About Nellie Edge

Contact Nellie Edge at 1-800-523-4594 or by email at info@nellieedge.com.

Nellie Edge is a kindergarten teacher researcher, literacy coach, nationally recognized early literacy presenter, folk musician, and recording artist. While teaching in a bilingual kindergarten in Albuquerque, New Mexico, she discovered the power of developing language and literacy skills through traditional Spanish and English folk songs. Her desire to make learning to read a successful and joyful journey for all children led to the publication of her Nellie Edge Read and Sing Big Books™, with accompanying Little Books, Parents as Partners connections, and Differentiated Literacy™ guides. Nellie Edge’s commitment to children and their teachers is evident in her beautiful, highly regarded Excellence in Kindergarten and Early Literacy website and quality professional resources.

A recipient of the IRA Reading Excellence Through the Arts award, Nellie Edge is a proponent of using music, Sign Language, and all of the arts to enhance early literacy skills. She is the founder of the Northwest Coalition for Excellence in Kindergarten Literacy and a strong advocate for developing professional learning communities for teachers that inspire collaborative inquiry into best teaching practices.

Nellie Edge is the author of Kids in the Kitchen, Music is Magic for Your Child and You! book and CD, Small Poems of Some Delight, Celebrate Language and Accelerate Literacy: High Expectations • Joyful Learning • Proven Strategies, Parents as Partners in Kindergarten and Early Literacy: Family Connections that Multiply Our Teaching Effectiveness, The Magic of Signing Songs: Enhancing All Children’s Language and Literacy, and many other titles.She recorded the best selling CD, Music is Magic, with Tom Hunter. Her newest children’s book and CD is ABC Phonics: Sing Sign, and Read from Sign2Me publishers.

Nellie Edge’s literacy seminars and website resources provide models of meaning-centered instruction within a joyful community of learners. She skillfully articulates the research base and our wisdom of practice with multisensory and engaging strategies that build reading independence and foster positive attitudes about learning. Nellie Edge Seminars and keynote presentations have inspired thousands of educators nationwide to celebrate language and accelerate literacy by taking advantage of how the young child’s brain learns best.

Kindergarten is for Language

“It is the familiarity with the English language that allows a child to develop phonemic awareness, build comprehension, and extend vocabulary. It is the familiarity with the English language that allows a child’s decoding to be error-free and their reading to be fluent. Oral language is THE vital foundation that allows us to ‘Put Reading First’ and develop ambitious, thoughtful readers and writers. We teach most powerfully when we celebrate language, involve parents, and honor childhood.”

Defining Excellence in Kindergarten and Early Literacy
My Kindergarten Teaching Philosophy
The SMILE Approach to Accelerated Literacy