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!

Comments

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 e...

Back to School

The first week of school each year, I spend a lot of time practicing routines with my students. I make it a goal of mine to make every child in my class feel loved and safe so those first few weeks are so important in setting the atmosphere. I introduce one or two centers a day until all of the centers are open and running smoothly. I take pictures of areas around our classroom and make routine books that we read and reread throughout the first couple of weeks. I create Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math boxes that I place at our Science Center, along with magnifying lenses and a scale. The STEAM boxes match whatever theme we are covering. I separate our blocks by color and store them in matching colored boxes so that children are easily able to replace the blocks when they are done playing. These are stored in our Block Center. I label our toy cubbies with pictures so that children know where each toy is stored and they are easily able to find ...

All About Me/Feelings Themes

The first week of school, we spend practicing our routine and getting comfortable with coming to school. The next couple of weeks, we spend getting to know ourselves and each other. We do an All About Me Theme followed by a Feelings Theme. We create cutouts of ourselves and display them to show our differences and connectedness. I love how each cutout looks different. We talk a lot about how we are each special and unique. We compare eye colors and hair colors. We talk about our families and who is in each family. We draw pictures of ourselves and our families including any pets we have. We do name activities where we count how many letters are in our names and then we use letter tiles to make our names. We compare each child's name to the other names in the class and look at beginning letters and syllables. We also graph some of our favorites, such as colors, animals, foods, or sports. We draw pictures of our friends and copy our friends' names....

Engaged Early Learning

Search This Blog