Literacy Beginnings:
Real Life Talking, Reading and Writing in the PreK and Kindergarten Classroom

Register now for a four-day early literacy institute featuring a full day with expert Matt Glover!

July 23-26, 2012: 8:30am-3:30pm
(EEDUC 6054)

Authentic literacy means that our children talk, read and write real-life texts for real-life purposes. They engage with print from their homes and communities and for the same purposes they engage with print in school. Learn how to create teachable moments for inquiry, play and the nurturing of the imagination through developmentally appropriate early childhood experiences that foster joyful language and literacy learning.

Institute Topics:

• Making Books: Real-life Writing for Real Purposes
• Using an Inquiry Approach to Real-life Learning in Science and Social Studies
• Using Dramatic Play and Beautiful Informational Texts to Build Language and Literacy
• Writing about Passions: Entry Points for Young Readers and Writers
• Interactive and Shared Writing: Supporting Young Writers with Real-life Demonstrations
• Selecting Nonfiction Texts for Prekindergarten and Kindergarten Students
• Small Group Instruction: Differentiating Prekindergarten from Kindergarten Experiences
• Developing Vocabulary and Concept Knowledge through Authentic Inquiry
• Addressing the Common Core Standards through Readers and Writers Workshop
• Using High Quality Mentor Texts to Support Emergent Writers
• Giving Students Topic and Genre Choice

Featured Speaker: Matt Glover

Matt Glover, author of Engaging Young Writers, Pre-school to Grade 1 (2009) and co-author of Already Ready (2008) with Katie Wood Ray. Matt will discuss his beliefs, structures and supports that are important when nurturing young writers. He sessions will focus on Real-world Examples for Real Writing and Planning for Units of Study and Conferring: Working through the Process.

Keynote Speaker: Julie Dwyer

Dr. Julie Dwyer is an assistant Professor in Early Childhood Education at Boston University. Her research focuses on early language and literacy learning and teaching, with a particular focus on vocabulary development and the interplay between conceptual knowledge and vocabulary development. She has published in The Reading Teacher, Early childhood Research Quarterly, Journal of Literacy Research, and Early Childhood Education Journal.

Supporting Language and Vocabulary Development in Preschool and Kindergarten Classrooms

This session addresses research-based strategies for fostering language development in primary classrooms, with a particular focus on providing support for vocabulary development in the context of content area learning. In this interactive session, participants will engage with the most current findings around fostering language development in early childhood classrooms and will have opportunities to work in partners and small groups to reflect on their own practice and engage in video analysis.

Additional Speakers Include:

Cindy Downend

Cindy Downend is a faculty member at the Center for Reading Recovery and Literacy Collaborative with over twenty years of educational experience as a classroom teacher and Reading Recovery teacher. Cindy holds a National Board certification in early childhood and has held many leadership roles in a variety of diverse settings including school districts in Florida, Minnesota as well as in Europe.

Diane Powell

Diane Powell is the Assistant Director of Primary Literacy Initiatives at the Center for Reading Recovery and Literacy Collaborative. She has worked for Lesley University for the last fifteen years and prior to that was a Reading Recovery Teacher Leader in the U.S. and abroad. Her passion for early literacy supports the work she does in training literacy coaches and guiding school improvement in the Center's various initiatives.

Kristine Haveles-Pelletier

Kristine is the District Supervisor of Language Arts in the Manchester Public Schools, Manchester NH. She works as an adjunct faculty professor for the School of Education here at Lesley University as well as consultant and liaison for our center.

Jessica Sherman

Jessica is a faculty member at the Center for Reading Recovery and Literacy Collaborative. She was a Reading Recovery Teacher and literacy coach in New York City before joining the center. She has taught in both regular public and charter schools, and has been a NYC Teaching Fellow and an Achievement First Leadership Fellow.

Institute Location:

• Lesley University, University Hall
• Amphitheater (Room 2-150)
• 1815 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02140

Required Books:

• Literacy Beginnings: A Pre-Kindergarten Handbook (by Gay Su Pinnell & Irene Fountas)
• Engaging Young Writers, Pre-school to Grade 1 (by Matt Glover)

Recommended Book: (For Kindergarten Teachers Only)

• The Continuum of Literacy Learning K-2 (Irene Fountas & Gay Su Pinnell)

Both required and recommended books are available at Heinemann

Hotel Accommodations:

Reserve a room under our room block at the Courtyard Marriott Cambridge (rate $209/night = taxes).

Please see our list of additional local accommodations for other recommendations.

Brochure & Cost Information:

• $570 (non-credit; using online registration link below)
• $595 (non-credit paper registration; credit available with additional cost and assignments)

To register for 2 or 3 graduate credits [EEDUC 6054.35] registration must go through the University Registrar. Please use this registration form[pdf]

Non-credit participants save $25 by registering now online at www.regonline.com/eli2012

Download our non-credit registration form here [pdf]

Download our institute brochure here [pdf]

Questions? Contact:

Alison Buraczenski at aburacze@lesley.edu or 617.349.8693