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I have read through so many posts and my notes align with everything that has been covered.  I decided not to re-create but thought that I would pull out a couple of things from my notes that have really struck a chord with me.
From day one we as human beings are ready for literacy, we are immersed in it from the start of the day to the end, even when we are to young to actually read the letters/words, we are 'reading' what is around us.
Not all children have the same exposure to literacy in the home so it is vital that as teachers we provide the children with realistic literature experiences.
I have witnessed very young children sitting with a pencil being encourage to form letters - sitting through the lecture about literature within the early environment I now realise that these children were not all ready to be 'writing' letters.  There fine motor skills were not developed enough, their mark making was not yet at the level of fine detail.  I will be conscious of this within my classroom.

Jo S.

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To make a rich literacy environment we must create positive experiences for young learners and surround them with enthusiastic adult role models: trigger their taste for reading and writing. In terms of resources, home links and connections to everyday life, e.g. through home corners or role play areas, provide context and give meaning to their experiences; this is significant learning, and therefore more secure. Children should feel ownership of their learning and therefore it is vital to include them also at the planning stage, to ask them what they want, as well as observing judiciously and adapting the environment and resources as the learning evolves. Children are absorbing information even during casual play or by exploring of their surroundings. It is our job to make this information relevant and accessible, helping young children to establish connections and learn in a fun, relaxed way. The teacher’s aim is to provide learning opportunities, namely by creating safe, comfortable and stimulating spaces, suitably equipped with bright, exciting materials that children can use in their play. These should include writing materials, like crayons, coloured pencils, chalks, notepads, post-it notes, envelopes, colour paper etc. Children’s names, resource labels, menus, catalogues, amongst others, are a captivating and easy way to make the printed word available, again in a meaningful way. And of course, books. A carefully chosen small sample, placed within reach and at eye level, cover facing out, to engage children’s curiosity.
Ana CB

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Having had some experience in a early level classroom I can see how making it a literacy rich environment would have a substantial effect. You could compare it to a well oiled machine, the components are there, but having labels and signs make it accessible. For daily jobs like lunches, handing out paper or workbooks, hanging up jackets, play corner, it makes it more streamlined and understandable.
In one classroom I had been in, the teacher made a big effort with the play corner, updating the scenario regularly to keep it fresh and interesting. In my time there, the corner was a fruit & veg shop with pictures and names of the produce and price labels; it then became a post office, with envelopes and letterheads; an airport, with real boarding passes and every child got their own passport.
I could see how the literacy elements involved in these scenarios allowed the children to adapt to realistic scenes and relate to their learning when they come across these in later life.
Sophie D

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As any Early Years Practitioner, this is something that I do everyday!
Literacy should be everywhere in your setting - from the cloakroom to the outdoor area.
Name labels on pegs, shoe holders and for self register, fruit signs at snack time, weather chart, daily helper lists, magic number, learning wall, visual timetable, resource labels, art names - the list is endless!
Books throughout the playroom and outside - art, construction, maths, role play, interest table as well as the book corner. Comics, leaflets, photo albums and books that the children have made themselves are also available. ICT stories can also be accessed through the CD  player or Smartboard. Story is read on a daily basis and books are always available during free play. Children learn to explore different types of books and learn how we look after them.Discussion regarding story, expressing likes and dislikes, acting out  the story using props are all ways of engaging children with literacy. Environmental print, and rhyming words are also referred to.
Lots of opportunities for children to mark make with pens, pencils, highlighters, chalk, paint, sticks in the sand and mud, shaving foam, alphabet playdough mats etc. There should be a variety of paper - lined, squared, coloured, note pads, whiteboards, stickies, clipboards, diaries, Sellotape, blu tack, punch, ring binders and scissors are always available - again the list is endless. Children contribute to  mind maps by mark making and drawing pictures. They also mark make on the magic number sheet, our tidy up chart or any cards they might like to make.
Children's artwork is displayed with their name label and an adult writes the children's comments on it.
When children start to produce detailed drawings and trying to form letters in their name, they are supported to explore this. Fine motor activities such as threading and using the pincer grip are always available.
There are lots of opportunities for children to discuss things with both adults and their peers - circle time activities, one to one, key group time,
during free play. Children are encouraged to use their developing language skills, with staff using Words Up Strategies to support this.
Staff model good conversation and language to the children by using open questions.
Songs and rhymes are also provided on a daily basis which helps children to learn about language.
Providing bright colourful and welcoming resources within a safe and supportive environment  should inspire children to explore all areas of literacy - reading, writing and talking and listening.
Joanne Harper

