Language and Literacy skills flourish in a room full of words.

Label Your Room, but NEVER Your Kids – Labeling of furniture, equipment, and toy bins is a good way to develop literacy skills, with the idea that the young child will see a real object labeled by a written word, and begin to connect the object with its representation and then begin to understand the connection between print and language.

The children must have their attention called to these labels in both casual and formal ways. High Scope, the great David Weikart/University of Michigan, early education curriculum, calls for teachers to carefully label furniture, materials, equipment, and interest centers. I suggest labeling architectural elements (doors, windows, sink, etc.) and basic classroom furniture in both predominant and second languages and labeling equipment and materials developmentally according to the needs and levels of the learning community.– I strongly suggest labeling be done developmentally so it does not become a flash card-type teaching method in which memorization, recognition, and identification skills, which are steps toward literacy may be mistaken for actual literacy. Memorizing sight words and recognizing and naming letters is a good beginning, but a child is not truly reading until he is decoding unfamiliar words.

Labeling can be done with Infants and Babies, should be done with Toddlers and Twos, and must be done in learning communities of Threes, Fours, and Fives. Early exposure to print is essential to acquiring skills of literacy.

• Infants (Birth to 6 Months) – Names on cubbies and personal items; Family Photo Display
• Babies (6 – 12 Months) – Same as above, plus Word Labels on architectural elements and furniture and safe (non-removable) real items, photographs, or realistic pictures of toys and materials on appropriate shelves and bins                     
• Toddlers (12 – 24 Months) – Same as all above
• Twos – Same as all above with Word Labels added to shelves or bins of materials as developmental needs of the children change  
• Threes – Same as all above in predominant and second languages
• Fours/Fives – Word Labels in predominant and second languages

Labeling Limits – Labeling can get out of hand.  Don’t go nuts and create a fire hazard. Word labels should be placed where the CHILDREN can see them, must be readable and spelled correctly, and have to be safely applied and not edible. Use realistic pictures or photographs to label shelves and bins and know when your children are ready to move to words. Common sense is the key.

Next Blog: Literacy Events 4 – Books in EVERY Center!