Parting Thoughts...

Studying emergent literacy has made me aware of the many stages that young readers and writers go through. In the past I have taken for granted all of the components of emergent literacy because I work with students who are for the most part independent readers and writers. Through this class I have learned many new strategies and instructional ideas that aid students with phonemic awareness, phonics, word study, and writing. While my students are not at the emergent level, the concepts can definitely be translated to improve instruction at the upper elementary level.

This class has also been valuable because of the various perspectives. We teach a wide range of grades and student populations, which give us all unique insights into best teaching practices. Learning about emergent literacy through the lens of an upper elementary teacher has made me truly excited about the stages of literacy learning. I feel that I am now able to recognize specific skills and needs within a group of students, and provide the differentiated support to help them reach their literacy goals. Having a background in emergent literacy concepts and theories should be required for all teachers, as it allows you to look at a child as a whole student and continuous learner, not just as a student of a specific grade.

Using Word Study to Enhance Reading and Writing

Many schools and teachers often use weekly word lists to teach spelling, however, this approach does little to support students’ efforts at exploring and understanding language. Word study is a great alternative for students to learn spelling in a meaningful context. Studying word and letter patterns helps children develop a working knowledge about language, which can help them with both reading and writing. Not all children create an immediate connection between reading and writing. Studying words should be incorporated into a literacy block in ways that build connections and provide children with strategies for both reading and writing. In the younger grades, interactive writing is a great way for children to understand how the words they study can be used to communicate ideas. Older students can go on word scavenger hunts and search for their words in environmental print or classroom texts.

Creating a successful word study program is a challenging, but rewarding process. I have found that in my own classroom the children truly enjoy doing our word work, whereas they roll their eyes and complain about spelling lists. Next year I plan to expand upon my use of word study in the classroom. One way to do this is by creating word work journals, where children keep an individual collection of the words they have learned. Children can also build individual word walls that correspond with the spelling patterns they have learned. In previous years, my classroom word wall has been more of a decoration. I am hoping to use it as a teaching tool, by changing the words depending upon our studies, and also allowing the students to interact with the wall.

Williams, C., Phillips-Birdsong, C., Hufnagel, K., Hungler, D., & Lundstrom, R.P. (2009). Word study instruction in the k-2 classroom. The Reading Teacher, 62(7), 570-578.

Involving Parents in Phonemic Awareness and Literacy Activities

This week in class we discussed how many parents want to help their young readers, but are uncertain about the best way to provide support other than reading aloud. One way to provide guidance to parents is to create a home-school connection and teach activities that translate between the two environments. Terry Kindervater is a literacy coach in Ohio, who developed a program for kindergarten teachers that taught phonemic awareness and alphabetic principle through the use of poetry and kinesthetic motions. Teachers introduce a poem that focuses on a specific sound. The class reads the poem a few times, and the teacher then adds a corresponding kinesthetic movement or hand gesture to match the sound. The movements were designed to match the articulation of the sound. For example because the /t/ sound is pronounced by flicking the tongue against the front of the mouth, the /t/ movement is produced by flicking the index finger against the thumb. Multisensory activities like this one engage emergent learners, and get them excited about demonstrating and performing their new skills.

By teaching the students a demonstrable skill, they were able to go home and perform for their parents. The teachers encouraged the kindergarteners to teach their parents the hand motions, and many parents reported back that they began using the hand motions when reading environmental print or when sounding out words in a read aloud story. The activity was simple and informal enough that families could do it in the car or out running errands. The teachers even created a short online video of the different hand motions and their corresponding sounds to help parents participate in the activity.

I think that this is a great way to informally create language connections between school and home. The children were proud of their ability to perform a sound, and the movement was also a great way to focus their energy. Parent involvement came naturally with little facilitation from the teachers. Because the task is short and simple and requires no additional materials, it is easy for busy, working parents to provide support. I think it is important to bridge the connection between home and school because it helps children to recognize that reading and language occur in all environments, not just school.

Kindervater, T. (2010). Models of parent involvement. The Reading Teacher 63(7), 610-612.