Promoting children's desire to read and write is as important as helping children develop the necessary understandings and skills essential for learning how to read and write. Without motivation, children will read and write relatively little and only what and when they must.

This book addresses:

1. What children need to learn in these early years
2. The strategies teachers can use to help children acquire these foundations
3. The features of emergent literacy and language understandings and skills
4. How to design the physical environment in early childhood classrooms, preschools and pre-K programs to support language and literacy learning

Teachers and families can use this book to support young children develop the knowledge, and skills needed for later success in learning to read and write.