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Program information
Developer and contact
Developed by Christopher J. Lonigan, Ph. D., Jeanine Clancy-Menchetti, Ph. D., Beth M. Phillips, Ph. D., and colleagues, Literacy Express is currently available in limited commercial distribution through Literacy Express. Email: LiteracyExpress@hotmail.com.
Scope of use
Literacy Express has been implemented by preschool and childcare programs in Florida, California, Texas, Massachusetts, and New Mexico. These programs have included typically developing children, children with special needs, and English language learners. However, information is not available on the number or demographics of children or centers using this program.
Teaching
Literacy Express can be implemented in various early childhood settings using daily individual, small-group, and large-group activities and a balance of teacher-initiated and child-initiated activities. The complete curriculum package includes a teacher's manual, 10 thematic unit guides, a unit guide for augmentative or summer activities ("Off to Kindergarten"), and key curriculum materials such as shape materials, more than 80 thematically linked picture books and alphabet books, and phonological awareness activity picture cards, letters, and numbers.
Literacy Express is structured around a number of three- to five-week thematic units that can be integrated into classroom activities. The units are sequenced in order of increasing complexity, each building on the previous one. In each unit, teachers use three specific and brief small-group activities daily (dialogic reading, phonological awareness activities, and print knowledge activities) with groups of three to five children. Teachers also select from a number of suggested large-group activities for each unit that involve active child participation to use skills learned in the small-group activities in new contexts. The curriculum includes both teacher- and child-directed math and science activities that follow a developmental scope and sequence. The curriculum also provides suggested activities—art, cooking, science and discovery, and gross and fine motor activities—for many independent play centers. Teachers participate in a two-day professional development workshop at the beginning of the school year and in either two additional half-day workshops or one additional full-day workshop.
Cost
The current cost for a complete Literacy Express classroom package is $2,300. Professional development fees vary by the size of group and number of trainers.
