Early Literacy in Preschool And Kindergarten: A Multicultural Perspective

"Early Literacy in Preschool and Kindergarten: A Multicultural Perspective is an applied book focusing on how literacy develops in young children and the ways in which teachers can encourage the natural emergence of early reading and writing. It has a special emphasis on multicultural children's literature, including detailed descriptions of over 200 multicultural children's books. Packed with practical supports and strategies for teachers, such as how to set up a literacy-friendly environment; using music and art as natural languages; strengthening finger muscles for writing through 3-D art; developing visual representational skills in drawing, leading to writing; and using early literacy checklists to help understand children's capabilities, it provides many suggestions for using classroom materials and centers to support literacy. This book joins the expertise of a well-known early childhood author with a literacy expert to offer an effective approach for teaching early literacy in preschool, and is avaluable resource for early childhood professionals."--Publisher's website.

Janice J. Beaty, professor emerita, Elmira College, Elmira, New York, is a full-time writer of early childhood college textbooks and a consultant and trainer in early childhood education from her home in Cape Coral, Florida. Some of her textbooks include Skills for Preschool Teachers, Seventh Edition, Observing Development of the Young Child, Sixth Edition, Prosocial Guidance for the Preschool Child, 50 Early Childhood Literacy Strategies, and 50 Early Childhood Guidance Strategies. At present Dr. Beaty is involved in an early literacy mentoring program with Foster Grandparents in schools and Head Start in Central Missouri.

 

Linda Pratt is the Executive Director of Teacher Education and a Professor of Education at Elmira College. For more than 20 years she has taught both graduate and undergraduate courses in literacy education and has directed the graduate program in teaching literacy.  Her primary scholarly interests are literacy acquisition and international education. Dr. Pratt has given presentations on literacy in the United States as well as in Asia, the Bahamas and Caribbean, Canada, Europe, and South America. She and Dr. Beaty have also given presentations together, as well as coauthoring the textbook Transcultural Children's Literature published by Merrill/Prentice Hall.