Bringing together two key areas within early childhood- play and literacy - this book offers an innovative approach to examining literacies within the context of children's play. This book: Introduces students to contemporary theory and research in the field Explores the debates surrounding young children's play and how language and literacies are created through a range of play activity Helps students to reflect on how this knowledge can be applied in their future professional lives working to support young children Advocating for young children's play and diverse literacies, this book supports students to develop a depth of knowledge about how play can extend children's literacies, and encourages early childhood educators to reflect on and enhance their literacy practices with young children.
Dr Kate Smith is a Senior Lecturer in Childhood and Early Childhood Studies at Canterbury Christ Church University. She currently leads modules on language and literacy and supervises post-graduate and research students. As a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy she has led employment based undergraduate programmes and travelled to Sweden, Finland and Norway as part of her university role. Kate's PhD explored young children's writing activity in their first year of school. She continues to research this area and has written a number of articles about young children's literacy. Before lecturing she was a primary teacher working with children aged 3-7 in London and Kent schools with whole-school responsibility for Literacy and Art. Kate's work with school's continues in her role as a Director of a Multi Academy Trust in Kent. She is co-editor of An Introduction to Early Childhood (2018) and has recently contributed to the Birth to Five Matters documentation. She is a member of UKLA and BERA. Karen Vincent is a Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood and Primary Initial Teacher Education. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and is the Primary Lead for Early Years at Canterbury Christ Church University. She currently leads the early childhood placement modules, teaches modules on child development and learning and supervises final year research students. Karen's doctoral thesis explores the pedagogical narratives of early childhood initial teacher educators. As a teacher of young children, Karen taught in a range of different school settings in a variety of leadership roles, before becoming a teacher educator. Karen has written several chapters and articles relating to early years and primary initial teacher education. These include pedagogies of play, play and mathematics, literacy transition from EYFS to KS1 and mentoring. Karen is a member of IPDA, TACTYC and The Chartered College of Teaching.
Introduction: Weaving together young children's play and literacies Chapter 1: Strong Foundations: The significance of play Chapter 2: Playful Encounters: Language and multimodal communication Chapter 3: Playing Narratively: Stories, imagination and role play Chapter 4: Making a Mark on the World: Playful writing Chapter 5: Sharing Stories: Reading and playing together Chapter 6: Playing Digitally: Multimodal digital literacies Chapter 7: 'We're going on a bear hunt': Language and Literacies in Outdoor Play Chapter 8: Curriculum Conversations: How the curriculum can support literacies and play
