Literacy's Beginnings: Supporting Young Readers and Writers

The Fourth Edition of Literacy's Beginnings offers an integrated approach to reading and writing instruction keyed to the five typical developmental stages through which most children pass (the IRA/NAEYC phases of literacy).

McGee and Richgels have set the standard in this new edition by clearly and simply explaining the issues addressed in Reading First and Early Reading First legislation that affect the reading instruction of young children. Aligned with the findings of the National Reading Panel, this edition focuses on child-centered instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, comprehension, and interpretation. Without question, this text will be the most talked about resource for prospective teachers of children from birth to age eight.

More Timely Than Ever…

McGee and Richgels have set the standard in this new edition by clearly and simply explaining the issues addressed in Reading First and Early Reading First legislation that affect the reading instruction of young children. Aligned with the findings of the National Reading Panel, this edition's emphasis focuses on child-centered instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, comprehension, and interpretation. Without a question, this text will be the most talked about resource for prospective teachers of children from birth to age eight.

New To This Edition

• Thoroughly describes ways to organize an environment to stimulate the growth of language, both written and oral, making this text an invaluable resource for prospective teachers.
• Emphasizes child-centered instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, comprehension, and interpretation, giving special attention to instruction in phonological and phonemic awareness embedded in a literature-based program.
• Highlights the unique opportunities for literacy development aided by computers.
• Continues to provide examples of scoring rubrics and children's work samples. Provides application activities for the working classroom in “Beyond the Text” sections at the end of each chapter.
• Presents young children's reading and writing from birth to age eight through numerous vignettes.
• Examines children's learning in social settings, including home, preschool, and school.

“This book is ideal because of its ability to merge our programmatic philosophy and the students' experiences with more traditional or currently conventional thinking in the world of education, teaching, learning, etc…”
Barbara Burrington
University of Vermont

“…I think this is a great book. It has proved to be very beneficial to my students.”
Gail T. Eichman
Cleveland State University

“In my opinion, this book contains the most thorough explanation of children's literacy development that I have read”
Frances Mallow
University of Houston

Meet the Authors
Lea M. McGee is a Professor of Literacy at the University of Alabama where she teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in beginning reading, foundations of literacy, and children's literature. She previously taught at Boston College and Louisiana State University. She has published widely in Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, and Language Arts. She is co-author of another book with Donald J. Richgels titled Designing Early Literacy Programs for At Risk Children in Preschool and Kindergarten.

Donald J. Richgels is a Professor in the Department of Literacy Education at Northern Illinois University, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in language arts, reading, and language development. He is the author of Going to Kindergarten: A Year with an Outstanding Teacher. His work has appeared in Language and Speech, Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Reading Behavior, The Reading Teacher, Journal of Educational Research, and Early Childhood Research Quarterly. His current research interests are preschool and kindergarten classroom practice and the relationship between spoken language acquisition and literacy development.