We have always wanted all children to read and write fluently. But with our growing dependence on computer based communication and the return of public interest in early schooling, much attention is being paid to the attainment of literacy. Fortunately, some of this interest has resulted in careful research into what skills, understandings and attitudes are necessary prerequisites for success in the primary grades.

Filmed in several multicultural preschool and kindergarten classrooms, this film reviews the underlying cognitive, social and physical requirements for all formal education and then presents the literacy specific understandings and skills that are being widely cited, but not always adequately described. Along with instructive visuals from these classrooms, serious scholarship and clever graphics are combined to introduce students to current concepts and the specialized vocabulary pertaining to the development of literacy. Rejecting the "either/or" approach of the reading wars, this video presents an integrated vision of how the precursors of literacy grow from appropriate experiences provided by thoughtful adults to the children in their care.

Learning Guides

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Discussion Topics

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"This film is a very good summary of the foundations for literacy, and it does a lot of work for college and university teachers of reading and literacy. The film shows persuasively that development of literacy in children can be enhanced without engaging them in activities that are either developmentally inappropriate or coercive. Without fanfare, it makes it obvious that students of diverse backgrounds and varying abilities can blossom when the conditions are right and the teaching is good. It gently warns us about what not to do, without dwelling on it.

"I used the video midway through two courses on teaching reading -- one for undergrads and one for graduate students. I chose to use it because it reviews just about all the major concepts and practices that I cover concerning pre-school through Grade 1. In addition, though, I liked the non-literacy specific parts because those aspects of the child's growth and development are something I had only mentioned in passing, and this video let the students pull in those concepts and practices that (I hope) they dealt with in an early childhood development course. Both sets of students were active viewers, recognizing concepts, asking to replay parts that included an example or a phrasing that was especially useful for projects they were doing.

"It was diagnostic for me -- I could notice some ideas were not solidly understood by the undergrads and found out that some of the graduate students indeed did not have sufficient background on more general aspects of early childhood development. I look forward to using the film in the future; it can serve as a good introduction at the beginning of the semester, as well as a wrap-up of the concepts related to the youngest readers and writers to be.”

--Peg Griffin, Ph.D., Professor of Reading, Alabama State University

2001: Silver Medal, International CINDY awards