What is an Emergent Learner

An emergent learner is very young child who is experiencing the very first stage of early literacy. Upon researching the age range online, it is estimated that the emergent reader age can range from birth to about age 7. The emergent learner has already experienced oral interactions and the written print via interactions with books, or literature that may have been read to them. To assist with the development of their skills, it is important for them to hear the sounds that are used in everyday speaking and reading, and learn that printed words are associated with those sounds, and that they have meaning. It is important to teach the Concepts of Print, which include word sounds and meaning, tracking writing from left to right and top to bottom, spatial relationships between long and short words, punctuation, and upper and lower case letters.