Introduction

Hello,

My name is Yvette T. and my topic discussion is Parent Involvement in Early Liteacy Development.

Inspirational Quote

The thing that inspires and excites me about my advocacy plan and being an advocate is the fact that I feel like I am making a difference in the lives of students and families in literacy and language development. If I can only hope for a chance to see that children are taking an interest in books, magazines, environmental print or just using or opportunity to know that literacy and language is used at home during daily activities is a plus. When I know that parents are including reading in their daily activities with children and taking walks, talking about things in the environment, this is good. I see children in the classroom looking at their favorite books. They talk about the pictures and some begin to dictate the story to their classmates. Familarity of books is the key in getting children interested in books and reading. My advocacy plan is having classes for parents in how to read to their children at home and ways to use inferences to ask questions. These classes or workshops can be made accessible to parents so they can participate in literacy activities with their children that are learning experiences and fun for the family.

The challenge that I see is parents making a commitment to give up 10 – 15 minutes for reading activities. I know that many parents have very busy schedules, and are tired when they get home. After working all day, most parents come home prepare dinner, clean and check homework. As a parent myself, I know that it can be a little overwhelming to spend that extra time, but that 10 minutes will make a difference.

"It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed." Quote by Napoleon Hill

I think what will be most effective in helping me to overcome challenging emotions that I may be feeling in regard to presenting and implementing my Advocacy Action Plan is constantly reminding my parents that everyday of reading makes a difference. I know that I will have to stay committed and be prepared to offer suggestions if needed. They need to find 10 -15 minutes in their schedule to spend quality time reading to their child at home. Introducing picture books and easy readers are good beginning for children and parents can read the same book repeatedly. Children become familiar with the story and they begin to read the books to the parents. I would ask a group of parents to try reading for a two week period. Pick a time and read for 10 minutes every other day for the first week. The second week, the parents should read for 10 minutes everyday. After the second week, parents can give me their feedback on improvements.

Thank you !

A note to say thank you for visiting my blog and posting comments.  It took some time for me to get this blog up and going.  But, I must say, it has been an adventure.  I have figured out how to move around a little more than when I first started.  I will continue to visit other blogs from the classroom.  Do not stop posting.

Yvette T.

Module 4

This week I had the opportunity to assess a student in letter knowledge and phonics.  This student has been in Head Start for two years and the mother wanted him to be tested for kindergarten.  The teacher asked me to assess and I was surprised that this student only knew four letters.  He did not any recognition of sounds of the alphabet.  I asked the student to tell me the letters in his name. He was only able to recognize two letters in his name.  I was totally shocked.  This student writes his name everyday.  The teacher does the ABC Word Wall everyday, along with the morning chart.  I can honestly say that this student has no concept of what the letter are. 

Now when I go into the classroom, I search out this student and work with him.  If this student does not grasp the letter/sound correspondence, he will have some serious problems in the beginning months of kindergarten.

I have asked the mother to work with him at home.  She was surprised that he did not know his letters.  I asked if she worked with him at home and she said that his siblings did.  I suggested to her to read books to him. Environmental print from fast food restaurants, familiar foods or books that he likes she can point out the letters to him.

I would like to advocate for programs that will help familes incorporate reading into everyday activities.  This could be in the form of creating shopping lists for groceries, a list of chores, types of foods they like or a learning how to keep a journal.

Early childhood professionals could support this effort by donating books or helping familes to choose websites that will teach phonics and letter recognition. 

Yvette T.

Interactive with Program Director

Module 3

I had the opportunity to spend some time with the program's director this week.  She express that she was hopeful that with the new creative arts after school programs, children will get a better grasp of social emotional skills, creative arts and an immersion in language.  There are many children in the school who are ELL and this can be a difficult time for these students and parents.  Parents are trying to adjust to a new neighborhood and children are adjusting to a new school, friends and teachers.

It is helpful when after school programs are created where students can slowly become a community of learners.  "We have included many after school programs such as cooking, music, drama and dance for our students at the school".  Many teachers have volunteered their time to help these students to develop social emotional skills while creating opportunities for an emersion in language.  "We did an International Night that was very successful with familes and children who performed from grades Pre-K to 5th grade".

How would you address the advocacy issue with professionals in your setting?

I would address this issue by advocating for more school and community events where children and families have the opportunity to learn about other cultures and be exposed to more language. 
The director expressed a need for more teachers to find time to give back to the students and was hopeful that it will be a successful year next year with the new afterschool programs.  The children and the community expressed an interest in participating in these afterschool events.

What kind of difference would I make in this community or my field?

I would like to make a difference by inviting guests to come to afterschool programs in order for students to learn more from experts in their fields.  It does make a difference when you involve children, families, schools and the community to events.  It makes the setting feel more like a family

Yvette T.

Focus Thought - Module 3

I am focusing my paper on how to create a classroom of exceptional learners by incorporating phonics, technology and parent involvement.  I have noticed that in the center that I am working at, there seems to be children who have been in the program for almost eight months and still have not mastered phonemic awareness and are still having a problems with alphabet recognition.  These children are struggling with combining sounds.  Children who work on computers become easily frustrated when they are not able to complete the program.  And, when frustration sets in, many children want to switch to another program that is less challenging.  It takes some time for children to get use to using  program and when they feel that it is too hard they move on to something a little less challenging.

How can these children be prompted to stay on a progam and work with a phonics lesson for at least ten to fifteen minutes a day in order to increase phonics and alphabet recognition?  The teacher notes that it takes time and children have to be in small groups.

Parents can also help by reciting nusery rhymes and playing word games with their children.  Another suggestion is to have at least two nursery rhymes that children can recite to help with words that sound alike.  Those parents who do not have computers at home can be given blending words to help children with sounds.

Yvette T.

Linking Literacy, Technology and Parent Involvement

There are many approaches to reading and the debate is between the whole versus the part learning.  I have found the teachers have to find a medium between teaching phonics first which is called the "bottom up" approach.  Children begin to learn the names, shapes and letters in the alphabet.  After learning the letters in the alphabet, they begin to learn consonant sounds, which is then followed by more complex vowel correspondence sounds.  This type of learning helps children to break up complex words.  Another approach is teaching children to read by looking at familiar words.  This way to teaching children to read is called the "top down" approach.

I think the best way to teach children to read is to use both approaches.  Incorporating phonics and sight words together will help children develop sounds as well as new ways to look at words in reading books.
I have found that in teaching literacy is is necessary to use open-ended querstions with children.  Children need to be in a classrom where the atmosphere promotes an environment of learning.  Ask children questions about the story, and how they feel about what is going on in the story.

Parents can be a part of this literacy learning by reading books that encourage children to be active listeners.  As children begin the process of listening, as open ended questions such as ""Where and when does the story take place?", Can they create a different ending to the story?, "What do they think is the main idea of the story?". 

Computers are a great resource for teaching phonics to children also.  They provide opportunities for children to work independently or in small groups. 

Gunning, T.G.  (2004).  Teaching Literacy Instruction for All Children in Grades Pre-K to 4
Cooper, D.J. ( 2000).  Literacy:  Helping Children Construct Meaning. 

Y. Tuitt