Head Start Webcast To Feature Fantuzzo

March 12, 2010 - On April 1, the Office of Head Start (OHS) will air a Symphony of Literacy webcast featuring Penn GSE Professor John Fantuzzo and one of the Philadelphia Head Start classrooms where the EPIC curriculum is being taught. 

Subtitled “What Part Does the Alphabetic Principle Play?” the webcast will focus on the skills that influence early literacy – including phonological awareness, alphabetic knowledge, print awareness, early writing, and book knowledge and appreciation. The webcast will provide classroom teachers with strategies to infuse the alphabetic principle into creative language- learning experiences for young children. 

In addition to Dr. Fantuzzo, also director of the Penn Child Research Center, panelists include Dr. Jerlean Daniel, director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children; Dr. Joanne Knapp-Philo, director of the National Head Start Family Literacy Center; and Dr. Barbara Dowling, National Head Start Fellow/ Early Literacy Expert. 

Anyone interested in submitting questions may email them to ohswebcast@esi-dc.com. Questions will be answered on-air during the webcast or posted on the Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center’s site after the webcast. 

The webcast will be available from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. EST on the Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center, at http://www.eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov 

Media contact: Jill DiSanto-Haines at 215-898-4820 or jdisanto@upenn.edu