Print awareness is the understanding and appreciation of the
forms and the functions of printed language.
By: Laycie Bushey
 Signs
 Television
 Books
 Logos
 Labels
 Newspapers
 Computers
 Billboards
 Calendars
 Bulletin Boards
 Functions of Print-Print carries meaning and can be used
for different purposes. Print awareness is a child’s earliest
introduction to literacy and learning to read. Print
corresponds to speech, word for word.
 Conventions of Print Print is print (no matter the form)
 Print is made up of letters and are separated by spaces
 Sentences start with capital letters, are made up of separate
words, and end with a punctuation mark.
 Text is read from left to right, with a return sweep
 Lines of text are read from top to bottom
 When one page of text is read, the story continues on the next
page.
 Book Conventions- A book…
 has a front cover.
 has a spine.
 is held right side up.
 has a title and a title page.
 has an author; some books have pictures created by an
illustrator.
 has pages. The left page of a book is read before the right
page. Pages are turned one at a time in a sequence from front
to back.
 Even though print appears all around, many children
arrive at school with little exposure to the uses,
methods, or pleasures of print. These things usually
do not occur automatically or unaided.
 A child’s overall awareness of print is the foundation of
reading and writing.
 To expand a child’s early literacy experiences it is
important to provide a print-rich environment and use
print referencing techniques.
 Research has shown a definite link between early print
concepts and future reading success.
 Print knowledge is acquired by most children during the
preschool years.
 In preschool and Kindergarten, the enhancement of
students’ print awareness should be a central goal (Adams
1990).
 In Kindergarten, assess print awareness three times: in the
fall, winter, and spring. Informal Assessment Questions
can be found on page 77 in the Teaching Reading
Sourcebook. These assessments can be used to:
 Adjust the rate of instruction
 Identify the lowest-achieving students. These students
should receive help and careful monitoring in the first six
months of school.
 Create a print-rich environment.
 Provide plenty of read-aloud experiences.
 Embed print referencing cues in shared storybook
reading. Print referencing is a read aloud strategy that
can be used to direct students’ attention to the forms,
features, and functions of written language (Justice
and Pullen 2003).
 You can do this with big books or regular-sized story
books with large print and 20 words or fewer per page,
patterned or predictable text, or print embedded within
the illustrations.
SO, I have a book, now what do I do?
TO DO THIS YOU CAN USE PRINT REFERENCING
CLUES in your lesson…
 Ask questions about print.
 Talk about the book-Cover, Title, Author, and Illustrator.
 Concepts of Print-Make comments about print-Words and
Spaces, count the words, or words that match pictures.
 Point to print when talking about the story.
 Text Directionality-Read from front to back, left to right.
 Track print when reading. Tracking is to follow along with
your finger, pointer, or bookmark while reading.
*If more information is needed, a sample lesson is provided on
page 79 of the textbook.
 Here are some additional questions that can be used
whole group, small group or individually for
observation and assessment of benchmarks:
 Can you show me the front cover of the book?
 Can you show me a word? A space?
 Can you show me where I should start reading on this
page?
 Can you show me which way I should go when I read?
 When I come to the end of the line, where do I go next?
 Print awareness is a child’s earliest introduction to
literacy. There is a direct link between early print
awareness and learning to read.
 Not all children will come to school with the same
print knowledge.
 Print awareness does not happen automatically or
unaided. Adults should point out and talk about the
features of print.
 Create a print-rich classroom, use print referencing
techniques, and provide plenty of read-aloud
experiences.