Literacy Rich Environments

Welcome to the July Teach/Learn Blogging Carnival.

The Teach/Learn Blogging Carnival hosted by Science@home is for anyone, because we are all teachers and learners all the time. This month our theme is “English”, including Speaking, Listening, Reading and Viewing. I think our bloggers have covered all of these and there are lots of resources and game ideas, plus a giveaway. Please read through to the end to find links to the other participating blogs.

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The environment in which children grow and learn within play a significant role on what they are learning and how they are developing. Therefore, by creating a literacy rich environment for children of all ages you will be able to extend their awareness of print and in turn enhance their literacy.

Birth to Two Years:

Some people may argue that babies know nothing, so why would we need to surround them in print. Well, I am not here to discuss development but from birth {and research even shows prebirth!} a child is listening to the spoken word and is learning to talk through listening. So why wouldn’t you surround your child with print?

I am a huge fan of creating a special place, specifically for books. By creating this space at a young age and demonstrating a love of books {and taking care of them} you instil these ideas of books into the children who are watching you.

Cushions and a lounge work perfectly, and if in a child care environment works towards bringing that home-like feel. I always try and incorporate photographs of the family in this area too, and discuss with the family their child’s favourite book and have it available in the area.

When choosing books for this age group, it is essential that the books are short, colourful, have the ability to actively engage the child/ren. Board books are great, but that doesn’t mean to steer clear away from a picture book with pages. Props, felt board stories or puppets are fantastic! ‘Where is the Green Sheep’ can be purchased with a green sheep; ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear’ are great as felt board stories.

Two to Three Years:

I absolutely adore reading books to this age group. Their attention spans are growing and they are beginning to develop a love of being read to.

I am a fan of defined spaces within child care centres, for me I feel it creates an idea of what can be found in that area. Though having said that, I have nothing against a child moving props from certain areas into other areas {i.e. taking the dinosaurs from the science area into the book area and acting out a loved book; or taking them into the construction area}.

With this age group longer books can begin to be engaged with on a number of levels. Books that tell a nursery rhyme or song I find absolutely perfect for this age group. ‘Wombat Stew’ or ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ using props to help move the story along are fantastic. Again, similar to the previous age group, felt board stories, props and puppets are all fantastic to use with a story.

Three to Five Years:

With this age group I can be known to read more than one book in one sitting. Some children absolutely adore being read books, others rather sit quietly and look at the pages. When working you get to know the children within your room, so really it depends on the children as to whether you would ramble off three books or all children to sit quietly and read to those that want you to.

I love using books with humour. And I love changing the intonation and tone of my voice depending the character I am reading.

‘Beware of Storybook Wolves’, ‘The Gruffalo’, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ and many others are all fantastic books that allow you to add character voices. ‘Beware of Storybook Wolves’ even comes with a CD of Hugh Laurie reading! And just quietly sometimes the children prefer to listen to him!

Fairy tales are usually popular among this age group. I love reading fairy tales and the happily ever afters. Though I am also a fan of trying to find books that have the twist. Such as ‘Beware of Storybook Wolves’ or ‘The Wolf’s Story’. While these have some may say that is far too scary for three to five year olds, others will know that there children will adore the book. I have noticed that the five year olds loved ‘The Wolf’s Story’ {especially the boys!} and the younger age group loved Herb in ‘Beware of Storybook Wolves’. Oh and you cannot forget Dr Seuss books, these are fantastic for this age group!

Enough about book, literacy is not just about books. What about the print that the children are engaged with daily? The traffic signs, the newspaper, magazines, the television, posters, letters, or catalogues. Print is everywhere! So why not incorporate some into the centre. You could make mailboxes and provide children with the opportunity to write letters between rooms, which is great if there is a younger sibling within the same centre. There are millions of ideas, just follow the children and see where print can take you!

Five to Eight Year Olds:

Walk into any classroom and you will see a place for books, it may not be the most aesthetically pleasing place but it is there. Print is everywhere around the room. Books are read daily. Within school settings, there is definitely more literacy richness for children. So why would we bother to extend on this?

