Where the Sidewalk Ends.....

Hi Friends! I am blogging about one of my favorite teaching strategies. I first discovered "Environmental Print" as a first grade teacher. Being a graduate from Montevallo, I always welcomed interns in my classroom. I also had interns from UAB. One year, a professor from UAB, had co-authored a book about the benefits of environmental print in the early childhood classroom. She was there observing a intern in my classroom and we started a conversation. I bought her book, had countless conversations with her throughout the year, and environment print became an important part of my classroom curriculum. Here is a link to the book that started it all in my classroom: Integrating Environmental Print Book

What is environmental print? Environmental Print is the print that a child sees every day on street signs, signs on buildings, the store shelves, while in the checkout line, or anywhere there are words. Reading print from the world around us is one of the beginning stages of literacy development. The letters, numbers, shapes, and colors found in logos from products and stores such as McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, Coke, and Taco Bell all provide opportunities for emerging readers to interact with print and the written word in their own environment. I believe environmental print is the first print a child learns to read.


Here are a few ideas I used in my classroom every year. It is a perfect beginning of the year unit. It makes the home & school connection through lessons. Here are a few activities I enjoy with my students:

For Blog purposes I am going to refer to Environmental Print as (EP)

Make an “Eat the Alphabet” book: The children collect EP of all different foods & put them in a class book next to the corresponding alphabet letter. Take a look at this example :)
Environmental Print ABC Example

Make a class “ I Can Read” chart: The students glue on the chart the words from their environment they can read.

Sorting: Students can bring in all sorts of EP and you can have them sort them by category (food, toy, store, signs )

Find rhyming words, example of short & long vowels, and any other word building skill.

A field trip to the mall to look for EP or around the school building is a great way to experience environmental print. Walking around the school with a digital camera looking for EP to add to our class chart is always a favorite activity.

Can’t go on a field trip? How about accessing online games with environmental print? This is one, simple example of activities found online. This would be a great assessment tool at the end of the unit too. Street Sign Gallery Game

A reminder of how a love a reading begins at home.....Judy Blume.

 My personal, childhood FAVORITE author!