Pre-K teachers and leaders, join us at LitCon!
Full-Day Workshop, February 1, 2025 at the Hyatt Regency Downtown Columbus
New at LitCon 2025! Join us for a full-day workshop designed to deepen your understanding of early literacy development in young children. The day will include interactive sessions led by experts in the field, covering a range of topics from the power of reading aloud to embedding literacy into play-based learning. Participants will leave with practical tools, strategies, and resources to foster a love of reading and writing in early learners.
Teaching & Learning in Preschool for Early Literacy Success – Part 1
9:00 am – 12:00 pm
The Importance of Reading Aloud with Lisa Pinkerton: Reading aloud to children is a powerfully creative act. Reading aloud fosters children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development. Sharing books together develops the adult/child bond through a love of reading. Attendees will participate in read alouds, learning how to engage listeners and build thoughtful conversations. They will also receive an extensive list of favorite picture books to read aloud to young children.
A Comprehensive Literacy Framework in the Pre-School Classroom with Jamie Lipp: Pre-school is an integral part of a child’s overall learning journey. Balancing social-emotional learning, oral language development, and developmentally appropriate academic beginnings is a delicate balance. Play-based learning does not have to take a backseat to literacy teaching and learning opportunities. Explore how to carefully intertwine these important learning components within the pre-school curriculum and classroom setting.
Break for lunch on your own
12:00 – 1:00 pm
Teaching & Learning in Preschool for Early Literacy Success – Part 2
1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Successful Start with Journey Swafford: In this session, participants will learn about the promising new kindergarten initiative, Successful Start. A classroom program based on Marie Clay’s literacy processing theory, Successful Start includes four instructional components: Instructional reading, instructional writing, read to and word work, with handwriting and letter formation explicitly and responsively taught during both the instructional reading and writing components. Participants will make connections to preschool practices by watching and discussing lesson videos and records.
Growing Readers and Writers in a Play-Based Environment: Integrating Literacy with Purposeful Play with Allyson Matczuk: “Play is the work of childhood” according to Maria Montessori. It is serious business where important learning takes place. Within a play-based context, literacy concepts and practices can be purposefully embedded to enrich rather than replace play for young children. Through photo and video samples we will see what this can look like in 2025.