EDRG 3344

Children are usually introduced to literacy when they are read to by caregivers. They learn that print on the things they see in their environment correspond to meanings. Their first attempts to write look like scribbles that will eventually become letters then words as they develop. In a classroom setting, play centers help develop reading and writing if they are equipped with materials that have print or materials to write with. As they develop, children also learn letters and the sounds that correspond with each letter. This can be done as books are read to them or even with songs. Vowels and consonants are learned as well as blends of consonants and vowels. As they go from emergent to beginner to fluent readers and writers, they learn the generalizations of language and spelling patterns. The development through these stages can be accomplished by the teacher using a variety of instructional resources. Shared reading allows the teacher and children to read together and using big books, the teacher can model print, how to read from left to right, and spacing between words with whole group time. Predictable books can help students learn patterns through repeated words in order to predict what may happen next in the story. Many schools now have older children from upper grades partner with a younger grade in order to read to each other and discuss the books. Other activities that can help in the development of early reading include traveling bags of books children can take home as well as students dictating their own words to be recorded by the teacher and later read. Writings come from their drawings and speech and teachers can model correct structure of words and sentences. What begins with a letter to represent the whole word can become sentences and paragraphs as the child becomes fluent in reading and writing.
I see how the children can go from one stage to the next and since I believe reading is the core to all learning, the examples given in the text were ones I will incorporate into my classroom one day. I have seen the traveling bags of books where I once worked that had paper and crayons for drawing pictures of the story along with toys and stuffed animals to get the child more involved in reading. As I was reading the chapter, I noted many things that I feel I'll be able to use and have seen examples of the strategies used by teachers previously. By using songs and play incorporating reading and writing, I think it makes the learning experience more fun for the children and the older children reading with them gives them another experienced reader to learn from. I think these types of activities should encompass a large portion of the classroom schedule, even going into other subjects.