'PREPARING FOR LITERACY’ - PRACTICAL STRATEGIES FOR INFANT TEACHERS

Children require a huge number of essentlls (and time) before they are ready to engage with conventional literacy learning. Clara and Sinéad advocate for a balance in approaches and believe in affording children time to develop a range of critical pre-literacy skills before rushing to formal reading and writing instruction. Following their hugely popular summer CPD course, Clara and Sinéad will present a webinar outlining a variety of developmentally appropriate strategies required to best prepare your infants for literacy learning.

Take time to rethink your approaches and give your learners the best possible start in literacy learning!

This webinar will focus on:

• Preparing the literacy learning environment

• Preparing for language development

• Preparing for reading

• Preparing for handwriting

• Preparing for literacy development through play

Clara Maria Fiorentini is a lecturer in education at Marino Institute of Education specialising in English Methods and Early Childhood Education. Prior to joining MIE, Clara taught for eleven years in Dominican Primary School, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin throughout which time she developed a keen interest in literacy development and playful pedagogy. Clara completed a Masters in Children’s Literature at DCU and is currently a PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin, Clara is researching early literacy development and transitions to formal literacy learning. The face behind the popular Irish teaching blog www.littlemissteacher.com, Clara is also an executive committee member of the Literacy Association of Ireland and is co-author of Ireland’s first multisensory phonics programme, Sounds Like Phonics (CJ Fallon, 2019).

Sinéad McCauley Lambe is a lecturer in education at Marino Institute of Education specialising in Early Childhood Education. Prior to joining MIE, Sinéad taught for eleven years in St. Vincent’s Infant Boys’ school in North William Street. Here, Sinéad moved into resource teaching and worked with children with ASD and those experiencing a wide range of emotional and behavioural difficulties. It was this work that ignited Sinéad’s interest in educational disadvantage, motor development and early intervention. Sinéad completed a Masters Educational Disadvantage in DCU and is currently a PhD candidate there. Her research interests include infant motor development and emergent handwriting development.