What are emergent literacy skills associated with?

Emergent literacy skills are foundational abilities that prepare children to understand and engage with reading and writing. These skills include print awareness, which involves recognizing that print carries meaning and understanding the concepts of books, such as how to hold them, turning the pages, and distinguishing between letters and words. Additionally, these skills encompass the recognition of sight words, which are commonly used words that children learn to recognize automatically without needing to sound them out.

Understanding these components highlights the importance of early literacy development strategies that focus on exposure to books, print in the environment, and encouraging the recognition of frequent words in a child's vocabulary. By nurturing these emergent literacy skills, caregivers and educators lay the groundwork for more complex literacy skills that will be developed later, such as reading comprehension and advanced writing techniques.