I worked in a Head Start room and observed the teacher and her co-workers this last two weeks. It was interesting to see how they arranged their classroom to encourage early literacy. They had a writing center, journals, paper and pencils available in every center. They also worked with the children as a group and individually. The children were learning and engaged in this very organized child friendly setting. Teacher talked to me about the importance of early literacy and how her children have grown over the school year by being exposed to books, utensils, and print. She said that they use to get RIF books. These are books that are free in children living in poverty. This has been taken away from this head start program at the current time. This is one thing that I am going to advocate for. Children need books. I learned how to expose children to print by placing the materials in their play area for them to experiment with. I looked and every center had paper with writing on it. Some was names and some was just random scribbles.
The children loved being read to and participated in the story by raising hands and adding their thoughts about the story. If children become great readers they will have a better educational experience. This is a very important topic that needs support from teachers, parents, and the community.
Hi Mandy,
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you’re looking into literacy; this is a topic that is not much advocated for. For example, in our Hispanic community literacy as a whole is never appreciated. I read an article that stated that middle class children are read 1000 hours by the age of three. On the other hand lower income children are read only 25 hours by the age of three!! I was shocked by those results. I feel literacy is important at all ages. I also feel that as parents and educators we have the responsibility to look into programs that can bring literacy to our schools.
Mandy, do you guys have the Imagination Library in your area? If not maybe look into getting an agency to take that on and fund it... http://imaginationlibrary.com/ that would be a great way to advocate for literacy in your area!!!
ReplyDeleteI also agree that literacy is an important aspect of early childhood education. I often see classrooms where every single piece of furniture is labeled with a word. Well this type of print rich environment is not what it takes to have a literacy rich environment. It takes meaningful print to engage students in meaningful literacy activities. We make sure to have a variety of writing materials available in every area of the classroom. This allows children the opportunity to use their literacy skills at any given spontanious moment.
Also, I don't know if you have heard of it but we use ZooPhonics as a literacy program in our classroom. We do not use the whole kit but rather we make all of our own developmentally appropriate materials to use in the classroom with the pictures. The children catch on to it so quickly, and actually the past two years that we have used it effectively we have had children leave preschool reading! I suggest it to everyone. Maybe this could be part of your literacy advocacy, finding a grant to equip and train teachers in your area with ZooPhonics! I'd be glad to share more information on it if you are interested, just shoot me an email. :) Good luck, I think this is a great topic that definitely needs addressed!