Emergent Literacy

As part of my Reading, Writing, & Communicating Methods course this quarter, once per week I will be blogging my response to questions based on my course readings. I invite you to follow me on my journey, as I patiently wait for "Ah-Ha."

One article I read this week was "Emergent Literacy: New Perspectives" by Wiliam H. Teale and Elizabeth Sulzby - I will be responding to the prompts regarding this article.

In the classrooms I have visited, in particular the kindergarten class I am currently observing, I have witnessed excited, emergent readers eagerly practicing to be part of a whole new world. In this kindergarten class, the students are reading lines in a book that consist of pictures that have designated meanings, such as a man looking through binoculars is translated into the word "see." Other books that kindergartners are reading have both pictures as well as short words that can be read by the letter sounds, such as I'm (I-mmm) and see (s-ee). It's wonderful watching the excitement of the young kindergarten students when they recognize that they are reading!

With regards to teachers supporting the growth of young children's literacy, I visited a first grade classroom where the teacher had literacy stations. Each morning the students would rotate at least three times between the different stations. The stations consisted of reading to self, reading with a friend, writing in their journal, working with words (students could choose between working with words on their white board, or using magnetic letters to create words), and a listening center where the students would follow along with a book on tape.

While at the reading stations, the students choose books to read from their personal book bins - each student's book bin consisted of teacher-selected books. By selecting the book bin books, the teacher was able to ensure that each individual students is reading an appropriate book for their reading level. The teacher was constantly updating the students' book bins to ensure that they always have new, just-right books.

I like the different literacy stations because the stations are set up in such a way that they can support a diverse group of learners - students who prefer to work by themselves vs. students who prefer to work in pairs or in groups, auditory learners vs. visual learners vs. students who learn by doing. Furthermore, having the opportunity to move between stations allows students several opportunities work on areas that need practice, such as reading fluency when they are reading to a friend.