Letting Go of "Letter of The Week"
2. Connecting words: This article discussed a great strategy for helping children to read and write. The author discussed that when a child came across an unfamiliar word, she would talk out loud with them and get them to relate words they already knew to the unfamiliar word. Example: Pedro came across the word water. He struggled to say the word out loud but the teacher asked who's name starts like that word? Pedro was able to connect a classmate's name to the word water and sounded it out.
Supporting phonemic awareness development in the classroom
This article listed several activities to develop phonemic awareness. One of the activities that I really enjoyed reading about was a spin off from the song "Clap, Clap, Clap Your Hands". Children often enjoy singing and this is a great way for them to use their energy and learn at the same time. I found a video on YouTube that is similar to the original version of this song.
Here are the lyrics: Here is the YouTube video:
Clap, clap, clap your hands,
Clap your hands together.
Clap, clap, clap your hands,
Clap your hands together.
Snap, Snap, snap your fingers,
Snap your fingers together.
Snap, Snap, snap your fingers,
Snap your fingers together.
Say, say, say these parts,
Say these parts together.
Teacher: moun (pause) tain (children respond, "mountain")
Teacher: love (pause) ly (children respond, "lovely")
Learning to Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children:
Something about this article that I really liked was that it broke down strategies for literacy by different ages. Here are some key ideas for each age that I believe are valuable to use as a future teacher and parent.
1. Infants and Toddlers: Talk and sing to babies, read and share cardboard books, and maintain frequent eye contact.
2. Preschool years: Have nurturing and positive relationships with the children you are around so they learn to trust, engage in literacy play such as grocery lists, expose the children to a variety of vocabulary.
3. Kindergarten & Primary Grades: incorporate literacy in all aspects of the classroom, encourage formal and informal writing, and provide challenging curriculum that helps expand their knowledge.
Question: Do you think it will be hard to incorporate fun activities in the classroom while still accomplishing everything that is demanded of a teacher? If so, what are some ways you think you can do both?
I think it may be difficult to always have a fun, interactive lesson plan since literacy is something that will be taught every day. However, we now have access to so many resources on the internet and we know other teachers, so it makes it easier to share ideas and materials!
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think that on the whole teachers are forced to focus way to much on standardized testing. I think the important thing to remember is that even if they aren't specifically tested on their abilities to sing fun songs, they will still learn valuable skills and life lessons, which is also just as important. Mostly, I think it is all about baby steps, if you know where you are trying to get, use fun activities as baby steps to reach those goals. If a Kindergartener isn't having fun, I think we would be likely to lose their attention, and then they wouldn't be learning much of anything anyways.
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