Early Literacy Observation

Introducing literacy to children at a young age is important. The child may not be reading yet but they can gain a lot from being read to; such as directionality, the front of the book, picture word relations, and even how to turn the page. Most of the children in the kindergarten classroom I am observing in are learning to read. They have small groups daily and one small group is always a reading group where the teacher and the children all read the same book multiple times. This reinforces directionality, page turning, and letter and sound correspondence. As stated in the webinar it is also important for children to be exposed to routines. In the classroom I am observing in during morning meeting, some call it circle time, the children go over their schedule for the day. Going over their schedule for the day reinforces the predictability for their entire day and children need that to feel secure about their school day.

I agree with the webinar when it stated that picture talks are important to do the day after a group read aloud for re-exposure to the vocabulary and content they heard. Picture talks are supposed to be facilitated by teachers but provide the students with many

opportunities to use the vocabulary and content they heard the previously. In my fieldwork they do picture talks weekly and it is mainly driven by the students, the teacher says on thing and then the students keep the topic going by bouncing off of each others ideas. I find that it is very helpful and it reinforces the content and vocabulary they were introduced to earlier. Picture talks also allow students to experience the vocabulary used in different ways rather than the way it was used in the read aloud.
Having an interactive attendance during the morning routine I believe is critical for the students.

Not only does it allow students to get to know one another and make them aware of their environment, but also reinforces name recognition. My cooperating teacher had each student decorate a paper person that is used for his or her attendance during circle time. The paper person also has the child’s name on it. She will pull a paper person out and ask the class who is this? The child will go up to say it is theirs, spells their name with teacher assistance and then puts it in the pocket chart where there is a picture of school. She repeats this for every student. If a student is absent the class as a whole spells that child’s name and puts their paper person back into the

bucket.