Print Awareness

Strategy 1: How a Book Begins

                (for students who missed DAR Print Awareness item 1 or 3)

Choose a book that is familiar to the student. If no book is familiar, select one and read it to the
student a couple of times so that it becomes familiar.

Open the book to the first page.

Say:     Here is the first page of this story. This is page one. And this is where the story begins.
So this page is where I would begin reading this story to you.

Point to the first word on the page.

Say:     Here is where the story begins on this page. It begins with the first word in the story.
Now I’ll read some of this story to you.

Read aloud from the book. Then choose another book, one unfamiliar to the student.

Say:     Where should I start reading this book? Where is the first word of this story?

Allow the student to open the book and point to where the story begins.

Repeat this procedure with new books until the student is comfortably able to identify where a book
begins and the first word in the story.
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Strategy 2: The Difference between Letters and Words

                (for students who missed DAR Print Awareness item 2 or 5)

Choose a book that is familiar to the student. If no book is familiar, select one and read it to the
student a couple of times so that it becomes familiar.

Say:     I’m going to read some of this story to you, and I’m going to point to each word as I
read it.

Read the first sentence to the student, pointing to each word.

Say:     Now I’m going to read some more of the story. This time you point with me as I read
each word.

Continue reading additional sentences until the student seems able to point to each word as you
point.

Say:     Now I’m going to read some more of the story. But this time I want you to point to each
word as I say it.

Continue reading additional sentences until the student is comfortably able to point to the words as
you read them.

Next, point to a word in the story and read the word to the student.

Say:     This word is made up of letters. Watch me as I point to each letter in this word.

With the student watching, point to the word and use your finger to slowly uncover each letter in the
word, one letter at a time.

Say:     Now let’s look at another word. (Point to another word.) Let’s point to each letter in this
word together.

After pointing with the student, choose a third word from the story.

Say:     Now you point to each letter in this word.

Strategy 3: Knowing Where a Sentence Ends

                (for students who missed DAR Print Awareness item 4)

Choose a book that is familiar to the student. If no book is familiar, select one and read it to the
student a couple of times so that it becomes familiar.

Say:     I’m going to read the first sentence in this story. When I’m done, I’ll point to the last
word in the sentence.

Read the first sentence and point to the last word in the sentence.

Say:     Now I’ll read the next sentence in the story. When I’m done reading, let’s point
together to the last word in the sentence.

Read the sentence. Point to the last word in the sentence together with the student.

Say:     Now I’ll read the next sentence. This time when I’m done reading, I would like you to
point to the last word in the sentence. I’ll begin here.

Point to the first word in the sentence and read the sentence.

Say:     Show me the last word in this sentence.

Strategy 4: Relationships between Printed and Spoken Words

                (for students who missed DAR Print Awareness item 6)

Materials Needed:
“Long and Short Words” worksheet, which can be downloaded at the end of the Introduction

Write the words bear and beautiful on a piece of paper.

Say:     Here are two words. Listen as I read them for you.

Point to beautiful and read it aloud. Then point to bear and read it aloud.

Say:     The word beautiful is a longer word because it has more letters. Bear is shorter than
beautiful because it doesn’t have as many letters. Now listen as I say each word again:
beautiful (pause) bear. Beautiful sounds longer than bear, and it also has more letters
than bear.

Show the student the “Long and Short Words” worksheet, and block off all but the top row of words.
Point to the word breakfast.

Say:     This is a long word. Listen to this word as I read it. This word is breakfast. Breakfast is
a long word when I say it, and it has a lot of letters in it.

Point to bat.

Say:     Listen to this word as I read it. This word is bat. Bat is a short word. It has just a few
letters in it. Bat is shorter than breakfast when I say it, and it is shorter when you look
at it.

Uncover the second row of words on the worksheet.

Say:     Now I’m going to say two more words: book (pause) television. Which word sounds
longer, book or television?

Point to the second row of words.

Say:     Now show me which word has more letters.

On the Student Record Form, note the student’s response.

Say:     The word television sounds longer than the word book. And it looks longer because
television has more letters in it than book.

Continue this procedure using the words on the worksheet until the student is comfortably able to
identify longer or shorter words as you read them from the worksheet.

Then choose two words from a story that has been read aloud to the student and write them on the
paper.

Say:     One of these words is _______ and one is _______. Which do you think is the longer
word?

            Point to the longer word. Why do you think that word is longer?

Interpreting and Using TTS Results:

Understanding how print works is an important reading skill. Continue using these strategies to teach
students how to look at important aspects of print.