As Early Years educators, we honor and invite play, curiosity, and joy. We know the importance of emergent literacy skills but we’re not always sure how to bring these to life in our spaces while still supporting play-based structures. 

How might we infuse elements of research-informed literacy inside of an authentic, student-centered space? What might symbolic expression and exploration look and sound like in the Early Years? 

Our Word Play course offers 6 on-demand videos sessions focused on Early Years word play. Plus access to a comprehensive Padlet with resources for additional support. 

Together, we’ll explore:

  • critical balanced literacy components in the Early Years setting 

  • joyful, high impact phonological awareness opportunities and how we might embed them throughout our day

  • what matters most for our young readers and writers

  • early Years writing progressions that allow us to envision possibilities for our writers

  • conferring tips and tools to support early writers and readers in a play-based environment.

Course curriculum

    1. Padlet

    1. PART 1 - Intro to Word Play

    2. PART 2 - Grounding in Components

    1. PART 1 - Exploring Interactive Read- Aloud

    2. PART 2 - Inquiring Into Shared Reading

    3. PART 3 - Shared Reading Observations

    4. PART 4 - Planning Shared Reading

    5. PART 5 - Wonderings

    1. PART 1 - The Intersection of Play and Word Study

    2. PART 2 - Provocations

    3. PART 3 - Phonological Awareness & Phonics

    4. PART 4 - Wonderings

    1. PART 1 - Conferences

    2. PART 2 - Let’s Live It!

    3. PART 3 - Wonderings

    1. PART 1 - Symbolic Expression & Exploration

    2. PART 2 - Story Workshop

    3. PART 3 - Let’s Live It!

About this course

  • $299.00
  • 20 lessons
  • 4 hours of video content

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Course Facilitator

Faiza Martin

Faiza (Fay) Martin has worked as an IB classroom teacher, reading specialist, literacy coach and PYP Coordinator in England, the UAE, and India. She has extensive experience in curriculum development, especially in unpacking standards and benchmarks to create tailored reading and writing units that fit the context of international schools and/or enhance their units of inquiry. She is particularly passionate about the many ways that play and emergent literacy intersect in the Early Years. As an EKC strategist, Fay coaches and mentors global groups of educators on creating inquiry-rich units of study and assessments that align with benchmarks and include student voice, tailoring units of study that integrate into units of inquiry, maximizing student choice and agency, and leveraging ways to lean on our many teacher roles to respond to learners. She is currently at the American School of Bombay where she is meshing the roles of literacy coach and PYP Coordinator into a brand new role of Transdisciplinary Coach and Coordinator (PYP).