Before the introduction of letter sounds and word identification, the teaching staff provides a variety of activities for children to gain knowledge of the use of language. Story-telling through books, records, and tapes, puppets, flannel stories, finger plays, making classroom charts and graphs as well as dictation of their ideas and thoughts, help the children make a connection between letters and words and why they are so important. Our classrooms are labeled to create a print rich environment and the proper tools, pencils, markers, paper etc., are made available for the children to experiment with and be inventive in writing or copying what they see in their environment.