The International Reading Association/National Association for the Education of Young Children joint position statement on developmentally appropriate ways of teaching children to read and write comes to life here with photographs, concrete guidelines, and exciting ideas for the classroom. Experiences commonplace in many homes and early childhood settings—such as adults reading to children—are key in laying the foundation for literacy. Yet these experiences are far from universal. To ensure that all children learn to read and write by the end of third grade, early childhood educators need to know more and do more to promote literacy in effective, developmentally appropriate ways.
I first read Learning to Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children when I was part of a national project to educate preschool professionals, especially teachers in the classroom about the importance of pre-literacy skills for all children. These skills are indicators of future success for a child to be able to read by grade three, which is developmentally appropriate with the natural development of the child both physically and emotionally. I read it again today to remember and for review so I can give a class on children's literacy skills and why they are appropriate at a early childhood educator conference. It is a great resource and one that is based on research and backed by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Eh. More of an extended position on developmentally-appropriate practices for early childhood reading on behalf of NAEYC than concrete writing. However; it gave me lots of ideas for my current classroom!