ABSTRACT
Reading and writing provide access to literacy. We learn the value of communication through the written word very early as children struggling to master print in our environment. From the posters on the nursery room wall, to the bedtime storybooks, to the signs around town, letters and words quickly become a part of our consciousness. The need to know what the words mean is at first a curiosity soon replaced by the desire to communicate. We learn to communicate our desires first through listening and oral language, the very foundations of literacy. Ultimately, the acquisition of reading and writing enables us to develop into the unique individuals we are all capable of becoming. To be lifelong readers and writers is our goal as well as the goal of parents and teachers for us. Home and the schools, then, are the main forums for literacy development. The connections that can be made between reading and writing, listening and speaking bond in those arenas.