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Kerry C
Children need to be exposed to literacy in a variety of different contexts from an early age.  By immersing children in a rich learning environment they will see literacy, hear literacy and learn from their individual literacy experiences.  They will want to develop their own literacy skills such as reading, writing and talking through watching others.

Working as an Early Years Practitioner, I see first hand how important it is to lay the foundations for literacy from an early age. The early years environment gives them an opportunity for them to explore and build on their literacy skills through play.

The early years environment should be bright, colourful and inviting. There should be lots of environmental print and interactive displays that children should be involved with to give them ownership of their learning.

The house corner is a really important addition and it provides the children with an environment to act out and mimic their home experiences. It should have books, magazines, catalogues, pens and notepads. It should change with the children's interest to allow them to immerse in wider experiences such as trips to the bakers or supermarkets.  It should provide the children with opportunities to engage in role play acting out various roles,. This will help them develop their vocabulary and communication skills.

Drawing and writing areas are essential if children are going to develop the skills that they need to start writing. To do this they need to explore using various media and making a large variety of different movements, big and small. This can be taken outside where they can draw in the sand, with chalk or even sticks in snow.  Importantly they need to explore making large movements before they can move to more smaller refined movements.

Children need to learn how to look at books, care for books and how to use them. Book corners need to be inviting and should not just be restricted to the indoors.  Outdoor reading areas are great fun for children and may entice children who my not normally look at books to have a go.  Books should be carefully selected and provide a mixture of different genres.

Literacy should not just be confined to the areas mentioned above. It should be evident across all areas from the arts and craft table, to snack and construction.

I use many different resources within the nursery.  Words Up is a new initiative to promote literacy and is definitely worth looking over. Their strategies are really effective and i find i follow this when i am in the classroom also as they are relevant to all stages.  Highland Literacy Blog in particular emerging literacy has lots of great ideas on how to provide and develop literacy in the early years and I also use Bump to Bairns.  Bumps to Bairns is really useful in supporting children where you have noticed a gap in their development as it gives you useful ideas on how to support the child to overcome this.  I have attached the links below if anyone would like to find out more.
https://bumps2bairns.com/
https://highlandliteracy.com/

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Colleagues in Speech and Language in Highland have been supporting the development of in the Early Years through developing a support tool for practitioners and families - Words Up Early. Many Early Years Practitioners across Highland have attended the training available on the .

The key messages for Words Up are in five developmental stages:

1. First Words

2. Words Together

3. Talking Together

4. Chatting Now

5. Listening and Talking Together

The Group are currently developing Key Messages to support Oral Language in the school years.

You can access each of the Words Up Key Message posters by clicking the images below.

You can access each of the Words Up Key Message posters by clicking the images below. You can also download all of the posters in Gaelic by clicking HERE .

First Words

Words Together

Talking Together

Chatting Now

DOWNLOAD ALL WORDS UP POSTERS IN GAELIC
CLICK HERE - Words Up Primary

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Colleagues in Speech and Language in Highland have been supporting the development of Oral Language in the Early Years through developing a support tool for practitioners and families - Words Up Early. Many Early Years Practitioners across Highland have attended the training available on the Highland CPD Calendar.

