THE PRINT ENVIRONMENT IN KINDERGARTENS - A STUDY OF CONVENTIONAL AND HOLISTIC TEACHERS AND THEIR CLASSROOMS IN 3 SETTINGS

Recommendations that teachers provide a print-rich environment in the classroom are ubiquitous in the emergent reading literature. This stud y assessed the physical print environment of 18 kindergarten classroom s, addressing the extent to which the teachers honored literacy by pro viding materials and special places for reading and writing to develop . Four categories were used for analysis: books, writing supplies, lit eracy centers, and incidences of print subcategorized as student, teac her and commercially produced. Both suburban and holistic classrooms h ad significantly more writing tools and student/teacher generated prin t than rural, urban and conventional settings. Urban and conventionall y taught children saw more commercial print and had fewer literacy cen ters. Several conclusions seem justified: (a) because of the overall p rint-poor environment found in most of the: classrooms, teachers are m issing the opportunity to honor and cultivate literacy to its fullest potential; (b) where a child goes to school and the philosophy of the teacher may affect children's access to special literacy areas, the am ount and type of print displayed, as well as the opportunity students have to create their own print around the room; and (c) early childhoo d inservice and preservice teachers (no matter their theoretical persp ective) need explicit guidelines in how to establish a deliberate, wel l-planned print-rich environment.