Reflection: Early Literacy Learning

Part 1: Incorporating Early Literacy in Early Childhood Settings

Kids tend to play a lot. They are doing it not just for fun: various leisure activities stimulate their literacy learning. The first scenario I would propose is a game during the lesson. It is unfair to take children break, so I would offer some fun activities for improved literacy skills instead of the second part of one lesson. I will suggest that children come up with own spontaneous game based on their life experience. It will encourage them as young children like to talk about own preferences and discuss interests. For instance, children have chosen Crocodile. Now they have to show various words proposed by their peers. As a teacher, I will support their abilities and stimulate literacy development by introducing new words into the play. Such activity will enrich preschool vocabulary and spread children imagination along with inventiveness. Besides, knowing how to show different things without using verbal language may be useful in some life situations.

Second activity is solving puzzles. From small to huge, the pictures of favorite characters that have to be matched elaborate abilities to complex problem solutions (the size of the puzzle will increase with each new session), savvy, and speed of thinking. I will set the deadline for each puzzle. As grown-up life depends on how fast we complete various tasks, it would be a great practice.

Third, children will have to present small episodes after reading their favorite books or watching TV shows. This exercise is especially helpful for the shy and silent kids. Of course, I will not force everyone to do that. But children will most probably enjoy it in case additional points will be rewarded. This activity is aimed to improve their social skills, self-regulation, oral language, and creativity. Children’s language and literacy skills have a great impact on their further education. 

As “the receptive vocabulary scores of kindergarten students” (Dickinson and Sprague 2001, 273) matter for the number of recognized words at the middle school age, one of the pre-school activities will be associated with playing different cards with words on them. They might be in different languages in order to teach kids at least some basics of Spanish, French, and other most frequently met languages. Anyway, such activities have positive impact on both cognitive development and academic achievement in the short-term.

Finally, children are doing a lot of reading. I will help them to develop into powerful readers by focusing on the following factors: letter recognition and alphabet awareness, phonological education, phonics, print and book concepts, and oral comprehension skills. My mission is to provide preschool children with as many types of literature as possible: from short stories to English Language textbooks. The font size should be big. Images are required to memorize new words and whole phrases. To strengthen the studied material, I will encourage children to make a lot of reading aloud. I will stress high-frequency words. It is my duty to respond to any questions as well. Playing in rhymes will assist in learning words. To make more fun of the reading process, I will involve games with magnetic letters. At last, when having some outdoor activities, I will motivate children to study “on the run” (i.e., reading various signs and food labels). Studying everywhere and at any time helps to create “precursors to conventional reading and writing” (Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998) that are essential for the emergent literacy.

Not only Literature, Arts, and English Language are useful for reaching goals of early literacy learning. Mathematics and other sciences influence this process as well. Math helps preschool children to sort and combine things with similar qualities. Mathematics plays a vivid role in recognizing sizes and comparing different features. It also assists in understanding the meaning of such words as “more”, “less”, “equal”, etc. I will offer sticks and other figures to teach how to count and realize the difference between amounts in practice. Measurement is an extremely important tool for interpreting the world around. Some words can be explained through numbers and formulas. In addition, mathematics develops a lot of skills crucial for proper early literacy learning: non-verbal communication, analytical thinking, critical thinking, associative thinking, logics, and more. Science subjects are responsible for research skills and argumentative thinking. This discipline helps to operate facts and come up with right decisions. After all, math and science provide preschool children with such skills as counting, spatial awareness, measuring, and data analysis. As for the social studies, I will integrate this discipline in order to observe group behavior. I will offer numerous team activities to maintain individual approach to every child. I will apply history with the help of motion figures and movies to teach children of the basic world events. Geography cases will assist me in developing orientation skills to recognize various locations. Ecology games will help me to encourage kids to defend environment. Role plays will tell the difference between community roles. At last, I will implement activities based on diversity learning to make children understand they are all different and should find common speech with others.

Part 2: Dispelling Assumptions

When I first started this course, I believed that only associative thinking, oral skills, and basic background knowledge are essential factors for preschool children to begin their literacy learning. However, this class made me realize the importance of phonological awareness, counting, decision-making, print awareness, and writing. I have learnt that the best strategy is teaching as many new vocabulary words to children as possible as they memory works the best during this life stage. I have discovered that speech should be segmented into small units of sound to make it easier to memorize. My set of skills was enriched by fresh approaches to studying using rhymes, segmentation, blending, and many other techniques. One more useful method that I have covered is rereading favorite stories together with children. Seems that preschool children learn better in teams. Also, the role of a grown-up is important as they tend to copy the actions and behaviors of older people.

Part 3: Revising Your Statement of Intention

In my first Application assignment, I have missed a lot of significant points necessary for preschool education. For instance, I have changed my mind about the sound-symbol relationships. I have never thought about using numbers and other math attributes in language-based games. Math and other precise sciences seemed so far from the humanitarian disciplines at first. This course helped me to integrate various school classes into children’s play and early literacy learning. Also, the course has taught me how to make a game out of class instead of forcing children to stay after classes. I have never thought about the role of outdoor signs and labels in childhood education. Now I know how to apply these items in literacy development. I realized the hidden meaning of the field trips and art performances. I thought it’s too early to discuss things like human diversity with little children, but I realize it is a mistake now. We have to up-bring our children in society, preparing them for any life challenges. My primary goal is to unite classes in teams in order to improve both literacy learning and overall life experience of preschool kids. 

References

Dickinson, D. K., and Sprague, K. E. (2001). The Nature and Impact of Early Childhood Care Environments on the Language and Early Literacy Development of Children from Low-Income Families . Handbook of Early Literacy. Research (Vol. 1, pp. 263-280). New York: Guilford Publications.

Whitehurst, G.J. and Lonigan, C.J. (1998). Child Development and Emergent Literacy . Child Development, 69, 848-872.