Ages 3 to 5 - Literacy Knowledge and Skills Guidelines

The Literacy Knowledge & Skills domain (area) describes skills that provide the basis for children’s growing ability to read and write. 

Preschool-age children are developing thoughts and opinions about reading that will affect how they approach learning as they get older. They are also developing basic understandings about how books and other printed materials have meaning. 

This area also addresses early reading skills, such as the ability to hear and notice the difference between sounds in words and some basic letter understanding. 

Children’s physical ability to write is closely tied to their development of fine motor skills (the ability to make movements using the small muscles in our hands and wrists). These can often be very different from child to child at this age. Because of that, children should practice communicating their ideas on paper in whatever way they can, including:

• Scribbling
• Writing words
• Drawing pictures
• Tracing letters and words