environmental print: print that is used in the environment, this can be cereal boxes, cleaning products, stores, etc.
Invented spelling: I name given to children’s written words before they have learned the rules of spelling and signifies a major leap in writing
How Writing Develops
The common denominator for “paper and pencil kids” is a strong desire and need for self-expression and communication. Young children learn writing through exploration. most five-year old’s have learned exploring with a pencil, pretending to write, inventing messages, copying an important word like ones name, and writing labels, messages, or special words in favorite story books. The key to early writing development is found not in a child’s motor development or intelligence but in the opportunities the child has to explore print.
How Reading Develops
Children see written language all around them: in books, supermarkets, department stores, fast food restaurants, on television, the computer science, and a variety of printed materials from video games to labels on household products. The child may also see parents, brothers, sisters, and others using written language to some degree weather to read recipes, follow directions, do homework, solve problems, acquire information, or enjoy a story. The plethora of print that confronts young children on a daily basis plays a subtle but important role in their desire to understand written language and use it for social and personal means. Children begin learning about reading and writing at a very early age by observing and interacting with adults and other children as they use literature in everyday activities. Through these experiences, children construct their own concepts about the function and structure of print. They quickly discover that print is useful and can be used to get things done in everyday life.
Phases of Literacy Development
Phase 1: awareness and exploration
The awareness and exploration phase begins at birth and progresses through a child’s preschool years. Children explore their environment and build the foundations for learning to read and write. The awareness and exploration phase of literacy development marks the time when children become curious about print and print related activities. Children demonstrate logo graphic knowledge by identifying labels, signs, cereal boxes, and other types of environmental print. They also begin to pretend read during the preschool years and engage in paper and pencil activities that include various forms of scribbling and written expression.
Phase 2: experimental reading and writing
Early awareness and exploration lead children to experiment with oral and written language. Children enter the experimental phase of the reading – writing continuum right around the time they enter kindergarten. This phase reflects their understanding of basic concepts of print, such as left to right and top to bottom orientation. Young children enjoy being read to and begin to engage in sustained reading and writing activities.
Phase 3: early reading and writing
The early phase of children’s development usually ochers in first grade when instruction becomes more formal. Children begin to read simple stories and can write about topics about which they have much prior knowledge and strong feelings. They can read and read tell familiar stories and begin to develop strategies for comprehension, such as predicting. They are beginning to develop accurate word identification skills through their increasing knowledge of letter sound patterns. Children’s ability to read with fluency becomes more evident as does their ability to recognize an increasing number of words on site. Their writing shows awareness of punctuation and capitalization knowledge as they continue to engage in writing about topics that are personally meaningful to them.
Phase 4: transitional reading and writing
by second grade, students begin to make the transition from early reading and writing to more complex literacy tasks. They are reading with greater fluency and using cognitive and metacognitive strategies more efficiently when comprehending and composing. During the transitional phase, children demonstrate an ever-increasing facility with reading and writing in all facets of activity, including use of word identification strategies, site word recognition, reading fluency, sustained silent reading, conventional spelling, and proofreading what they have written.
Phase 5: Independent and productive reading and writing
as children progress from the transitional phase, they engage in a lifelong process of becoming independent and productive readers and writers. The third-grade marks the beginning of their journey into independent and productive learning as they use reading and writing in increasingly more sophisticated ways to suit a variety of purposes and audiences. From this point on in their development as readers and writers, children extend and refine their literacy skills and strategies.
literate environment: An environment that fosters interest in in curiosity about written language and supports children’s efforts to become readers and writers.
core language and literacy skills: A Core set of skills have been identified by research as those young children must have in order to become successful readers. These are the following:
- oral language comprehension: The ability to speak and listen with understanding
- Vocabulary: used to describe the words in individual knows and can use
- phonological awareness: involves hearing the sounds of language apart from its meaning, which is difficult for most children because they must be in consciously aware of structure of language, rather than simply using language to communicate
- Alphabet knowledge: the ability to name and write the 26 letters of the alphabet
- Developmental writing: the first attempts at spelling words and composing texts
- Printer knowledge: the ability to recognize print and understand that it works in specific ways with specific purposes
- Developing early literacy skills: research supports instructional priorities and related components that helped develop young children’s language and early literacy knowledge and skills.
shared reading: The teacher in a class of beginners partake in reading and rereading of favorite stories, songs, poems, and rhymes.
How to Promote Oral Language Development
Oral language comprehension is important because it provides the language foundation for learning to read and write. Shared book reading, singing songs, finger plays, storytelling, and dramatic play are a few of the ways to help children explore, learn, and use oral language in early years.
Design of Classroom Environment
High quality classrooms are those in which literacy learning is grounded in all the ways that children learn and grow- physically, socially, emotionally, and cognitively. The environment in these classrooms is rich with print, representing language to children and resulting from daily activities and thematic inquiry. The following areas are effective for a supportive environment:
- Book area: a book area that is orderly and inviting with comfortable furniture for at least four children should be prominent in the classroom but away from the block in dramatic play areas. The books should range in difficulty, reflect the current classroom theme, and include both narrative and expository stories.
- Listening area: there should be a listening center where children can use headphones to listen to books on CDs, iPod‘s, iPad’s, or the Internet.
- Computer area: software and online activities should be current and relevant. There should be a place near the computer where children can display the work they’ve done on the computer.
- Writing area: the writing area should be well stocked with a variety of paper and tools.
language-experience stories: in beginning reading instruction, permit young children to share and discuss experiences, listen to and tell stories, dictate words, sentences, and stories, and write independently. The teacher can revolve language experiences around speaking, listening, visual expression, singing, movement, and rhythmic activities. I’ll language experience story is an account that is told allowed by a child and printed by another person. This activity vividly shows the relationship between speech and print and also introduce his children to the thrill of personal authorship.
Classroom Application
In this chapter, I enjoyed learning about the aspects of designing classroom environment. This is the exciting part for me, and when I read how to effectively set up your classroom, I already started designing those areas in my head!
Payge Rivord 