A Kid’s who has print awareness understands that print represents words that have meaning and are related to spoken language.
Kids who have print awareness can do things like hold a book correctly and understand that books are read from front to back. They also realize that sentences are read from left to right.
Print awareness is one of five critical pre-reading skills. Without print awareness, children are unable to develop other literacy skills such as reading, spelling, and handwriting. Book printing
How Print Awareness Develops
Kids who are read to regularly naturally pick up many of the skills by following the examples of the people around them.
A kid’s print awareness develops when those close to him point out letters and words in the text found in the kid’s environment. It also develops through playing word games, when you turn the pages of a book, and when you run your finger under a line of text as you read.
Quick Check for Print Awareness
Here are five signs that indicate that your kid has print awareness.
Print awareness purple checkmark,
Your kid understands that books are read from front to back and left to right and knows how to turn the pages correctly.
Print awareness blue checkmark,
Your child knows how to hold a book correctly. If you hand your kid a book upside down, he will turn it right side up before looking through it.
Print awareness blue checkmark,
Your kid points to the text and asks what it says. He has become curious about the meaning of the printed text he sees all around him.
Print awareness green checkmark,
Your child pretends to write by scribbling or writing marks on paper. He understands that the “words” he is writing communicate meaning.
Print awareness purple checkmark
Your kid picks up a familiar book and “reads” it aloud. He understands that the printed words are connected to the story.