Miss Mari's Preschool 

Environmental print is a usually a child's first introduction to reading. Environmental print is words that children see often in their every day life, so they start to recognize the word by sight. Restaurant signs, stores, movies, cereal boxes are all examples of environmental print. 

 

I have an Environmental Print wall in my classroom that we refer to every day. I use this wall as a way to teach letters and letters sounds because it is engaging and exciting for the students. I call my wall a "Word Wall" because it is easier for a four year old to say, and I like to use the langauge that the students will be using when they get to Kindergarten and first grade.

 

The first words that we put on the Wall are the students' names. For preschool-aged children, names are important to them, so they usually learn to "read" their name and their friends' names quickly. After everyone's name is on the wall, we start putting environmental print on it. I have some that I have saved over the years from familar food boxes, movie posters, toys, fast food restaurants, stores, and other words that I know that children will recognize. I also encourage my students and parents (I send a note home in my monthly Newsletter) to cut out environmental print at home and bring it in. My students LOVE this and get very excited when they bring in words. I also get very excited for them and ask them to "read" me the words they brought in. I try to cut out the word and the accompanying picture because it usually helps the children "read" it. For example, I wouldn't just cut out the word "cookie" from a cookie box. I would cut out the picture of a cookie and the word. Another great thing I started doing only a few years ago, is putting lovable characters from movies and TV shows on the word wall. The students really love this.

 

I usually start the Word Wall in October. I have a bucket next to my rocking chair in front of the classroom that I put all of the words in. Every day, the Word Wall Helper chooses a word to put on the Wall. When they pick the word, they hide it to their chest so no one can see what it is. I peek at it, and write the first letter of the word on my white board easel. I ask the students if they know what the letter is and what sound it makes. I'll say something like, "You're right! That's a B and it says, 'buh, buh' so this word is going to start with the 'buh' sound." Then I either show them the word and read it to them, or I give them clues and see if they can guess what the word is. "This is a superhero. He wears a bat on his shirt. It's 'buh, buh, Batman!" Then I have them put on their binoculars (they make binoculars with their hands) and find the letter B. Then we sing the ABC song while I point to each letter and we stop on the letter B (or whatever letter we need). Finally I tape the word under the correct letter.