The International Reading Association/National Association for the Education of Young Children joint position statement on developmentally appropriate ways of teaching children to read and write comes to life here with photographs, concrete guidelines, and exciting ideas for the classroom.

Experiences commonplace in many homes and early childhood settings--such as adults reading to children--are key in laying the foundation for literacy. Yet these experiences are far from universal. To ensure that all children learn to read and write by the end of third grade, early childhood educators need to know more and do more to promote literacy in effective, developmentally appropriate ways.