For me, it is all about the home to school connection. On my most recent practical I wanted to create a literacy bag and I would have if I was going to be there for longer at the start of the year. I may use this during the internship {still questioning}. A literacy bag can have a book, a notepad/scrapbook and a toy animal. The book is what the parents can read with the child during the night and is usually about the toy animal. The toy animal gets to stay with the child for an entire week and the family are able to take photographs and write about their time with the toy animal {usually named}. The child then comes back to school and does a show and tell type rundown of what happened with their time with the toy animal. For older children, literacy based activities are usually incorporated to use with the book. For younger children, there may not be a book involved just an animal and they take photographs and write about their week together.

That is just one way of strengthening the home to school bond.

To extend on engagement with words and letters, why not grab a magazine or newspaper and have the children highlight their sight words? Play bingo using their sight words? I find that incorporating play into learning is when the children really engage with their work.

They are just some ideas to get you started on creating a literacy rich environment for children, of all ages! So, next time you are planning an activity within any setting, think outside the box!

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Visit Science@home to find out more about the Teach/Learn Blogging Carnival.

Please take the time to visit the other participants and check out their posts on “English.”

• Monique at Your Cheeky Monkey has written about why her family thinks storytelling is so important, some storytelling ideas, and a few of their favorite books.
• Julie at Works For Me Homemaking is encouraging sound play with preschoolers and not just for fun. It is an important tool to develop sound awareness skills and enhance early literacy development.
• Staci from Teaching Money to Kids reminds us that sometimes language and interaction need to be explicitly taught and practiced, and has some ways to teach the language of sharing.
• Leechbabe from Stuff with Thing asks what happens when your child interprets everything said to them in a very literal way? How do you aid their understanding of the funny things people say?
• Squiggle Mum was reminded recently that you don’t have to be a literacy specialist to know how to read aloud to a young child. After all, it ain’t rocket science…
• Lisa at SMMART Ideas has a LETTER MATCHING activity to help you practice spelling words, or even foreign language vocabulary.
• Deb from Science@home has a giveaway to help you go on an expedition on your bookshelf.
• Colin Wee at Super Parents is teaching his kids to argue by learning how to create a reasoned argument for English creative writing and the OREO Acronym.
• The Planning Queen from Planning With Kids had her own bookclub when she and her son read the same book. It was a great experience to have a book discussion with her son where she hadn’t been reading the story “to him”.
• Deb Chitwood from Living Montessori agrees with Maria Montessori that young children have a natural love of learning. Thanks to matching Montessori sandpaper letters with small objects, her son decided as a toddler that learning to read was just a fun game.
• Amanda at HomeAge posts that we all know The Very Hungry Caterpillar, but Eric Carle has so much more to offer to young readers, particularly those interested in the natural world. With bright, beautiful artworks and simple, repetitive stories these books are a wonderful way to entice the young “reader”.
• Miss Carly from Early Childhood Resources has steps and advice in creating a literacy rich environment for children of all ages.
• Christie at Childhood 101 points out that the process of sharing stories through oral storytelling is an age old tradition amongst families, but does it have a place in our busy modern day family life?
• Sarah at Bringing up Baby Bilingual describes her public library’s Writing Buddies program where high school student volunteers lead groups of at-risk fourth and fifth graders through a series of outer-space-themed writing activities. Writing prompts and resources included in the post!
• CatWay at Adventures With Kids asks What is phonics all about? Is this something I should know more about to help my child learn to read and write?
• Narelle from A Bunch of Keys has some simple suggestions for making your own literacy resources for children at home. Includes ideas for books with simple rhymes, books with puppets, books about family trips and making felt boards.
• Zoe at Playing By the Book has gone fishing for words in illustrated dictionaries to support her early reader.

Thanks for visiting our carnival, we hope you enjoy some of these posts and have found some interesting blogs.

Tagged as: children, environments, literacy, primary school, prior to school