Building Literacy
Foundations:
Weaving the Literacy
Blanket
Like the
talented Coast Salish weavers, literacy mentors use strands to
create a beautiful literacy blanket
unique for each child. All of us committed to our young literacy learners contribute to this creation that will provide life-long use for
future learning. Three important strands
are needed to weave this strong and serviceable literacy blanket for all of our young readers.
Building the Literacy Relationship Foundation Strand:
Parents,
aunties, uncles, grandparents, elders, teachers, family friends and community
members act as literacy mentors for our young readers. We know that starting out right is important.
Children begin their literacy journey while
they are still very young. Parents and other literacy mentors help children
develop language and literacy skills by casually pointing out meaningful words
or letters. They take time to have conversations with children and provide a sense
of coziness and safety when reading with a child. They search for books that
are of interest to the child and are visually pleasing. They allow lots of time
for “grand conversations “that naturally spring from engaging topics that come
up while reading together.
No literacy program
exists that replaces caring literacy mentors in a child’s life. The relationship
fostered between book, child and caring adult leads to children engaging with
print for the sheer joy of it. Most
importantly it prevents reading failure. The vehicle for fostering and
nourishing this important relationship is the Read-a-Loud. Before a child can have an interest in
reading, he must first have an awareness of it.
Caring adults will make sure children are bathed in the riches of
literature. Our most practical and effective opportunity for creating self-motivated
independent readers is to read to children every day. Three books a day, that
is the minimum, not the maximum!
Building the Concepts of Print Foundation Strand:
Building the Concepts of Print Foundation means that we must provide
play-based learning opportunities that reveal how books work. The thoughtful literacy mentor is ever
mindful that children learn through play.
They provide fun and inviting activities so that children explore and
discover how squiggly black lines (print) is just like talking. Consolidating the concepts about story
structures, viewing the many purposes for print, and developing word knowledge
is a long, gradual process. It is
similar and closely connected to learning to talk. Recent research supports an
interactive and experiential process of learning spoken and written language
skills. Matching text difficulty with the reader provides scaffolding for
learning early literacy concepts. Using engaging
texts helps the child notice the use of left to right sweeps, the sequence of
letters in a word and how to “read” pictures and the the “spaces” in the book.
Making
meaning from black squiggly lines is complex. Quality coaching is essential.
Every minute with a capable and caring literacy mentor or coach is precious.
Building Oral language and Book Language Foundation Strand:
Educators
must also pay attention to the interests and strengths of each reader because
high interest in a topic enhances comprehension and motivates the young reader.
Book language is often different from
the language we use in general conversations.
The language found in books (especially non-fiction) is often more
complex because unfamiliar syntax and vocabulary is presented. Children benefit
when caring adults provide a diverse selection of texts from which to
choose. The texts should be culturally relevant and honour the unique strengths and gifts of the
child. Even the very young enjoy and
learn from literature that presents characters and settings they recognize. Children learn ways of addressing fears,
challenges and real life issues through knowing a character in good story.
Early Literacy Does Not Mean Early
Reading
Our current understanding of early language
and literacy development has provided new ways of helping children learn to
talk, read, and write. Early literacy
development is a continuous developmental process that begins in the first
years of life. However, current research DOES NOT advocate the “teaching of
reading”! Formal instruction which pushes infants, toddlers or pre-school
children to actually read and write words is not developmentally appropriate
and in fact- counter productive. However, early
interactions that are play-based, literacy-rich experiences, embedded in
real life settings; promote the natural unfolding of early literacy skills through
the sheer enjoyment of books.
Early
literacy skills are essential to literacy development and should be the focus
of early language and literacy programs.
The first five years of exploring and playing with books, singing
nursery rhymes, listening to familiar and engaging stories, recognizing letters
and important words, and scribbling are the building blocks for language and
literacy development. By focusing on the first years of life, we give new
meaning to the important interactions young children have with books and
stories.
The Building Literacy Foundations Continuum
is designed to support family members and educators in their important role of
passing on the legacy of literacy. When caring literacy coaches document a
child’s learning strengths and literacy learning, they are motivated and guided
to set reachable goals for the very young literacy learner. Use a specific colour for each date as you
highlight learning opportunities or experiences that are encountered.
The adult literacy mentors and the child walk hand in hand. The continuum
celebrates the caring adult’s mentorship role
and the importance of joyful, play-based, literacy learning. Wrap the very young in their unique Literacy Blanket and do not forget to
celebrate the journey!
Donna
Klockars, 2015
For Weaving the Literacy Blanket 0-5 Continuum contact dklockars@shaw.ca for free downloads
A
Pearl to Ponder
“The
child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world
there hasn’t been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another
child like him.” Pablo Casals
