So Much More than the ABCs: The Early Phases of Reading and Writing
About the Book
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:
- What children need to learn in these early years
- The strategies teachers can use to help children acquire these foundations
- The features of emergent literacy and language understandings and skills
- 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.
Are you participating in a study group using this book? Author Judith Schickedanz will respond to selected questions emailed to her from designated study group leaders/members.
Book Details
ISBN: 978-1-928896-88-3
Publish Date: 2013
Judith A. Schickedanz, PhD (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), professor emerita at Boston University, taught courses in child development, early literacy, and curriculum and instruction; served as director of the laboratory preschool; coordinated the early childhood program; and helped launch the Jumpstart volunteer program. She taught preschool and has worked extensively with early childhood teachers on funded projects, including Early Reading First. Schickedanz has authored numerous articles, book chapters, and books, including Understanding Children and Adolescents (Allyn & Bacon, 2000); Increasing the Power of Instruction (NAEYC, 2008); Writing in Preschool (International Reading Association, 2009); Inside Preschool Classrooms (Harvard Education Press, 2018); and What Are Preschoolers Thinking? (Harvard Education Press, 2022). She lives with her husband, David, in Southern California near their son’s family and enjoys their two grandchildren, a 10-year-old and a 3-year-old.
Molly F. Collins, EdD (Boston University), associate professor of the practice of literacy in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in cognitive development, language acquisition, linguistics, and storybook reading. She has also provided multiyear professional learning experiences on language and literacy for preschool teachers in national and international settings. Previously, she taught toddlers and preschoolers. Collins directed early literacy and professional educator projects funded by the US Department of Education, foundations, and universities, and she served as principal investigator for foundation- and university-sponsored grants to explore monolingual and multilingual children’s vocabulary learning and comprehension from story reading. She is a member of the American Educational Research Association, the Literacy Research Association, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and the Society for Research in Child Development, and she serves as part of the National Early Education Council at Jumpstart.
Reviews
This is a masterful must-read for anyone interested in the literacy development of young children. Research on language, reading, writing, and motivation is woven seamlessly together with precise instructional guidance. For teachers, this book offers a treasure trove of practical advice; for parents, literacy coaches, and university faculty, it provides a broad, accurate view of early literacy development and pedagogy.
—David K. Dickinson, Professor, Vanderbilt University
In their new edition, Schickedanz and Collins have continued the heart of their argument from the first edition of More than the ABCs: the foundations of literacy laid down during the early years involve considerably more than merely learning the alphabet and acquiring the alphabetic principle.
—Lea M. McGee, Marie Clay Chair of Reading Recovery and Early Literacy, The Ohio State University
So Much More Than the ABCs is a must-read for parents and teachers of preschoolers. This outstanding book is based on research and the authors’ lifetime experiences devoted to the study of early literacy.
—Lesley Mandel Morrow, Professor of Literacy, Rutgers University
Drs. Schickedanz and Collins' text offers explicit guidance for teaching children not only decoding skills but also interesting strategies for teaching children how to interact with both narrative and expository text. A special feature is the chapter about reading with infants and toddlers, which is critically important for both parents and caregivers.
—Billie J. Enz, Emeritus Professor, Arizona State University