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My thoughts about rich literacy environments …

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My thoughts about rich literacy environments …

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A rich literacy environment is one where books and writing are valued from all sources, including the children’s work. Displays are bright, purposeful, interactive and ‘read’ from left to right. Children’s work is displayed and used to inform their future learning. Children have constant access to books and other literary materials and these are used in as many areas of the curriculum as possible. A love of books is fostered by the teacher and books are respected and valued by the class following the teacher’s example. As children move to the upper stages instructions are given more often in written form so a child with poor literacy skills may struggle in other areas of the curriculum because they are unable to understand instructions. It is important that children who are beginning to have problems in literacy are supported early in their school life in order to maintain their involvement in the curriculum as a whole.

J. Frew

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/literacy-rich-environments

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Summary of my Thoughts on a Literacy Rich Environment

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Summary of my Thoughts on a Literacy Rich Environment

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Literacy develops through social context.
Interaction with fellow humans and everyday interaction with the world around us.
Real life literacy experiences.
Understanding that literacy has functional qualities can help instil a 'need' to read and write.
Reading and Writing develop together.
Spoken language development is key for reading and writing.

Early Level - ensuring that literacy is embedded into the learning contexts and environment in a meaningful way. Allow children to play at 'being readers/writers', provide interesting materials for writing, sensory experiences (write in sand, shaving foam, with water outside).
Label children's environment thus enabling their independence and further highlighting importance of literacy in our day to day lives.  Use children's interests as learning 'hooks' to stories, writing.
Fine motor skills are essential for successful writing in later education.

Ask me slips- good link for home/school learning.

In my classroom I must consider:

-taking literacy into outdoor learning environment
-giving children time to develop symbolic processes/language  with peers/socio-dramatic play
-involve songs/rhymes/books/writing in the classroom; make it an environment which encourages literacy growth
-keeping literacy meaningful and relevant for the children
-create a climate of persistence; one where pupils feel good about themselves , feels recognised for their individuality and what they can do
- celebrating the importance of story in human lives

'Meaningful literacy teachings and learning must be woven into the entire fabric of classroom life'
(Lawrence, S 2000)

Ash

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An environment which bridges the gap between children's home and school literacy experiences, and provides materials and resources which enables children to engage with realistic uses of literacy.

One which is Print-Rich (labelling, displays at child-level and created with children too)

One which allows for the connection between literacy and play.

Jeni M.

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Saw this and thought it was nice summary and a quick/easy poster to refer to. Even though it's aimed at parents it still has some very useful points for teachers to consider.
MR

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Literacy should be all around to allow opportunity for children to see it and learn from it. Providing realistic materials is essential for their learning to allow them to use materials used everyday.
Providing materials outside such as sand or mud to write in or chalk to write/draw on the path.
Providing books of interest to follow topics and to match areas of the room or outside e.g seasonal and construction.
Labels all around the room for children and written menus at snack.

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Thoughts for a rich literacy environment...

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Thoughts for a rich literacy environment...

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Key contributors:
-Make literacy experiences REAL LIFE.
- Interactions with others.
- Helping children feel the NEED to read and write.

Children should be given opportunities where they get to 'play' at being readers and writers so they can develop positive dispositions towards learning how to read and write. These opportunities should be explicitly connected to home life and lived experiences.

Print that is relevant and meaningful to children should be everywhere within the classroom - i.e. labels on all materials and  with accompanying pictures, captions, scribed stories etc.

Help children to associate literacy as a need in life and encourage them to yearn for wanting to read and write.

RS

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Offering opportunities to talk about, act out, draw, sing, paint their lived life experiences.  Stella Louis suggests that it is in January, not December,  that children want to talk about Christmas.  It is in January that they have lived through the experience, the excitement, and have stories to share and tell.  I think this links to Sara Wilford's point that literacy comes to life through action.  Children want to explore their life experiences further in a welcoming, literacy rich learning environment with others.

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To be able to provide a literate environment it needs to host several opportunities to build on what the children know about the world and progress this through play activities to develop their literacy.

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To be able to provide a literate environment it needs to host several opportunities to build on what the children know about the world and progress this through play activities to develop their literacy.

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NM

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To encourage a literate classroom a teacher to be a positive role model with spoken language alongside written word. 

