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Preschool, kindergarten, and first grade are essential years in children’s life for learning how to read and understanding the basic fundamentals of language arts. Some of these concepts include letter recognition, sight word recognition, capitalization, punctuation, and reading fluency. Everything that children learn during these important years will follow them the rest of their lives. Reading and writing must start with the very basics of letter identification and then progress to writing and reading words and sentences. It is important for children to have a positive learning experience because reading is a very important skill that will continually be needed in everyday life. Whole language and balanced literacy are two commonly used methods for teaching language arts to beginning students. There are many activities used to teach young children how to read and write including the use of music in the classroom, sight words, games, and worksheets.
There are two main approaches to teaching reading to young students. One common approach is whole language. Kate Walsh states that whole language “emphasizes connecting children with meaningful text as the preferred path to developing fluent readers” (10). In whole language, using the context of the sentence to figure out a word is essential. Walsh further explains the importance of context cluing in whole language by describing it as “having children identify new words by discerning their meaning in the context of the text” (10). Another approach to teaching reading is balanced literacy which, unlike whole language, “fuses the literature-based approach with some phonological instruction but only on an “as needed” basis” (Walsh, Glaser, Dunne 10). Mixing these two conc...
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... the student must understand the difference between an uppercase and lowercase letter and when to use them in different situations. Independent exercises are important in the learning process for children because it makes them feel like they have accomplished something on their own, and they show what the child truly knows.
There are many different approaches to teaching language arts to young learners. It is important to understand that every classroom and every child is different. Different activities and methods should be used with different children and different situations. Learning the basics of language arts will follow with children throughout their years of schooling and throughout their life. Learning how to read and write for a young student should be a positive and fun experience. Through different methods, many teachers have made learning fun!
Balanced Literacy is an approach for teaching literacy that is widely used in classrooms across the country. It involves several methods of teaching and learning reading and writing, whole class instruction directed by the teacher with independent work in reading, writing, and oral language. By integrating a variety of approaches, a balance is achieved in which students learning to understand text (from a whole language approach) as well as how to read text (from a phonics approach). Effective phonics instruction focuses children's attention on noticing the letter/sound patterns in initial consonants and consonant clusters and in rimes.
This detailed text provides an understanding of reading and writing through detailed case studies, reflective questioning and further reading; in addition to links with the Early Years Curriculum (EYFS)(DCSF, 2008) provide informative information accessible to both practitioner and parent. As pointed out by the authors, literacy relates to fifty % of the early learning goals, therefore highlights the importance by the practitioner to make the acquisition of literacy exciting and meaningful through a multitude of role play scenarios, stories, rhymes and oral language, thus providing opportunities for the child to put life experiences of literacy into context, while scaffolding existing knowledge.
My previous conceptions and beliefs about reading have been challenged by looking at a different group of learners. Now, I have a more solid theoretical understanding understanding of the importance of reflective reading practices, in which the reader realize that reading is a complex process that is not determined for the fluency and “correctness” of matching the printed word with its expected and “appropriate” sound. I am also more aware of the importance of continuous support for struggling readers in post-secondary
Karen Bromley (2014) in the chapter “Active Engagement with Words” begins with the harsh reality of students who cannot “read well enough to be successful” (120). She acknowledges that a large vocabulary is key to successful reading due to a number of factors, including: it boosts comprehension, improves achievement, enhances thinking and communication, and promotes fluency (121). Therefore, Bromley advocates that educators equip students with strategies for tackling words, strategies that actively engage students and begin with teacher modeling (direct-instruction). Bromley discusses the three tiers of word types, pointing out that tiers two and three (multisyllabic) cause the most problems for adolescent readers. To approach these words students need attention to the linguistic and non-linguistic aspects, the literal elements (spelling, pronunciation, graphics, meaning, and grammatical function) and then the more inferential and contextual aspects (visual, auditory, or sensory image that connects to the word, for example). Active engagement, the use of metacognitive strategies, is advocated by Bromley because it relies on students’ own knowledge and equips them with strategies they can use on their own when they encounter unfamiliar words. Such strategies covered in this chapter include: KWL (Know, Want to know, Learn), Teach-Teach-Trade, A Word A Day (www.wordsmith.org/words), Root Words, and Digital
After reading the essays in Ways of Reading this semester I find validity in the old cliché I still have much to learn. In particular, I thought I knew what major philosophical arguments grounded the field of education however I never realized how many diverse debates are occurring in the field of literacy education. In concluding a theme from the essays, I would suggest a common theme of contextualization and its importance to both writing and education. In Authority and American Usage, David Foster Wallace writes, “you need more than one dialect to get along in school” ( ). Wallace’s quote represents a conclusion of an argument about the role context plays in regards to efficiency with language. In this case Wallace uses the example of a boy who is excellent at rapport with his teachers
Whether it is reading a book, watching Sesame Street, making a shopping list or writing a letter, literacy comes in many different forms and learning opportunities for the Kindergarten students to succeed.
