A World of Words
By Maryann Manning

Online Extra:Two groundbreaking articles by Dr. Shelley B. Wepner about the use of environmental print in the classroom Logos: Signs of the Times Help Beginning Readers and Logos Revisited: Beyond the Basics

Ever since two-and-a-half-year-old Emily began talking, she's been adding to the repertoire of words she sees in her world. Emily recognizes many logos and symbols. She can even respond to the icons on AOL as she helps her mother answer e-mails. She shrieks at familiar store and gas station signs and she can say a number of words. Sometimes she says the wrong word because a logo uses the same color or type style as another logo, but she self-corrects and even analyzes her approximations.

From TV shows to toothpaste, logos are everywhere!

Print is everywhere
Environmental print is all print that surrounds a child. Logos and text on cereal boxes, milk cartons, billboards, household items, road signs and other print all contribute to an understanding that groups of letters stand for objects. In the last few decades, we've learned much about how children construct ideas about print. Starting at a young age, children observe print in their surroundings. We now know that children come to school with many notions about print upon which we can build.

Why environmental print?
The use of environmental print is powerful in the early childhood classroom. We can use environmental print as a basis for literacy strategy lessons, where it can help children who have no confidence in their ability to become literate begin to feel competent when they realize they recognize some print.

Environmental print is inexpensive and easily available. Fast food restaurants will often give you multiple paper items with their logo printed on them. Students and their parents should be the primary collectors of logos, labels and other print that the children can bring to school. The children will feel ownership of the print and parents can help draw attention to the print in and around the home.

Five ways to use it
There are many ways to use environmental print. Here are few of my favorites. I'm sure you have your own!

1. Collages on bulletin boards and charts pasted with packaging from students' favorite cereals, places to eat, snacks and toothpastes are popular. If a child wants a logo or other print that cannot be found, perhaps it can be located on the Internet and printed out.
2. Class or personal dictionaries and alphabet books are ways of organizing environmental print for reference. Individual folders or boxes which contain "Words I Can Read" are a source of pride for many children. Finding the same logos in different languages is of value for bilingual children.


Emily will "read" any print she encounters in her daily life, from logos of her favorite restaurants to the titles of her favorite DVDs.

3. Try placing baskets of laminated logos or other print where the children sit. Students can say the names of each logo and sort them into piles of various types such as soap, cereal, snacks and clothing. Games such as bingo can also be created with logos.
4. Activities such as debating favorite brands can be used to increase oral expression. Because many children prefer one brand over another, they'll enjoy the discussion. As they give reasons for their choices, their vocabularies will grow.
5. Create an environmental alphabet at or below the children's eye level so they can help with its construction. A word wall with space devoted to each letter is also effective. Children can continually bring new print to add under each letter. They can also begin sorting the print in the classroom collection according to beginning letter.

Making connections
Logos can be used as the print for instructional strategies when children are ready. I'm not advocating that preschoolers have formal lessons but if a young child asks, "Why do Food World and Food Giant have the same letters at the beginning?" we can respond. Only a few preschoolers are developmentally ready to pay attention to individual letters. Beginning in kindergarten, we can begin to focus on the learning of sound-symbol relationships.

One of the first steps in literacy development is moving from the logo in its familiar colors to the same logo in black and white. This can be done by scanning the logo and printing it without color or by photocopying the original. When the child can recognize the colorless version of the logo, the logo's letters can be converted to conventional print. A computer slide presentation or overhead transparencies can be developed for use at each stage of the evolution from logo to manuscript print.

Environmental print can be used as the basis for writing activities. A rebus-style use of logos works with young children. In writing demonstrations such as your classroom's Daily News activity as well as other interactive writing strategies, you can use logos mixed with conventional print. Try cutting the sentences into parts for students to reassemble.

A good, easy-to-read book about the use of environmental print in the classroom is Jumpstarters: Integrating Environmental Print Through the Curriculum by my friends Jerry Aldridge, Lynn Kirkland and Pat Kuby (Campus Press, 2002, ISBN 0-964-88921-8).

Maryann Manning is on the faculty of the School of Education, the University of Alabama at Birmingham.