We believe that language use and development have a strong impact on all areas of the curriculum. Children are learning how to negotiate turns and, more globally, how to be understood by their peers. We often hear children protest in their loudest voices by saying, "But this is NOT what I meant!" Not to mention the popular "you are a poo-poo head!" and "You are not the boss of me", etc. We strive to help our youngest to learn the nuances but also the practical and healthy aspects of using and interpreting language to grow and change. We believe that we all need experiences hearing and using language to learn it.

The most important aspects of language and literacy in the pre-k classroom are all geared towards the grand prize: learning to read. They are:

• Oral language development: children are encouraged to engage in conversations, formal and informal, that help them expand their vocabulary and their use of basic to more advanced conversational structures.

• Creating a culture of conversations: In pre-k conversations are our main tool to reach children with elements of language such as articulation, vocabulary, word construction, grammar, and discourse. Teachers are always finding ways to engage children in conversation: problem solving, sharing stories about time away from school or from when we were all babies, or helping children find healthier and safer words to describe feelings to resolve conflicts. Some conversations involve a second language, which only helps children become aware of the diversity of sounds and cultures that are represented in the classroom.

• Creating Language And Literacy Experiences In The Pre-K Classroom: another aspect of language development that we integrate into our curriculum planning is the type of activity that will help all children approach the elements of language. For example, the Feeling Can is one of our best ways to incorporate several of these elements. We use it to encourage children to learn how to discriminate sounds and to have fun with phonological awareness (ability to focus on the sounds of language: words, syllables, parts of syllables, phonemes).