Burns, Paul C.,Roe, Betty D., and Ross, Elinor P. (1992). Teaching Reading in Todays Elementary Schools. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Reading is a complex process that’s difficult to explain linearly. A student’s reading capabilities begin development long before entering the school setting and largely start with exposure (Solley, 2014). The first remnants of what children are able to do in terms of reading are built from their parents and other people and object around them as they’re read to, spoken to, and taken from place to place to see new things (Solley, 2014). As kids are exposed to more and more their noises quickly turn into intentional comprehensible messages and their scribbling begins to take the form of legible text as they attempt to mimic the language(s) they’re exposed to daily.
Literacy is most commonly understood as reading and writing. But before children can read and write, they need to learn about sound, words, language, books and stories (Raising Children, 2015). Children begin to develop and gain knowledge quite differently and with support and developmentally appropriate learning skills children will also come to understand the connection between letters and sounds. Literacy development or early literacy is the most essential in the first three years of life as it the earliest experience children have with language, sound and the positive interactions between child and adult. Vygotsky (1978) believed in how children developed, and the important role of adults in leading child’s early development. The interactions
The five key elements are one, Phonemic Awareness. This is when a teacher helps children to learn how to manipulate sounds in our language and this helps children to learn how to read. Phonemic Awareness can help to improve a student’s reading, and spelling. With this type of training the effects on a child’s reading will last long after training is over. The second key is Phonics. Phonics has many positive benefits for children in elementary schools from kindergarten up to the sixth grade level. Phonics helps children who struggle with learning how to read by teaching them how to spell, comprehend what they are reading, and by showing them how to decode words. The third key is Vocabulary. Vocabulary is important when children are learning how to comprehend what they are reading. Showing children, the same vocabulary words by using repetition will help them to remember the words. The fourth key is comprehension. Comprehension is when a child’s understanding of comprehension is improved when teachers use different techniques such as generating questions, answering questions, and summarizing what they are
First off, in terms of education in grades K through 3 it seems that students are introduced to the basic concepts of learning, reading, and writing. For example, young children begin to comprehend the sounds of speech in terms of being able to read while also practicing how to correctly write common words used in everyday language. Furthe...
As a teacher, you need to encourage all attempts at reading, writing, speaking, and allowing children to experience the different functions and use of literacy activity (The Access Center, n.d.). Moreover, it is crucial for educators to understand phonological awareness and phonics; know what constitutes good children’s literature and how to use it; know children who need additional assistance with beginning reading and writing (Cunningham et al, 2004 as cited in McLachlan et al, 2013, p. 112). Educators also need to plan effective activities to assist children experience reading aloud, listening to other children read aloud, listening to tape recordings, and videotapes so children have opportunities to integrate and extend their literacy knowledge (The Access Center, n.d.). Morrow (1990 as cited in The Access Center, n.d.) notes that classroom with greater teacher facilitation promote literacy behaviours, so it is educators’ role to provide literacy rich
In the content area in Language Arts, students will develop the reading skills necessary for word recognition, comprehension, interpretation, analysis, and evaluation of print and non-print text activating prior knowledge, processing and acquiring new vocabulary, organizing information, understanding visual representations, self-monitoring, and reflecting. This can be accomplished by implementing pre-reading, during-reading, and post-reading strategies into the lesson plan. Fifth grade students will read and write a variety of texts with greater scope and depth. In addition, they will analyze and evaluate information and ideas by revisiting and refining concepts about the language arts benchmark and will become more refined and independent learners.
Oral language skills play a significant role in the development of literacy skills. Research suggests that there is a high correlation between language development and reading comprehension. This is because as student's oral language abilities increase; they become more familiar with the phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic, components of learning language (Farrall, 2012). Additionally, the learning environment is of equal importance and should provide explicit modelling, age appropriate and authentic classroom experiences for developing and encouraging language. Teachers following Cambourne's eight conditions would support an environment enriching language and literacy development (Cambourne, 2001). The acknowledgement of linguistic diversity and suggested differentiation is also worth mentioning. The inclusion of regular planned and unplanned listening and speaking opportunities is vital for developmental progression.
How can what we know about the development of readers inform reading comprehension instruction? Reading instruction typically starts in kindergarten with the alphabetic principle, simple word blending, and sight word recognition. Texts read by early readers usually include very little to comprehend. As children develop reading ability, they are able read more complex texts requiring greater comprehension skills. Separate and explicit instruction in reading comprehension is crucial because the ability to comprehend develops in its own right, independent of word recognition. The ability to read words and sentences is clearly important, but as readers develop, these skills are less and less closely correlated with comprehension abilities. (Aarnoutse & van Leeuwe, 2000) While no one would argue that word blending and sight word reading skills be omitted from early reading instruction, vocabulary and listening comprehension may be at least as important in achieving the even...