From Pictures to Words: Understanding the Foundations of Literacy Learning, shown on more than 150 public television stations in 2003–2004, explores children’s entrance to the world of literacy. Children from preschool through second grade are seen working with their teachers and with each other as they engage in activities ranging from drawing pictures to dictating stories, from early attempts at spelling to writing stories. In sequences of children at home, the viewer sees parents engaging with their children on literacy-based activities such as writing a letter to a friend, reading together or following a recipe. Excerpts from conversations with teachers and parents complement the narration by Dawn Upshaw and comments by Child Development Institute faculty.

How do children come to literacy? Based on recent research in psychology and education, From Pictures to Words represents the view that encouraging young children to make pictures, to invent their own graphic representations, sets the literacy process in motion. As children gain experience with written language by being read to, dictating their stories and having opportunity to experiment with crayons, markers and pencils, they begin to realize that these marks, alone or in combination, stand for the sounds of language. Later, the child is able to see lines of print as patterns of words that comprise sentences in a story. If the child is engaged in interesting, enjoyable activities, the accompanying instruction becomes helpful guidance that encourages the search for meaning in and through print.

A booklet, “From Pictures to Words,” is available with purchase of the video.