to children.

Labels, posters, and alphabet displays would also be expected in a literacy-rich environment. Everywhere children look, they would be exposed to letters and words.

A literacy-rich environment would have materials available for writing as well. Pencils, pens, crayons, markers, paper, notebooks, magnetic writing boards, and computers can all provide opportunities for children to engage in writing activities. For young children who may not be able to write on their own yet, materials like markers and paper or large post-it notes could be used for children to dictate to an adult, who could write for them, in a shared writing experience.

Opportunities for speaking and listening would also exist in a literacy-rich environment. There should be lots of TALK - adults talking to children, children talking to adults, and children talking to one another. Asking open ended questions and modeling talk are both great practices for encouraging more speaking from children. Perhaps materials for children to put on a play or a puppet show would be available. Audiobooks or Tonieboxes might be available to provide opportunities to listen to stories, songs, and information.

How do I get started?

We will continue to talk about many ways to create and develop a literacy-rich environment, including resources and activities you can use with children. But let's talk about some things you can do to get started.

1. The first step is to evaluate your environment as it is now. Take stock of what is already there. Ask yourself, "What opportunities does my environment have for reading? For writing? For speaking? For listening?"

2. For each of the areas of literacy (reading, writing, speaking, and listening), consider what you could easily add or improve in your home or classroom. If there was an area in number 1 that you found particularly lacking, focus more on what you could add for that area.

3. Examine the reading materials you have available and how they are used. Do you have a variety of text types available, or are they mostly the same? Who reads them and when? If your children are too young to read books themselves, do you read to them, and if so, when? Even if children are not able to read words yet, it is still important to allow them to interact with books on their own (look at pictures, practice turning pages, make up their own stories, etc.), but you will also want to ensure that they have opportunities to have books read to them. It could be built into your daily schedule at specific times, or it could be done throughout the day as desired. Consider whether different materials should be added to your environment and whether you need to adjust how the materials are being used.

4. For one day, pay attention to how much time you spend talking and how much time your children spend talking. Is there a good balance? Do your children have plenty of opportunities both to hear and to use language throughout the day? Are there times and places where you could increase their opportunities for hearing and/or using language?

A significant step in creating a literacy-rich environment is knowing what to look for and pay attention to in your environment. So, start there. Examine your environment and begin to consider ways that you could improve children's opportunities to read, write, speak, and listen. As children become immersed in literacy through the environment around them, they become primed for language and literacy development and learning.