Answering the question of how to teach literacy to young children, this thoroughly child-oriented handbook compiles fifty practical strategies that will engage young children in reading and writing and encourage their emerging literacy skills. The choice of strategies is firmly grounded in current research into the brain mechanisms that underlie the skill of reading. In addition, the focus onwords-hearing, speaking, writing, and reading them-creates an easy-to-use, easy-to-understand approach that builds on young childrenrs"s'eagerness to communicate with others concerning their thoughts and ideas about the world they live in.The book features seven handy checklists at the end of several chapters-Book Handling Behavior, Developing Eye-hand Coordination with Cooking Tools, Early Childhood Writing Behaviors, Independent Skills Checklist, Reading Behaviors Checklist, Speaking Behaviors Checklist, and Caption Writing Progress that highlight a variety of practical observation vehicles for use with young children. It also covers the use of materials, content, and activities found in most early childhood classrooms.For pre-service, pre-school and primary grade teachers.