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Early Childhood Literacy

By: Logan Rio

Overview

Early Literacy ResearchAreas of literacy development

Parent Interview

Reading with a child

Assessment

Early Literacy Research

Children's experiences and interactions in the early years are critical to their brain development and overall learing

Children's learning takes place in 3 stages:Birth to 1 year

1 year to 3 years

3 years to 6 years

Early Literacy Learning

Piaget's Learning TheoryResearched the relationship between thinking and language learning

Stated that behavior is controlled by a mental system of organization called schemas or concepts

Early Literacy Research

Children develop in 4 interrelated areas: Cognitive and languageLanguage skills will help to determine a child's future literacy achievements

Physical

Social

Emotional

Children develop literacy skills before beginning to read

Children are ready to engage in language and literacy experiences during the first 24 months

Language and literacy development thrive in an environment which encourages children to explore and make choices

Parent Interview

Heather is a single mother of two, a 7 year old girl and a 4 year old boy. She is in the processing of going through a divorce. She works full-time and gets very little help from the childrens father.

Because of Heather's chaotic schedule both children have attended an early learning center since a very young age. The center is structured exactly like a classroom and the children engage in literacy learning activities.

Heather's views reading and writing as extremely important. The children's rooms are filled with books.

Heather tries to read with her children every night, and the children look forward to reading time with their mom.

Although Heather see's literacy as very important she admits that as a single parent it is very hard to find time to work with her children. She relies heavily on teachers and the early learning center for her children's literacy education.

To try to encourage their reading and writing Heather often plays school with the children. The 7 year old girl usually plays teacher and Heather and her 4 year old son are the students.

Reading With a Child

The book I chose to read was Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

I chose this book because it was one of my favorite books as a beginner reader

I read the book at bedtime with both the 7 year old and the 4 year old

Reading with a Child:
Observations

As I began the book both children were actively listening. I could tell that they were used to storytime.

The 7 year old was eager to turn the pages and the 4 year old consistently asked about the illustrations.

On about the 4 page of the book the 7 year old asked if she could help read. So, we decided that she would read the pages on the left and I would read the pages on the right.

The 7 year old was suprisingly a very good reader. She didn't really need any help and was able to sound out any words that stumped her. She read with inflection in her voice and throughly enjoyed reading to her younger brother.

When it came time to recite the goodnights the 4 year old enjoyed listing the items to say goodnight to. He showed very little interest in the actual words and mostly tried to recall the items from memory.

The hardest part of this exercise was the end. When we finished the book they wanted to read it again!

Assessment

Overall I think Heather and her kids were a good choice for this assignment, because they are a good example of what the American household has become.

It's sad that many parents don't have unlimited amounts of time to spend enhancing their children's literacy experience. This means that as educators we are that much more responsible for a child's positive early literacy experiences.

In general I believe the children I read to appeared to be reaching the literacy goals appropriate to their ages.

The 7 year old seemed to excel in reading. (Although, Heather did tell me she reads quite often on her own and for school assignments.)I would've liked to of seen a little more interest from the 4 year old when it came to the words, but I believe that having his sister there may have discouraged him trying.

It is essential that children have access to places like early centers opposed to just daycare, so that children can have literacy experiences that they may otherwise miss out on.