For prekindergarten children, language and play are the major tools for learning about the world, and they are also the most important tools for early literacy learning. The three- or four-year-old who takes a memo pad and marker around to family members "to take orders" for dinner, like all young children, makes no distinction between play and reading and writing. It all involves curiosity, learning, discovery, and excitement. In their newest professional book, Literacy Beginnings: A Prekindergarten Continuum to Guide Teaching, Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell show you how to tap into young children's excitement to introduce them to the world of literacy in joyful, engaging ways. As with their Continuum of Literacy Learning for grades K-8, they provide detailed descriptions of language and literacy behaviors and understandings for teachers to notice, teach, and support, while offering practical strategies for the prekindergarten classroom. Their volume is full of resources like songs, rhymes, and finger plays. They even provide 20 lessons ready for use in the adventure of introducing young children to reading and writing.