Appendix D: ECIPs – Language, Literacy & Communication

“Amaani, my family child care provider, talks and sings with me and the other children in her care every day. I am three-and-one-half years old and go to her home with my little baby brother and several other children of differing ages. My family speaks English only but I love to listen to the lilt in Amaani’s voice when she talks with me in English and as she sings my baby brother to sleep with a song from her native Somalia. I hear different sounds and am learning some Somali words as well as some Spanish ones as my best friend, Gabriella, and her family speak that language. Amaani makes sure that we can all communicate with each other. My favorite times of the day are book times. Amaani has many different kinds of books and lets us look at them ourselves, reads them to us, and helps us understand the stories and learn new words. Sometimes we act stories out.  Sometimes the story has a song that we sing or items that we can count. I really like the pictures in books about plants and animals and houses and big trucks. Amaani has markers and crayons that we can use to write and draw. I can make some of the letters in my name, Emily, but not perfectly.  Amaani says that’s okay. That I’m learning just right for a three-, almost four-year-old. Gabriella can make her “G” but my little brother just makes marks on the paper. But Gabriella and me know which name cards belong to us and to the other children. We like to pass them out. When we do it right, Amaani claps and smiles.”

Language, literacy, and communication skills begin in the very first months of life and strong development of young children’s skills and abilities depends on interactions with families, teachers, caregivers and friends. The expectations that are set out in the Minnesota Early Indicators of Child Progress (ECIPs) recognize that young children are developing foundational knowledge and skills that will lead to more rigorous academic study in the English Language Arts domain in the elementary school years. The alignment of the ECIPs
with the Minnesota Academic Standards for Kindergarten is included and, as the kindergarten standards are revised, this alignment will be updated.  The ECIPs provide guidance so that teachers and providers know appropriate expectations for young learners.
The Language, Literacy, and Communications domain includes four components:

1. Listening and Understanding; Receptive Language LLC 1-2
2. Communicating and Speaking; Expressive Language LLC 3-4
3. Emergent Reading LLC 5-13
4. Writing LLC 14

The subcomponents and indicators identified for the ages of birth through kindergarten entry address the specific expectations across the developmental spectrum.

• For infants, indicators focus more on the children’s receptive language and beginning communication skills with loved ones and caregivers.  Interactions with books and early phonological awareness are seen within the context of relationships with caregivers.
• As toddlers grow in their capabilities to express themselves in words and phrases, vocabulary in their home languages is emphasized, both from the receptive as well as the expressive mode. Phonological awareness is seen in the ways that children engage with word play, songs and rhymes. As caregivers provide opportunities to interact with books and story-reading experiences, they help build initial concepts of print and early comprehension. Toddlers make initial attempts at writing as they scribble and draw with various writing tools.
• Preschoolers show their rapidly expanding vocabulary in the ways they can respond to adult directions and engage in conversations. They express their wants and needs more clearly and in greater complexity as their understanding of grammar and syntax grows. They show enjoyment in being read to and may read the pictures or retell the stories in books they know well. They begin to make sense of letters and print as they play with reading and writing and engage in word play with the sounds of language as they develop phonological awareness.

The domain of Language, Literacy and Communications is foundational to children’s development in all domains. Their development of oral language and the ability to communicate with others helps children function socially and in their daily lives. Their growing vocabulary includes the language of other domains. They incorporate mathematical and scientific terminology as they learn more about the world around them. They grow in understanding of roles and responsibilities as they engage in dramatic play and imitate family life.
Certainly reading and writing are important long-term goals in school experiences. The indicators in the ECIPs are designed to work toward those goals with the foundational skills appropriate for the youngest learners. It’s important for teaches and providers to remember that literacy in the early years is built on the foundation of oral language.
“Early literacy is an emerging set of relationships between reading and writing. These relationships are situated in a broader communication network of speaking and listening, whose components work together to help the learner negotiate the world and make sense of experience (Thelen & Smith 1995; Lewis 2000; Siegler 2000). Young children need writing to help them learn about reading, they need reading to help them learn about writing; and they need oral language to help them learn about both.” (Roskos, Christie, and Richgels 2004, 1)

Resource:
Roskos, Kathleen A., James F. Christie, and Donald J. Richgels. 2003. Essentials of Early Literacy Instruction. Young Children, Vol. 58, No. 2: 52-60.

Source: https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/early/highqualel/ind/domain/