1	Beginnings of Reading Instruction From American Reading Instruction by Nila Banton Smith, special edition, 2002
2	Early Humans Drew messages in the air, so the hand was the early writing tool, the gestures were the characters, and the air was the medium Gestures were supplemented or followed by picture symbols on sand, bark, or stone, bone, hides Picture language was derived from gesture language
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5	Pictures At first represented single objects Gradually came to embody ideas and feelings (ideograms) Eventually picture writing was not able to deal with the complexity of language Words and syllables developed into letter sounds and symbols evolved to represent these
6	In the beginning… Invention of characters for use in expressing and recording thought Development of symbols and the materials on which these symbols were inscribed
7	In Western Culture Egyptians developed symbols very early, about 4500 years ago
8	"The Phoenician alphabet developed from..." The Phoenician alphabet developed from the Egyptian The Greek alphabet sprang from the Phoenician The Roman alphabet was an offshoot of the Greek.
9	"The Greek alphabet sprang from..." The Greek alphabet sprang from the Phoenician
10	"The Roman alphabet was an..." The Roman alphabet was an offshoot of the Greek.
11	Clay Tablets It may be that clay tablets were the first “reading textbooks.”
12	Hornbooks Hornbooks made of wood, iron, pewter, ivory, silver, and even gingerbread. Gingerbread may have been used to “motivate” young readers. In the 16^th century, gingerbread was very popular and a “dainty” could be purchased for a penny.
13	Gingerbread Hornbooks A Berman educator in the 1700’s figured that gingerbread only cost a half penny per child to produce. Basedow figured that it would take each child about three weeks to learn (and eat) the alphabet and that “the acquisition is surely worth so much and is possible even to poor children.” This was not, however, a universal practice.
14	Typical Hornbooks The typical hornbook consisted of a sheet of paper about 3 inches by 4 inches that was fastened on a think paddle-shaped board. It’s name came from the fact that a translucent sheet of horn was used to cover the paper in order to “save from fingers wet the letters faire.” A narrow strip of metal was fastened on three sides of the horn. The fourth side was open so that the sheet of paper could be changed
15	Early Reading Materials Reading was important in the instruction of Christian priests. In 813, the 44^th Canon of the Council of Mainz decreed that children should be taught the “fidem Catholicam et orationium dominicans.”
16	First Books Because children needed to receive universal instruction, materials had to be available to the laity. In the Middle Ages, this book contained “the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and a few Psalms.” It was called a primer, not because it was the first book of reading instruction, but because it was primary or fundamental information considered necessary for one’s spiritual existence. Eventually primers also contained the alphabet, a list of syllables, and words.
17	The ABC At the same time that the primer was developed, another book developed separately—the ABC. The early “authorized” primers were not schoolbooks but manuals for church services What was needed was something that handled reading instruction and religious teaching
18	The Enschude Abecedarium This was used as the elementary book of the Catholic Church. It contained the alphabet, the Pater Noster, the Ave Maria, the Credo, and two prayers. The function of the ABC is summed up below: “They were to be the first books placed in the hands of the child and to contain all that it was necessary for him to know, to enable him to understand the rudiments of the Christian Religion and to join in the services of the Church and even to serve at Mass, or, as it is called, ‘to help a priest sing.”