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To encourage a literate classroom a teacher to be a positive role model with spoken language alongside written word. 

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NM

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Whilst talking to the children encourage them to discuss things they do at home and with whom, scribe the story for them with a picture or photo to link their lives at home with activities at school.

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Whilst talking to the children encourage them to discuss things they do at home and with whom, scribe the story for them with a picture or photo to link their lives at home with activities at school.

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NM

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A rich inviting environment which promotes Literacy is one which will see children thrive in this area. Encouraging & supportive staff, a well designed layout offering a range of learning through play activities and areas such as a quiet reading area, where is children can read and process their thoughts is vital.
Talking and interacting with children, limiting questioning, repetition and copy and extending speech in both an indoors and outdoor environment will support development. Simple task such a having a story of the week rather than a daily story helps to extend children's confidence in Literacy, this can be extended further by adding visuals and props as the children relate more to the story and get more involved!
Writing materials and fine motor activities that are accessible for all help develop confidence in this area and at an early level helps children to progress in their mark making.
Visuals and labelling, including a daily timetable,  around a class/nursery will help children begin to start to relate to texts and this should be done to support all languages in the class/centre.
Opportunities such as circle time, show and tell, table tops games, play activities, forest school, singing and concerts all offer excellent opportunities for talking and listening, where a teacher can 'slide in and out' to help build confidence and help extend language.
SS.

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Remember it is important to be a positive speech model, ask questions and write captions of the child's stories on their drawings or models.
CMR

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Outdoor play can also produce a rich literacy environment, by doing such as an environmental print walk, taking photographs, recording sounds or pictures, writing using sand, water, mud, chalk. Hanging children's work from trees, a gallery on a wall or a fence. Secret dens, fairy dells (tree trunks) are all good for outdoor reading.
CMR

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I have always been excited about creating an engaging book corner. This week I have learned that by doing this and creating other stations (drawing, home) I can help children to link real life literate experiences to play.
CMR

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is one where there are multiple opportunities for children to engage with written words. A well presented literacy corner with access to relevant reading material is important in the early years.

Allowing children to actively construct and design their own play area that includes the children's own writing and images provides a rich environment for learning. Having opportunity for children to write their own letters/signs etc is a fun and engaging way for pupils to explore written text.

Taking pupils out to explore their wider environment and making links with home also provides a strong foundation for developing literacy skills.

Teacher modelling of good communication, being interested in what pupils have to say, using questions well and providing opportunity for ongoing discussion is essential.

SS

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I think the most powerful part of this input was the statement from Sarah Lawrence's article that "a climate that promotes feeling good about yourself, being recognised for who you are and what you an do, has powerful effects on the persistence and motivation so crucial to academic achievement."

I think that when people feel good about who they are they are far more likely to engage in any task or activity. This engagement means children are likely to explore their own world experiences and take part in social learning which allows them to explore their world with others, thereby developing their own vocabulary and world view.

SS

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allows for pupils to actively engage with literacy work of all areas in a fun, interactive and thought-provoking way. Not only should they be able to look at and interact with a variety of different works, but also have the chance to create their own. The good thing about literacy is that it can be engaged with in a variety of ways; song, play, video, art etc. This allows for the students to interact with literacy in a number of ways.

The pupils should always have a positive experience of literacy no matter their level or abilities. Making sure it is accessible for all ensures that pupils never feel overwhelmed or intimidated by writing and reading. Allow for a broad range of books that ensure everyone can interact with literature. As a teacher, you should always seek to inspire pupils to think and create.  Fill the room with bright, informative displays that encourage them to read and write and explore all areas of literacy. Perhaps decorate the room with a theme (e.g. a book the class are reading). A small, quiet area for reading is especially important. Make literacy fun, and the pupils will be more engaged about learning.

Literacy links to other aspects of pupils lives such as social interaction and speech. A rich literacy environment therefore does not simply aspire to teach reading and writing, but also to ensure that the pupils gain experience socially with their peers.

