National Literacy Month: Creating Literacy-Rich Classrooms

National Literacy Month gives us the perfect excuse to pause and reflect on the heart of our classrooms: literacy. Literacy is defined as the ability to read, write, and use language to understand and communicate. Not only that, but literacy also gives students the tools to make sense of the world, tell their own stories, and listen intently to the stories of others.

To celebrate National Literacy month, here are a few ways to build a literacy-rich environment:

• Surround students with words in all forms. Offer an abundance of books on low shelves, magazines in baskets, poems posted on doors, recipes in the play kitchen, brochures in the writing center, and student work proudly displayed on windows and walls. Words don’t disappear after reading and writing time, they are a part of everyday life.
• A literacy rich classroom is a space where students actively engage with words all around them. Strategic labeling turns every corner into an opportunity to read and write. Invite students to help label classroom items through writing or drawing. Ask multilingual students to add labels in their home languages and celebrate the diverse gifts each learner brings.
• Interactive literacy stations put learning directly into students’ hands. Let kids engage with print in playful and creative ways. Keep a fresh rotation of story-telling dice, grammar games, word building puzzles, or name necklace crafts.
• Decorate the classroom door with a literary theme. Choose a beloved book or a favorite author to showcase. Get students involved for a collaborative project that celebrates reading all month long.
• Create a story-tellers corner where students become the narrators of their own tales. Use a small puppet stage, simple props, and costumes and bring stories to life. Retell a favorite book or share an original creation. Use one of the earliest forms of literacy and develop oral language skills.
• Offer authentic opportunities to write that empower students to use their words with purpose. Set up a writing station filled with supplies and sentence starters for thank you notes, book reviews, messages, classroom newsletters, and kindness notes to classmates. When writing with a true purpose students see their words matter.

Creating a literacy-rich classroom is layering in opportunities and making words visible and meaningful. The more literacy we weave into the classroom, the more we show kids they have the power to read, write, and tell their own stories.