Alex, the author of our first entry on chapter 5, is pictured in the middle here. She's flanked by sisters Amber and Aubrey...apparently her parents liked the letter A! And if the look on Alex's face is any indication, she definitely liked playing! When you read her entry here, you'll see that, even having learned about early literacy in a previous class, she gleened quite a bit from this chapter. Enjoy!
I found this chapter interesting in that it discusses literacy for your baby through early school age. For me, this chapter was repetitive in information, only because I have read two books in my children's literature class about the issues she pointed out in the chapter. Literacy is an issue many parents struggle to address. They try to really emphasize the importance of reading. Reading is important; however, if we overemphasize it and turn reading into a chore and work, they lose interest early on.
The reading also brought me back to my early childhood. When growing up, I struggled in school. The only things I was good at were sports and recess. I remember one year they would take me and a few other students out of the classroom for a reading lab. This lab addressed phonics. We were learning the sound of letters. What is interesting that I did not know before reading this chapter is that, according to Hirsh-Pasek and Golinkoff, our 26 letters make 40 sounds. That amazes me. The funny thing is, I do not think I can tell you all 40 sounds; I just know them. I feel as though at one point I just started understanding how the sounds and letters make up words that have meaning. Hirsh-Pasek and Golinkoff explain that we do not need to worry about drilling the mechanics into our children, because surprisingly they start recognizing and making connections at an earlier age.
The best thing we can do for our kids in literacy is to just read to them out loud – frequently, and consistently. One reason why reading aloud to your child and constantly having conversations is beneficial is because it helps build their vocabulary. Having good vocabulary helps them grasp reading earlier than children who did not have that. I never really understood why reading to them at such a young age was so important. It is not about giving your child reading programs because you are afraid they won't learn how to read. What your child needs is to be read to. They need to be able to discuss what they think about the book through illustrations or text, because this is what helps them start to understand the basics of reading; when they get into school, they have an easier time reading. We also need to understand that not every child is going to be read to frequently. This is not because their parents don't care, but the fact of the matter is, they might not be able to afford books.
The authors also talked about story time. Story time is not just for the adults to read aloud to the kids, but for the kids to tell a story. I like the example the book gave for showing a child that words have meaning. The example was about the parent who has a young child who hasn't learned to write yet. In order to show them that words they read have meaning like the words we speak, you have them tell a story. When they tell the story, you write down exactly what they told you. Then you repeat what you wrote down so that they know they wrote a story that was full of meaningful words. I thought that was great. I know a few classmates who work in day care centers and when the children tell stories and are not able to write, the teachers write them down. I always thought they were doing that because they can't read. Now I see that it helps them in their development of literacy.
If there is one thing for you to take from this blog entry, it would be to make literacy fun. Let the child explore the book. Don't make it a chore by learning all the mechanics. We naturally start recognizing the patterns when books are made available and read frequently. There is so much great children's literature out there that can take a child into different worlds, families, and places, and it allows them to hear the words and take in that nice vocabulary you build for them.
I am glad that the reading helped you learn more about why reading to young children is so beneficial. There are actually a myriad of reasons. One that I really appreciate is that HEARING words helps speed our processing of them when we do see them in print; we're able to decode them more quickly because our brain has already heard them. For instance, think of the word "capacity." If you've never heard that word spoken before, you might read it and pronounce it "cap-uh-city," which, of course, is wrong. If you've heard it, though, your brain is more likely to read it, and pronounce it correctly: "cuh-pa-city." Great stuff!
ReplyDeleteWow! The idea that 26 letters make 40 sounds amazes me. I feel a challenge coming on. Some of the information in this entry is familiar to me through the work that I have done with a literacy base program. In this program I was advised to introduce literacy from a different angle. When I would read to the child or children I would introduce the parts of the book. I would say the parts of the book before reading and the child would repeat them. This method of teaching worked well for me both in the preschool and in the daycare setting. I would also ask open-ended questions and allow them to voice what they remember from the reading. Sometimes the children would use their own imagination and read to me, not from the words, but from the illustrations. The purpose of this method was to get the child involved and to allow them to expand their vocabulary using their words, by engaging them in interactive reading. I do agree that reading is fundamental and I also agree that reading to a child is a great way to build their cognitive development.
ReplyDelete~Monique
I really enjoy the way you were able to express your own childhood experiences within this blog in relation to the readings. It helps clarify your belief that the best thing we can do is just read to our children. Reading your blog made me think about when I was in elementary and had to read books to accumulate points throughout the year; I hated it. I wanted to read the books that looked fun and interesting, but these were the shorter books that offered fewer points.
ReplyDeleteInstead I found myself reading longer and less interesting books because they offered more points. I wish my teacher would have thought more like you and put more emphasis on making reading fun, and not all about the points. Your blog has encouraged me to think of ways to make reading a fun game instead of feeling like cleaning your room.
-B.Moutra
I also recognized a lot of information that we have talked about in our children’s literature class incorporated in this chapter. One thing that I learned from this chapter, as well as from the children’s literature class, is how important reading aloud to children really is; I knew it was important but I never understood how important. While reading this chapter I thought about my little cousin who is six. Every time I would go over she would always want me to let her play games on the computer. It never dawned on me that I should have offered to read to her instead. Recently I started reading the books that they have around the house to her and she has really enjoyed it. I am hoping that she will develop a love for reading the more that I read to her.
ReplyDelete-Amanda
Alex, I could not agree more with what you have said in your blog. The fact that we have 26 letters and 40 sounds was the part of the chapter that amazed me as well. Making literacy fun is something that I think all parents should consider, and it would allow the children to enjoy reading more later on in life. Many parents put too much pressure on their children to learn to read, and it then becomes a task for the children, as opposed to a great experience. This chapter would be great for all parents to read. Overall, I really enjoyed your blog!!
ReplyDelete~Bradlee
I enjoyed this chapter because it gives you good suggestions about how to engage your children in literacy. Also, the first two examples that the author describes, and that you mention in the entry, were interesting in the way that they represent many parents with the ideology that buying expensive toys will make their children learn to read. As well, the author and you mention good suggestions about the importance of reading and interacting with children. Moreover, I like the suggestion that when reading to children you should make it interesting in order to keep their interest in literature. I feel that these suggestions are going to be helpful when I begin working with children.
ReplyDelete-Susana Magana
I agree with what Alex said, “Literacy is an issue many parents struggle to address. They try to really emphasize the importance of reading. Reading is important; however, if we overemphasize it and turn reading into a chore and work, they lose interest early on.” It is true that if a parent overemphasizes reading and makes it feel like it is a chore then kids would not want to do it. I believe that children eventually learn all the sounds, and once they find books they like to read, start reading. When I was little I did not like to read. When I got into high school my language arts teacher made us take time to do “free reading.” I told her one day I don’t like reading and she told me you need to find a book you like. Once I did that and I love reading now. As Alex pointed out, parents can foster their children’s literacy very early by reading out loud to their babies. I agree with this.
ReplyDelete