Literacy with emphasis on Emergent Literacy

The peanut butter book sure packed in the information this week! I loved reading about the ideas presented in the book about how to surround children in a literature rich classroom and environment.

I always like to hear of ways in which I can develop as a teacher (which in turn helps my future students develop) and the book presented a table in which we can use someday to assess the progress of our students' literacy skills. Figure 5.6 on page 169 provided a sort of guide for assessing the literacy skills which began with "scribble writing" and progressed to "self generated sentences". I found it strange that "copied words" was higher up on the continuum because when I was in first grade my teacher told me I was plagiarizing!

I love the idea of having children surrounded in such a fun and text rich environment, such as a post office and bank. I think children are naturally curious about written language and it is up to the teacher to use that curiosity to spark that intrinsic motivation. The idea of combining learning into play is genius! Also, giving students a purpose for what they are reading or writing is a great way to keep that motivation high.

The book also explained the differences between oral and written speech and the ways in which children learn both. It seems both can be acquired to a degree but reading and writing take formal instruction.