Creating a print-rich environment

The physical environment focusses on spaces that support mokopuna interaction and engagement with print. These spaces can be inside or out, fixed or movable, permanent or occasional. As you review your setting's use of space, consider the following:

• Are there quiet, comfy spaces for small group book reading and storytelling? These spaces can be fixed (for example, a book corner with chairs or couch), or flexible (for example, a rug under a tree with cushions and a selection of books).
• Are there functional indoor and outdoor spaces for drawing and mark-making?
• Are there indoor and outdoor spaces for dramatic play?
• Are there dedicated indoor and outdoor spaces that allow mokopuna to access and use resources independently?
• How are indoor and outdoor spaces used to provoke mokopuna interest and engagement with print?

Some considerations for kaiako are whether reading materials and print resources in your setting:

• reflect the values and philosophy of your setting and community
• uphold te reo Māori as a taonga and living language (for example, by including Māori traditions of oral, visual, and written literacy including books in te reo Māori)
• reflect the diverse identities, languages, and cultures of whānau and mokopuna (for example by incorporating Pacific traditions of oral, visual, and written literacy, and children’s home languages in print resources and other media such as posters)
• cater for different age groups
• include a range of quality story books that:
  • support phonological awareness, such as nursery rhymes, poetry, song books and stories with rhyming text
  • support oral language and comprehension, with captivating, enjoyable plots that explore both the familiar and new, reflect mokopuna interests and experiences, and introduce new vocabulary
  • provide a balance of old favourites and new books that reflect or stimulate new interests
• include a variety of genres and uses of print (for example, storybooks, non-fiction and reference books, magazines, cookbooks, posters, images). Are these placed where mokopuna will notice and use them?
• provide mark-making and writing opportunities for a range of purposes (for example, materials that encourage mokopuna to explore making marks or writing with no purpose in mind, create a birthday card for whānau or friends, create notes or lists, record stories and plans). Consider where these resources are placed. Do they encourage mark-making outside as well as inside?

Texts commonly seen in everyday life like recipes, menus, labels, instructions, and other written materials are known as environmental and functional print. Some more examples of this type of print include food packaging, signs, advertisements, shopping lists, charts, posters, cereal boxes, and catalogues. Going for walks in the local community is another way to explore environmental and functional print. For example, you can do this by looking for street names, traffic signs, letters on car number plates.

Environmental and functional print helps mokopuna to appreciate that print can be used for a variety of purposes and to make connections between oral, visual, and written literacies. It is most effective in early learning settings and the home when it is accessible and noticeable for mokopuna, for example, at their eye-level.

When written literacy concepts are meaningful to mokopuna, they can draw connections between concepts of written literacy and their lived experiences. For example, a child interested in cars and engines may be motivated to explore a reference book that shows how cars work.

Talking with mokopuna about environmental and functional print

Kaiako can talk with children about how and why they use print in their everyday lives. For example, that print is used to write learning observations and assessments, shopping lists, reminder notes, messages for parents and whānau. You can suggest, encourage, and support mokopuna to use print in practical ways such as recording their ideas or creating messages for peers or whānau members.

Using functional print resources with mokopuna

Kaiako can use functional print resources connected with holidays such as Matariki, festivals like Te Matatini, and Te Wiki O Te Reo Māori. These are important ways of scaffolding emergent literacy in te ao Māori. Whakairo (carvings), tukutuku (woven wall panels) and kōwhaiwhai (geometric patterns) from te ao Māori (the Māori world) can also be incorporated. Kaiako can use such resources with mokopuna as discussion prompts to help them understand new vocabulary. For example, kaiako can do this by providing visual cues, translating key words into te reo Māori, and telling engaging stories associated with these resources.

Environmental and functional print can enhance mokopuna understanding of cultural diversity by enabling them to experience the languages, texts, and symbols of other cultures. Kaiako can display and label Pacific cultural artefacts, such as mats, tapa, fans, or tivaevae in the service and incorporate Pacific traditions of oral, visual, and written communication. Kaiako can include resources connected to Polyfest celebrations and the Pacific Language Weeks throughout the year.

Incorporating celebrations like Chinese New Year, Diwali, and Eid al-Fitr for the end of Ramadan can also provide mokopuna with a broader understanding of Aotearoa New Zealand. Artefacts, texts, symbols, and stories related to these celebrations can enrich the learning experience of mokopuna.

Sociodramatic play includes mokopuna exploring familiar and unfamiliar roles, stories, characters and situations. They might pretend to be a parent, doctor, or animal or act out feelings and events. Sociodramatic play supports mokopuna to weave their whānau funds of knowledge and interests with their emergent skills in oral, print and storytelling literacy. For example, a child who pretends to read a menu or write instructions is reflecting print awareness and experimenting with the purposes of print.

Resources for sociodramatic play can include environmental and functional print like menus and signs, as well as everyday objects and materials, props and dress-ups such as empty cereal boxes, recipe books, pots and pans, poi, piupiu, lavalava, ula, tapa, fine mats, miniature figurines, magnetic characters, and tools for creating and communicating.

Regular routines, rituals and practices provide everyday opportunities to highlight the different purposes of literacy and create a print-rich environment. These include:

• arrivals and departures – mokopuna can ‘sign in’ and ‘sign out’ everyday through mark-making on whiteboards, paper or digital forms
• child created waiting lists for using resources in the service
• children’s name tags – these can be portable and used by children to create or communicate with written text
• messages between mokopuna to communicate – for example, signs that signal a child is still using equipment
• connecting with whānau – for example, a whānau message board on a wall or highlighting opportunities for supporting emergent literacy in the everyday activities of the home
• children creating cards and letters for visitors, peers and whānau
• documentation of learning – for example, children having input into and access to their learning stories and profile books
• a pepeha board or poster
• mealtimes – for example, recipe and menus displayed on the wall in the eating area can prompt conversations with mokopuna about kai and how it is made
• reading with children every day and including a variety of texts (not just storybooks) with different illustrations and pictures and making connections to the lives and experiences of mokopuna in the process.

Everyday interactions and conversations between mokopuna and adults are a vital part of supporting emergent literacy. Whānau and kaiako model language and literacy for mokopuna, helping them to develop their oral language skills, vocabulary, comprehension and understandings of print and its uses through everyday conversations.

Discussions about stories and experiences support the development of vocabulary, storytelling and narrative comprehension skills, while discussions about written materials foster print awareness and literacy concepts. Meaningful interactions with whānau and kaiako also support mokopuna to think critically, ask questions, and explore ideas in relation to a range of texts.

These are some ways kaiako can use everyday interactions and conversations to contribute to a print-rich environment:

• provide opportunities for mokopuna to see, hear and use te reo Māori daily through books, waiata, karakia
• talk with mokopuna about different texts, how they work and how mokopuna can engage with them – for example, by pointing out that Māori whakapapa and stories are often depicted in whakairo
• encourage mokopuna to retell stories that are important to them, for example, through using incorporating elements of their home language(s) or experiences
• support mokopuna with their emerging knowledge of the conventions of print and literacy – a child’s understanding that words on a page represent spoken words is known to have a positive impact on later success in learning to read and write
• provide materials to support print awareness, for example, writing and drawing supplies, appropriate access to digital devices, books, alphabet and other manipulatives for sorting and matching shapes and symbols
• foster print awareness through shared reading and everyday routines and ways of doing things – making it a visible and natural part of “what we do here”
• explicitly talk about new words and their meaning, rather than assuming children pick up the meaning by exposure to them through text or conversation
• encourage mokopuna to represent their thoughts, ideas, and experiences through drawing and mark-making. Invite them to tell you about these.