KIM

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A rich literacy environment is one which brings literacy to life, creating meaningful experiences which act as a prerequisite to cognitive development. It is about recognising and embracing the literacy opportunities within the social context and creating a learning environment which takes advantage of every possible opportunity to develop literacy skills. Using visual and kinaesthetic learning alongside reading and writing with the realisation that reading, writing, listening and talking are all interwoven and are not stand alone concepts. Creating a dialogic classroom which supports effective questioning and uses play to inform cognitive development.Creating an area for children which is comfortable, supportive, easily accessible with plenty of opportunities to develop the four areas of literacy as well as creating a physical space which helps develop gross and fine motor skills, supports emotional, social and cognitive development where play - whether it be free, role or incidental is used to inform literacy learning. Making connections with children’s areas of interest to literary development. Using song, rhyme and positive modelling to develop literacy. Creating an area which is bright, inspiring and nurturing whilst helping children to make everyday connections with the literary world around them. 

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A rich literacy environment is one which brings literacy to life, creating meaningful experiences which act as a prerequisite to cognitive development. It is about recognising and embracing the literacy opportunities within the social context and creating a learning environment which takes advantage of every possible opportunity to develop literacy skills. Using visual and kinaesthetic learning alongside reading and writing with the realisation that reading, writing, listening and talking are all interwoven and are not stand alone concepts. Creating a dialogic classroom which supports effective questioning and uses play to inform cognitive development.Creating an area for children which is comfortable, supportive, easily accessible with plenty of opportunities to develop the four areas of literacy as well as creating a physical space which helps develop gross and fine motor skills, supports emotional, social and cognitive development where play - whether it be free, role or incidental is used to inform literacy learning. Making connections with children’s areas of interest to literary development. Using song, rhyme and positive modelling to develop literacy. Creating an area which is bright, inspiring and nurturing whilst helping children to make everyday connections with the literary world around them. 

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SS

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Consider the environment from a small child's perspective - labels/menus etc at eye level, shallow trays that they can get their hands into, items like puzzles easily accessible to pick up etc

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Consider the environment from a small child's perspective - labels/menus etc at eye level, shallow trays that they can get their hands into, items like puzzles easily accessible to pick up etc

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FM

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Have an abundance of materials for pupils to use in order to develop the fine motor skills needed to be able to control a writing implement.

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Have an abundance of materials for pupils to use in order to develop the fine motor skills needed to be able to control a writing implement.

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FM

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Creating a photo album with pictures of the pupils out on a trip and then scribe their story for them. This shows them that their story and feelings can be written and documented to go with the pictures

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Creating a photo album with pictures of the pupils out on a trip and then scribe their story for them. This shows them that their story and feelings can be written and documented to go with the pictures

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FM

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Literacy starts at home so the idea provided in the lecture of linking home and school with the use of pre printed "Ask me" slips which go home in a school bag to encourage discussion about activities done at school.

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Literacy starts at home so the idea provided in the lecture of linking home and school with the use of pre printed "Ask me" slips which go home in a school bag to encourage discussion about activities done at school.

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Welcoming book corner with books facing outward, labelled as to type and include comics, photo albums and other types of text to engage readers.

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Welcoming book corner with books facing outward, labelled as to type and include comics, photo albums and other types of text to engage readers.

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Creating an outdoor literacy space, hanging book in waterproof packaging from trees or creating secret dens

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Creating an outdoor literacy space, hanging book in waterproof packaging from trees or creating secret dens

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Writing names on the top of the left hand side of the paper or art work to encourage reading from left to right, presenting displays from left to right and top to bottom to mirror reading. 

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Writing names on the top of the left hand side of the paper or art work to encourage reading from left to right, presenting displays from left to right and top to bottom to mirror reading. 

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" ..a climate which recognises what you can do has a powerful effect on persistence and motivation so crucial to academic achievement" Wilford 2000

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" ..a climate which recognises what you can do has a powerful effect on persistence and motivation so crucial to academic achievement" Wilford 2000

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This is copied from last years input but is well worth a read and covers all aspects of a literate environment