Component 3: Print Knowledge
Learning Goal 3.a: Children demonstrate book awareness and knowledge of basic print conventions; they understand that print carries meaning and spoken words are represented by text.
By 9 months, most children:
- Explore physical features of books
- Demonstrate an interest in books from among a collection of toys
- Demonstrate an interest in books by looking intently at or reaching for colorful pictures in books
By 18 months, most children:
- Demonstrate an increasing ability to handle books without assistance
- Hold books and look at pictures as if reading
- Respond to features of books, such as pictures and sensory features (e.g., the fluffy cotton in Pat the Bunny)
- Actively participate in shared reading experiences by pointing to and turning pages
By 24 months, most children:
- Open books and bring books to an adult to read
- Point out pictures in books and say the names of items in the pictures
- Actively participate in shared reading experiences by making one- or two-word comments and continuing to point to and turn pages
By 36 months, most children:
- Recognize specific books by their covers and seek out specific pages in familiar books
- Know where books are kept, take them to an adult reader, and return books to their designated place when finished
- Make scribble marks on paper and “read” the meaning they assign to the marks
- Recognize letters and numerals as a special form of symbol that can be individually named
By 48 months, most children:
- Hold a book in correct orientation and turn pages from front to back, usually one at a time
- Demonstrate an understanding that print carries meaning and can be read (e.g., dictating words to adults, recognizing their own name or a sibling’s name, pointing to a street sign and asking an adult, “What does that say?”)
- Imitate the act of reading a book and demonstrate appropriate book-handling skills
- Handle and care for books in a respectful manner
By 60 months, most children:
- Demonstrate an awareness of various conventions of print (e.g., upper- and lower-case letters, different fonts) and indicate where to start reading on a page and how to progress across and down a page
- Describe roles of authors and illustrators and connect books to specific authors of illustrators
- Identify familiar words in books and the environment
- Recognize their own printed name and those of their siblings or friends
