Using print in the environment to promote early writing

Gerde, H.K., Goetsch, M.E., & Bingham, G.E. (2016). Using print in the environment to promote early writing. The Reading Teacher, 70(3), 283-293.

Activities for using environmental print in early childhood classrooms fill this practical but also theoretically grounded article. Though there is nothing new here for seasoned, well-informed early childhood educators, this collection of activities will be especially useful for beginning teachers and for those working in early childhood settings but who have not had early childhood coursework. Even for those seasoned early childhood educators, the article is a handy reference for planning, and it would also work well as a resource in training and teacher education. The article is clear and practical enough that it might also be good for parent education in some contexts.

The article begins with a classroom vignette that will engage readers. Next comes a concise and convincing case for providing a print-rich environment, followed by a discussion of two ways environmental print is often used ineffectively in classrooms. The authors make the case that environmental print must be more than just present in the classroom; it must be meaningful to children, and it must be used purposefully to help children learn to write. They describe what makes print meaningful, and provide guidelines for engaging children with environmental print.

Under each guideline, specific strategies are described, with details that teachers will appreciate. Photographs are provided for a number of activities. The article is packed full of ideas. One particularly helpful element is Table 1 (p. 286), which outlines 10 different ways to post children’s names. I have always maintained that a child’s name is her/his most important word to learn, and there is so much power in mastering that important word!

I plan to include this helpful article as a resource in a course on language and literacy development that I am currently redeveloping. I’d definitely recommend it for the resource files of all early childhood educators and all literacy educators.