Promoting Early Literacy Skills Within Daily Activities and Routines in Preschool Classrooms

Many teachers and other service providers struggle with trying to address the many skills that are important for young children to acquire during the preschool years. Early Literacy Initiative project (Project ELI) is a comprehensive, two-tiered, early language and literacy intervention model that includes activities for all children as well as intensive interventions for children identified as at risk for delays through the authors' assessment-progress monitoring system. This article provides a brief overview of the process that the authors followed as they developed the first tier of Project ELI and provides examples of how classroom teams embedded opportunities for children of varying abilities and needs to learn and practice early language and literacy skills within activities and routines during the preschool day. The authors also present examples of adaptations that were made to address specific needs and goals of children with special needs and children who are identified as English language learners (ELL). The strategies presented in this article are ones that service providers could use to provide diverse children with multiple and varied opportunities to learn and practice early language and literacy skills during meaningful activities throughout the day. (Contains 5 tables and 1 note.)