Teaching Literacy

Literacy is so important in any classroom but let's really focus on literacy in the early education classroom to help children start on a solid foundation and develop a love of reading! I recently attended a training on emergent literacy which I found to be so helpful. Research shows that the two best predictors of reading success are phonemic awareness and letter knowledge. Preschool children should develop phonological awareness, print awareness and have oral language and vocabulary. In early literacy children will pretend to write, pretend to read, name letters, "read" print in their environment, write their name and ask questions about print. As teachers we should choose print-rich books to share with or students and then have explicit discussions about that print. When looking for print-rich books, look for big bold letters and unique features. Every book we read to our students should have a purpose. I took all of the books that I have in my classroom for read alouds and I divided them into the following four areas so I can better determine my purpose when I read to the class.
Phonological Awareness-(example:Dr. Seuss books), Print Awareness-(example:"Thesaurus Rex"),

Vocabulary- (example:"House for Hermit Crab"), Oral Language-(example:"Brown Bear, Brown Bear")

Sometimes I choose the book first and then the purpose but other times I choose the purpose first and then the book. "Repeated readings create a sense of familiarity for children and increase confidence in prereading skills. (Justice & Pence, 2005)
The first read should be to give an understanding of the book and try not to interrupt much. The second read is to further the understanding and provide opportunities to use language for thinking and learning. The third read is for story comprehension and to allow the children to pull it all together. So you don't need to read a different book every day, but DO read every day!

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Pumpkin Theme

Every October we learn about pumpkins. Mini pumpkins are brought into the Science Center for every child and we investigate them with magnifying lenses and our senses. We also cut the top off of a large pumpkin and scoop the seeds out to investigate as well. I allow every child who is interested, a turn scooping seeds out. I never require the students to help if they are not interested. In the Literacy Center, we use mini pumpkin erasers to trace around letters. Pumpkin stickers can also be used. We take a field trip to a local pumpkin patch where every child is allowed to pick a pumpkin to take home. In the Fine Motor/Sensory Center, we make pumpkin pie with orange playdough and rolling pins. We also count and make patterns in the Math Center with pumpkin erasers or manipulatives. In the Pumpkin STEAM box, I include mini pumpkins, leaves, acorns, magnifying lenses and orange slices of pool noodles that the children can play and experiment with. The Dramatic

Cookies Theme

Who doesn't love cookies? We have an entire theme based on cookies and it is one of my favorites! We incorporate a lot of counting into our cookie theme. We count chips onto cookies in our Math Center. We count cookies and clip the correct numeral in our Fine Motor/Sensory Center. We serve cookies at the bakery in the Dramatic Play Center. We also practice numeral recognition and matching and fine motor skills using cookies and pom poms. We have taken a field trip to a local bakery some years and other years made cookies together as a class but in both situations, we have decorated them and enjoyed eating them. There are several cookie stories we read including: *"The Gingerbread Boy" *"The Gingerbread Girl" *"Whose Stole the Cookies from the Cookie Jar?" *"The Doorbell Rang" *"May I Please Have a Cookie?" *"The Duckling Gets a Cookie" *"If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" At our A

Apple Theme

Another theme we cover in the fall is Apples. In our Math Center, we make Apple Stew using apple erasers, bowls, ladles, and recipe cards. We also use apple manipulatives to count and sort. In the Science Center, I place apple slices, apple seeds, whole apples and magnifying lenses. The students are able to investigate the apples. We practice gluing by placing just a dot of glue inside each dot on an apple. This strengthens their hands and we use glitter glue in red, yellow and green to make it more interesting. At the Writing Center I have the students draw apples and add details. Words related to apples can be posted in the Writing Center for children who are ready and interested in copying words onto their paper. Apple shaped papers can also be placed at the Writing Center to make it more engaging. In the Fine Motor/Sensory Center, children try stacking apples and counting to see how high they can go. Some books about apples that we read include: *"

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