From Words to Wisdom: Supporting Academic Language Use in PreK-3rd Grade(Language and Literacy Series)

This practical guide shows teachers how to introduce academic language to young children, with an emphasis on appreciating and leveraging linguistic diversity. New educational standards are asking students to master content-area concepts and increasingly complex texts in earlier grades. This practitioner-friendly text provides instructional materials, sample dialogs, and assessment tools to facilitate academic language use in PreK–3 classrooms. The authors describe the word, sentence, and discourse levels of academic language, while encouraging teachers and students to consider purpose, participants, discipline, and context. Strategies are provided to help readers adapt language for a variety of academic purposes across mathematics, science, play, mealtimes, and ELA instruction. The text includes discussion questions, reproducible activities, planning materials, assessment tools, and handouts to facilitate smooth implementation into classroom practice. From Words to Wisdom will empower teachers to build bridges to academic success for all young learners. Book Features: Expands teachers' understanding of academic language beyond vocabulary to include syntax and discourse-level features. Includes specific strategies, activities, and suggestions for teaching from and with academic language across multiple settings and disciplines. Addresses all students, including multilingual and linguistically diverse speakers. Incorporates user-friendly features, such as text boxes, vignettes, assessment protocols, and sample teaching materials.

Table of Contents:
Contents Foreword Susan B. Neuman ix Preface: Learning the Language of School xii Acknowledgments xvii 1. An Overview of Academic Language 1 Academic or Casual Language? 1 How Might Academic Language Look in Early Childhood Classrooms? 4 Conclusion 9 2. Language Learning 10 Principles of Language Learning 10 Facilitating Language 13 Conclusion 17 3. Linguistic Diversity and Registers 18 The Academic Register 18 Teaching Linguistically Diverse Students 23 Celebrating Linguistic Diversity While Fostering Academic Language Development 25 Conclusion 29 4. Academic Vocabulary 30 Selecting Words to Teach 32 Teaching Academic Vocabulary 35 Conclusion 40 5. Complex Syntax 41 Coauthored by Katherine Newman Development of Complex Syntax 42 Common Syntactic Structures 42 Complex Syntax in Academic Texts 45 Modeling and Instructing 46 Conclusion 52 6. Academic Discourse 53 Features of Academic Discourse 53 Academic Discourse in Early Childhood Classrooms 56 Conclusion 66 7. Mealtimes and Sharing Time 67 Mealtimes 68 Sharing Time 74 Conclusion 79 8. Playful Learning 80 Coauthored by Katherine Newman and Jessica Lawson-Adams Drama and Imaginative Play 80 Games 83 Music 85 Conclusion 91 9. Scientific Language 92 What Is Scientific Language? 92 Teaching Scientific Vocabulary 94 Pulling It All Together 100 Conclusion 102 10. Mathematical Language 103 What Is Mathematic Language? 103 Modeling Mathematical Language Through Reads-Alouds 104 Teaching Mathematical Vocabulary 106 Mathematical Discourse 109 Conclusion 113 11. Assessment 114 Principles of Language Assessment 114 Informal Assessments 116 Formal Assessments 119 Assessing Classroom Support 119 Conclusion 122 Appendix A. Observing Academic Language in Science and Mathematics 123 Appendix B. Academic Language Observation Tool (ALOT) 125 Appendix C. Academic Language Implementation Assessment (ALIA) 127 Appendix D. Children’s Literature for Building Academic Language 132 Appendix E. Digital Resources 134 References 137 Index 149 About the Authors 157

About the Author :
Erica M. Barnes is an associate professor in the Department of Literacy Teaching and Learning at the University of Albany and a former teacher, teacher consultant, and progress monitoring specialist. Jill F. Grifenhagen is an assistant professor of literacy education at North Carolina State University and a former early elementary classroom teacher and instructional coach. David K. Dickinson is professor emeritus at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College.

Review :
"As the authors point out, mastery of academic language leads children to better comprehension and composition of complex text. Starting early builds a strong foundation. Any teachers who want to be among the foundation builders would greatly benefit from reading this inspiring book!" -- "Illinois Reading Council Journal"