This course is designed for students at kindergarten under demonstrating literacy. The course is addresses oral communication, reading, writing and media literacy. In oral communication, students communicate needs to peers and adults; listen and respond to others in a variety of contexts; follow simple directions and respond appropriately to familiar questions; describe personal experiences and retell familiar stories, using appropriate vocabulary and basic story structure; ask questions, express feelings, and share ideas; use language to connect new experiences with what they already know; listen and respond orally to language patterns in stories and poems; demonstrate awareness of individual sounds and sound patterns in language; use gestures, tone of voice, and other non- verbal means to communicate more effectively. In reading, students listen to stories, poems, and non-fiction materials for enjoyment and information; respond appropriately to a variety of materials read aloud to them; identify favorite books and retell the stories in their own words; demonstrate understanding of a story by making predictions; make connections between their own experiences and those of storybook characters; demonstrate awareness of some conventions of written materials; identify some features of books and other written materials; recognize that words often consist of beginning, middle, and final sounds; identify most of the letters of the alphabet and demonstrate understanding that letters represent sounds and that written words convey meaning; use language patterns and sound patterns to identify words and to predict the next word
In writing, students write using a variety of tools and media; write simple messages using a combination of pictures, symbols, letters, phonetic spellings, and familiar words; contribute words or sentences to a class narrative that is written down on a chart by the teacher; print most of the letters of the alphabet, their own name and names of family members, and some short words. In media literacy, students demonstrate an understanding of a variety of media texts; identify some media forms and explain how the conventions and techniques associated with them are used to create meaning; create a variety of media texts for different purposes and audiences, using appropriate forms, conventions, and techniques; reflect on and identify their strengths as media interpreters and creators, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in understanding and creating media texts.