It's important to note that "literacy is a process that begins well before the elementary grades and continues into adulthood, if not throughout life." Children in fact show signs of literacy well before elementary school. I really liked how this chapter focused on young children's literacy development and more specifically how it fits into a balanced literacy program. I especially liked the chart that shows and briefly explains how each element of literacy fits into the students learning process. For example reading gives the description of "teachers read aloud to children and use shared reading, guided reading, and the language experience approach to teach reading."
The other part I liked about this chapter was the concepts about print. Not only did the chapter outline concepts of print and words, but gave examples of how children learn through these concepts and give tips to foster these concepts. One of these tips talked about capitalizing on children's interests. Teachers should provide letter activities that children enjoy (when talking about concepts about the alphabet) and talk about letters when children are interested in talking about them. Another tip was talking about how letters represent sounds and how letters combine to spell words. All of this information seems straightforward but is sometimes overlooked.
Kyle Williams
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I totally agree, the idea that children can be exposed to and can be learning literacy even before school starts is incredible! But not surprising when I think seriously about it. Some colleagues that I've spoken to have a fear of getting placed to work with a much younger Lower El. class because of how much their knowledge can vary. However valid and legitimate this fear might be, I truly think that playing off the already acquired skills in the classroom could be very beneficial. Teaching students that helping each other is a great thing to do, and then having the experienced students help the less experienced ones will develop a wonderful sense of class community. Also, if literacy is presented as something we're all learning together, the students that already know some things can feel a sense of accomplishment or a comfortable feeling of being ahead of the game. This is not a scary thing, but one that can be embraced and used to benefit everyone in the classroom.
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