1. September 23, 2014
Concepts of print are the
understanding of how
print/text works to create
meaning.

2. Questions about the blogs
My apologies for the glitch this week!
1. Are you reading your peer/my comments?
2. How do you choose which blogs to read?

3. 2 Stage Models of Literacy
Development
Piaget’s
Theory of
Cognitive
Development
Chall’s 5
Stages of
Cognitive
Development

4. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive
Development
Retrieved from: http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Piaget's_Stages

5. Key Points in Developmental Stages
Stage Key Points
The child can use language and process in
an abstract way
Abstract Reasoning
Formal Operational
(adolescence to adulthood)
The child will use concrete representation to help
them understand the abstract.
Conservation
Concrete Operational:
(7-11 years)
Rapid language development occurs. Children at
this stage of development form categories and
organize information to keep equilibrium in their
world.
Egocentrism
Preoperational
(2-7 years)
Knowledge of the world through
sensory stimulus and motor behavior
Object Permanence
Sensorimotor
(0-2 years)
(Tracey & Mandel Morrow (2006)

6. How does this apply to reading?
Children continue to hone their
abstract reading skills and become
more interpretive readers.
Formal operational
(adolescence to adulthood)
The children begin to read to learn. They can
use their knowledge of concrete information
to help them understand the abstract.
However, their knowledge of the abstract is
limited.
Concrete Operational
(7-11)
Language development occurs. Children
begin symbolic play and deferred
imitation. They begin to develop a
repertoire of sight words. They begin to
create categories in which to store and
retrieve new words. (schema)
Preoperational
(2-7)
The beginning of developing
schemas that build the foundation for
later stage reading and language
development.
Sensorimotor
(0-2)
(Tracey & Mandel Morrow (2006)

7. Chall’s Five Stages of Reading
Development
Stage 0: Prereading
Stage 1: (Grade 1) Learning the alphabetic principle
Stage 2: (Grades 2 & 3) Children become more fluent and can
sound out and decode words in print.
Stage 3: (Grades 4-9) Reading is used to learn new ideas, gain
new knowledge, and gain new viewpoints.
Stage 4: (High school) Students can read widely from complex
and various materials both expository and narrative.
Stage 5: (College) The most mature level of reading in which
readers construct their own meaning from text.
Chall, Jacobs, & Baldwin (1990)

8. Diagnostic Study Group
Discussion with your group regarding:
● Your parent survey
● Print Referencing Strategy
● Kidwatching chapters 3 & 4
3-2-1 Bridge Thinking Routine

9. 3-2-1 Bridge for Concepts of Print

10. Common Core Expectations:
Foundational Skills-K

11. Common Core Expectations:
Foundational Skills: 1
From Common Core State Standards, National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council
of Chief State School Officers Title: Common Core State Standards (insert specific content area if you are
using only one) Publisher: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief
State School Officers, Washington D.C. Copyright Date: 2010

12. Concepts of Print
● A student’s individual understanding of the conventions we use to
communicate meaning in print.
● varied amongst children with roots in family and older sibling’s print
exposure.
● A student with developing print awareness will begin to realize that
books have some common characteristics.
● By assessing understanding and misunderstandings within these
concepts, we can identify what students already know was well as
what needs to be learned. This assessment is usually given to
kindergarteners and struggling readers in grade 1.
Book Suggestion: Clay, M. (2000) Concepts about print: What have children learned about the way we print language?
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

13. ● It is print that we read, not pictures.
● Illustrations are related to the print.
● Print represents language.
● There are many purposes for print.
● Words don’t change between readings.
● We read words from left to right (directionality).
● We read from word to word from left to right.
● We read from top to bottom.
● We use return sweep- when we get to the next line down,
we start at the left again (like a typewriter)
(Adapted from Duke, 2008)

14. ● Space separates words.
● Words, sentences, and texts have a beginning and end.
● Words have a “first letter”, “last letter”, and “middle letters”.
● The orientation of letters matters in print. (For example, a p could be a
p, q, d, or b depending on the orientation of the letter).
● There is a “right side up for print”.
● We hold a book a certain way.
● We open books a certain way.
● Pages are turned from left to right.
● Books have a front, back, cover, author and sometimes an illustrator.
● There are other important parts in some books, such as an index,
glossary, and table of contents.
● Knowledge of punctuation and upper and lower case letters.
(Adapted from Duke, 2008)

15. Common Concepts of Print Inquiries
● Where is the front of the book?
● Where does the story start?
● Where am I reading from?
● What is a letter?
● What is a word?
● Where do I start reading?
● Where do I go after that?
● Questions of book-reading vocabulary: word,
letter, beginning of sentence, top of page,
bottom of page

16. Guidelines for Choosing a Text
● Should be engaging
● Consistent layout of words and texts
● Good spacing
● basic sight words
● basic punctuation
● Should have salient print within the body of
the text as well as within illustrations.
The teacher should read the book to the child with the
child looking on and responding to questions.

17. Concepts About Print Tool
Tools are meant to discover all the student has
experienced and noticed or ignored. We are not trying
to figure out all they know about print.
This link can be found on Blackboard under content,
assessment tools.
TC Concepts of Print Tool
Kidwatching: Pages 105-109
Teacher Admin
If you already use a
protocol at your
school, you may use
that one. You should
have various
protocols in your
toolkit though!

18. Four Domains of Print Knowledge
● Print Meaning Domain
○ Print Function
○ Environmental Print
○ Concept of Reading
● Book Order and
Organization Domain
○ Page order
○ Title of book
○ Top and bottom of
page
○ Print direction
○ Author's role
● Letters Domain
○ Names of Letters
○ Concept of Letters
○ Upper and Lower
case letters
● Words Domain
○ Concept of word in
print
○ Short vs. long words
○ Letters vs. words
○ Word identification
Justice, Sofka, Sutton, & Zucker (2006)

19. Thoughts...
Concept of print is often assumed but seldom
assessed or taught. Why you think a concept of
print is often just expected in classrooms?

20. Ways to Build Concept of Print
● Daily Interactive read alouds that include print
referencing, repeated reads
● Morning Meeting with chart writing and reading practice
● Talk during conferences that includes book-reading
vocabulary
● Print-referencing: Verbal and nonverbal references to
print
○ Tracking print
○ pointing to print
○ request
○ comment
○ question
Zucker, Ward, Justice (2009)

21. Concepts about Print: Planning
Instruction
Concepts of Print
instruction can take
place in:
● Whole class
instruction
● Small Groups
● One-One
conferences
Zucker, Ward, Justice (2009)
Call attention to all
salient print in text:
● Print in illustrations
○ labels
○ diagrams
○ visible speech
○ visible sound
○ letters in isolation
○ environmental print
● Print in body of text
○ Font changes
○ Bold or unique fonts

22. 3-2-1 Bridge for Concepts of Print

23. To Do for Next Time
● Assessment in Perspective Chapter 3
● Lane. Pullen, Eisele, & Jordan. (2002) Preventing
Reading Failure: Phonological awareness
assessment and instruction. Preventing School
Failure.
● Blog post by Sunday night at 8:00 PM (One
paragraph)
● Administer Concepts of Print Tool to your reader.