Literacy in kindergarten

The main purpose of this study was to determine if literacy appears in kindergarten or in what way it appears. We were interested in the role of both, parents and educators in the occurrence of literacy as well as what activities it is developed with and how does it rely on the kindergarten curriculum. We also wanted to determine what the most common communicational activity that children in kindergarten use is. Since we are discussing literacy we cannot go past the query, whether children in kindergarten already write and read. Therefore, we were wondering in what way they do it. In order to get the results and to reach the conclusion, we examined the current status with a questionnaire in kindergartens around Novo mesto and its surrounding area. The questionnaires were solved by educators. They answered the offered questions on the basis of their experiences and knowledge. The results have shown that literacy in kindergarten appears at both, younger and older age group of children. Educators soon start offering different activities to younger children in order to develop pre-literacy abilities and skills, i.e. for voice recognition, fine motoric skills building, working with a book, which takes place mainly through didactic games. With older children (in the second age group) these activities are used more frequently. The parents certainly have the basic influences on the process of emerging literacy. They encourage their children. They help children to participate and show more interest in the activities that take place in kindergartens. This can be seen through the child's speech, which is the most important preschool communicational activity. Educators have confirmed that at the pre-literacy leaning they lean on kindergarten curriculum. There are numbers of other technical manuals, books and magazines to get the extra help from