1. The early years : a time to begin
When do children begin to learn about reading and writing?
Myths about literacy development
2. The beginning : babies and books
Matching books to a baby's development
Suggestions for reading to the baby
Books 4- to 6-month-old babies enjoy
Suggestions for reading to the baby
Books 7- to 9-month-old babies enjoy
Suggestions for reading to the baby
Books 9- to 12-month-old babies enjoy
Suggestions for reading to the baby
Books 12- to 18-month-old babies enjoy
Suggestions for reading to the baby
Books that toddlers enjoy
Suggestions for reading to the toddler
Sharing books with infants and toddlers in group settings
3. Preschoolers and books : contexts for learning about language and the world
Books and language learning
Learning new words from books
Book characteristics and word learning
Strategies for increasing children's word learning from storybooks
Explicit instruction on word meanings in "real-world" contexts
Explicit instruction on word meanings in the story-reading context
Storybook experience and overall language development
Book experience and the development of text structure knowledge
Book reading and sensitivity to the sounds of language
Phonemic segmentation and learning to read and write
Using books to prime conscious sensitivity to phonemes
Books and background knowledge
Good books for preschoolers
4. Preschoolers and books : contexts for reading, props for children's play
Reading along with others ; reading all by themselves
Predictable books support chiming in and independent retelling
Strategies used in storybook reading
Storybook-reading behavior : experience matters
From "story not formed" to "story formed," and from "oral-language-like" to "written-language-like"
From picture-governed to print-governed reading
Reluctance to read : preludes to a major step forward
Learning to enjoy reading and being a reader
Making books available to children in the preschool classroom
Selecting books for and displaying books in a book area
Appeal of the book-area display
Listening post, flannel boards, and puppets
Providing social support for children's use of books
Books as props to support children's play
5. Young children and writing
Getting writing to look like writing
Making marks : from scribble to alphabet letters
Writing with and practicing letters
Choosing from a writing repertoire
Learning to write alphabet letters
Fine-motor development and handwriting
Organizing writing on a page
Learning that alphabet letters represent speech at the phoneme level
Children's early hypotheses about how words are created
Words are related physically to what they represent
Writing consists of arbitrary visual designs
Letter strings are based on visual rules
The transition from visual hypotheses to sound-based hypotheses
Phoneme-level invented spellings
Does inventing spellings harm children?
Phoneme-based spelling combined with orthographic information
Learning about the many purposes of writing
Learning to think about an audience
Supporting children's writing efforts
6. Organizing the environment to support literacy development
Using print to organize the preschool classroom
Helper and attendance charts
Daily schedule and calendar charts
Using print in classroom activities
Materials for specific literacy practice
Alphabet-learning materials
Appendix 1. Helping children learn about reading
Appendix 2. Learning to read and write.