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Blue (Reading:early literacy)

Page history last edited by PBworks 16 years, 7 months ago
In Ms. Taxel’s kindergarten class, you see her using many different strategies to further develop the student’s early literacy skills. One of the strategies she uses is setting up the classroom as a literacy learning environment. She has labelled and identified everything in her classroom. The kids are able to associate text to real concrete things in their environment. This way the students can learn the words vocabulary and then from that the syntax. She also labels the areas in the classroom environment, like the “Math centre” and from this the students are able to learn the language of the classroom. To further their understanding of that space, she phrases it in short statements, i.e. “Bob is in the math centre.” She has a word wall of different words they have learned. The children can go to the wall for reference of the words and helpful reminders of how to write them. When reading she has them say it, sound it and then cut out the words and paste them on paper in order. I really like how she involves the children in their learning and giving them responsibility too. If a student has difficulty, she will help them out by sounding, giving examples of other words that start with same letter, or cue them to where to go in the classroom for reference.  She has tried to use many different strategies to teach the children early literacy at all levels, print, visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, and technological. She has created a classroom that is very interactive and stimulating for her students to learn and develop their literacy skills. I agree with Lindsay Taylor that this teacher is phenomenal by all her ideas. I too really liked the menu idea it was very creative.  ~Corisa Chamberlain
 
I think the point that you made about having the classroom environment labeled is such a great teaching idea.  This gives the children a point of reference to where things are in the room and also were they are to go in directed instruction.  By setting you room up in such a way would allow the students to be exposed to literacy at a very high frequency and would also cut down on teacher interaction.  With reference points the students are able to find things on their own and inputs the classroom management strategy aswell. ~ Maryann Chilton
 
I found this video to be very resourceful in providing so many different ways of further developing literacy skills in a classroom. I particularly thought it was a very effective idea that the teacher labelled practically every object in the classroom. I believe that it is important for children to explore objects and to be able to associate the names with the objects or activities that they are using. I believe that by labelling the classroom, the students were given an opportunity to learn independently. I also thought it was a good idea the way that reading and writing were integrated into the majority of the centres. For example the house centre had menus in it. Book buddies also allowed a chance for the children’s self esteem to develop and at the same time their reading and comprehension skills were being used because they took on the role of the teacher and read to younger students. Reading buddies allow the student to be proud of their reading skills and boost their confidence to a higher level.   
Jagjeet Grewal
 
Jag, I agree with you about labelling everything in the classroom.  It makes it fun and introduces younger children, such as JK kids to words.  I find that children in JK/SK have no idea what is coming next in school, ie Grade 1, where there are less toys and more words.  I think the menus are really fun and I think the kids get so interested in having the food they like, or wish they had, as part of the menu.  I also found this video to be very resourceful and action packed.  Kids having fun, while learning is the way to go!  I also think that JK/SK children should be given a tour of the Grade 1 classrooms so that they are not in "shock" when they get to Grade 1.   I really liked how there was something for everyone, using a multi-modal approach to teaching.  Pointing to the words on the word wall with a ruler was a great idea.  I have seen another great way to do this in a Grade 2 class.  The children went into small groups and lined up in front of the word wall.  The teacher handed a fly swatter to the person at the front of the line.  She would then give a clue to a word she wanted chosen and the kids would see who could slap the word first.   Example:  a word from the family "ay".  I thought it would have been dangerous or crazy, but it worked really well.  Also, this video was great at showing how the children could work with each other or choose guidance from the teacher as she helped them sound out the words.
Carol Thurston
 
I agree with Lindsay that the video was an excellent tool for incorporating literacy in the classroom.  I really enjoyed how the teacher was able to incorporate the children's cues, interests and needs in to the curriculum.  She covered the dramatic area, shared reading, nature walk, computer area in incorporating their observations and learning. There was much guidance and support provided by teachers and students in the classroom, which involved group work and problem solving.  She used great classroom managment in addressing behaviours in the group, and turned them into positive ones, by including them into the group and discussion!
 
Fozia Iqbal
 
 

The video was an incredible source for learning how to incorporate literacy into the classroom, especially at the primary junior level. There were so many strategies that this teacher employed that it is difficult to choose one or two to discuss, however I particularly enjoyed he idea of bring the lesson on 'menus' into the classroom. This was an amazing way to teach the students how reading extends out of the classroom and into everyday experiences. Although the students were more focused on creating the menus and learning the words, the bigger picture is the latent function of the lesson. Furthermore, I enjoyed the 'word wall' that she had posted within the class. I felt that this strategy would help the students feel less anxiety about writing, as the words are accessible to them at all times. This will also help the students to conitue their 'flow' of wirting without having to stop to find words, as was discussed in class. Another wonderful concept that she used was having the room full of pictures with labels on them, which I feel will help the students connect the picture with words, which may help them recall the visual representation when they are thinking of words or trying to spell them. Overall, I felt that this teacher was phenomenal, and was obviously a veteran in the successful instruction of literacy at the primary level.

Lindsay Taylor

 

Great ideas, there was one more that really had a profound impact on me.  When the student was having difficulty spelling a word she referenced the word wall and asked him to look there.  After the student identified that the word he was spelling was on the wall she physically asked him to point to the word with a metre stick.  By actually making the student touch the word it reinforced not only the word but where he could find words later.  I am guessing that the next time he needs to know how to spell a word he would remember that experience and check the word wall.  What an experienced and insightfull teacher! ~Maryann Chilton

 

 

 

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