Strategies for Word Building

This weeks readings were filled with word building strategies. In the Yopp and Yopp article, Ten Important Words Plus, gave strategies for including word building into the classroom environment. They emphasized the need for discussion among the teacher and students. Open the classroom up to discussion about new words the students may have learned from a book they were reading, from a T.V. show, or any from other situations. By doing this, the other students learn a new vocabulary word as well. The article also included the activity ten important words. The students are asked to read a passage and pick the ten words that they believe are the most important in the passage. This activity requires the students to exhibit their comprehension skills and allows for discussion afterwards to see what other students thought were the most important words and why. In the other article, Making Words, the activity making words allowed for an interactive way of learning to build words. The teacher gives the students letters and they are to make different combinations to form different words. This is a great way to practice spelling and helps the students learn spelling functions of the English language that are difficult to learn (e.g. whether the i comes before or after the e). The making words activity reminded me of the Bananagrams game. I think Bananagrams would be a fun and interactive way to work on word building strategies in the classroom. It allows students the opportunity to experiment with forming different words in a similar way the making words game does. 

Introducing Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness is crucial to a child's literacy skills. Yopp defines phonemic awareness as "the awareness that the speech stream consists of a sequence of sounds- specifically phonemes, the smallest unit of sounds that makes a difference in communication." It is very important for a child to acquire phonemic awareness because it greatly aids in using our writing system. Without this awareness, our written symbols are arbitrary and very difficult for a child to understand. What really stood out to me about this article was how to teach phonemic awareness. Yopp gives the examples of using songs, chants, and word-sound games. These all allow for children to interact and enjoy learning about phonemic awareness. If they enjoy learning, then they are more likely to remember what they have learned about phonemic awareness. Also, it will help the child if he or her is stumbling on a word. He or she can think of what song or chant went with the sound and work on sounding it out. Teachers can also use the songs and chants when using the coaching technique for phonemic awareness. When the child is having difficulty with sounding out a word, the teacher can remind them of the song that the sound went with. For example if the child is having trouble with the /ch/ sound in chair, the teacher can ask, "Do you remember the song we learned about cheetahs?"

Readers' Theatre

Readers' Theatre is what stood out to me the most in our reading for today. Part of literacy is the ability to demonstrate fluency and expressive reading. Readers' Theatre is a great way to encourage both. It gets children excited to read and gives them the feeling that they have something to show for their ability to read. Readers' Theatre gets the kids active in the classroom rather than just sitting at a desk. It provides the children with a way of expressing themselves and gives them pride in what they have learned. While I do not remember specifically calling it Readers' Theatre in elementary school, I do remember participating in a similar activity. My teacher would read us a book at the beginning of the week that had to do with a specific content area. Throughout the week we would do different activities with the book and at the end of the week we would be given parts to act out the book. We practiced and then performed the book in front of other classes. This activity had a big impact on me. It got me excited about reading, improved my reading fluency, and taught me how to be expressive while reading.

Early Literacy

I am planning on teaching deaf children, so when reading the articles, I did so through the eyes of a deaf educator. Deaf children generally have a more difficult time learning how to read because English is not their first language. There were several techniques in the two articles that stood out to me. The IRA NAEYC position aper stated that one of the goals during the preschool years is to enhance exposure to and concepts about print. For all children this is important. It is especially important for deaf children. By using Big Books, the teacher can sign the story to the children and the children can see that certain signs are associated with certain words on the page. The Letter of the Week article provided examples that allow the child to connect familiar concepts to literacy. Donna Bell used the alphabet chart with children's names and the environmental print wall. Deaf children can use familiar visual cues and associate them to literacy.