Concepts About Print refers to the foundational understandings emergent readers need to have about how printed language works and represents language. These concepts include print awareness, knowledge of book and print concepts, and include understanding front/back of books, directionality of reading from left to right, that print carries meaning at the letter, word, and sentence level, and that words are separated by spaces. Concepts About Print are taught through shared reading experiences with big books, charts, and poems, as well as guided reading, story dictations, and exploring print in the classroom.

1. Concepts About Print
Concepts About Print refers to what emergent readers need to
understand about how printed language works and how it
represents language.
Concepts about print is:
• Print awareness: being aware of print in the environment
• Knowledge of print and book concepts
• Learned through shared reading of big book, enlarged
charts, and poems
• Taught through interactive or guided/shared reading, story
dictations, or exploring print in the classroom. Marie Clay.
Book Concepts:
• Front, back, top, and bottom of a book
• Where to start reading
• Beginning and end of a book
• Title, author, and illustrator
Print Concepts:
• Print is read from left to right and top to bottom
• Print carries meaning
• Meaning of a letter, a word, and a sentence
• Words have spaces between them
• Capital letters and punctuation marks
BEC Benchmark education PD