LEARNING THE ALPHABET AT HOMEBy Mary Gay Michaels, Prekindergarten Teacher

Savvy Sunday Presentation, Milken Grant

Tigerville Elementary

November 11, 2007

Moms and Dads are the first teachers!

1. Why do parents have to teach the alphabet and other literacy or math skills before preschool?

How do we do it?2. 10 -15 minutes of sensory action (gross and fine motor) activities3. Sing ABC and phonemic awareness songs. (alliteration/repeated

initial sounds in words and rhyming words/repeated ending sounds in words)

4. First, read books for meaning. Then hunt for ABC’s and print concepts.

5. Rationale for children to understand: Everything we think and say can be written and read! SO TALK, read, learn new words to say, draw and write/”drite,” and read your drawings and writing to someone! The circle continues!

WE = PARENTS AND TEACHERS

WHY PARENTS NEED TO TALK AND READ TO BABIES AND YOUNG CHILDREN

© Copyright 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 American Library Association.Every Child Ready To Read @ your library

• Prefrontal cortex: Planning what to say, generating words, and sequential thought, as it connects to the temporal lobe.

• Frontal lobe: Generating sounds and movement of the mouth and tongue• Temporal lobe: Hearing and attaching meaning to words• Occipital lobe: Seeing and visual processing

[Source: Dr. Marc Raichle, Washington University in St. Louis] © Copyright 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 American Library Association. Every Child Ready To Read @ your library

Our Responsibility: Six Emerging Literacy Skills(Children Need To Learn From Birth)

Phonological Awarenessthe ability to

hear and play with the

smaller sounds in words.

Narrative Skills

the ability to describe

things and events and to

tell stories.Letter

Knowledgelearning to name letters, knowing

they have sounds, and

recognizing them everywhere.

PrintAwareness

noticing print, knowing how to handle a book,

and how to follow text on a

page.

Vocabularyknowing the

names of things.

PrintMotivation

a child’s interest in

and enjoyment of

books.

What we (parents and teachers) do helps your child get ready to

read.

© Copyright 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 American Library Association. Every Child Ready To Read @ Your Library Copyright 2005 ALSC and PLA

Knowledge of alphabet letters at entry into kindergarten is a strong predictor of reading ability in 10th grade.

There is nearly a 90% probability that a child will remain a poor reader at the end of the fourth grade if the child is a poor reader at the end of the first grade.

- For 60%, reading is not an easily acquired skill- 90% - 95% of the poor readers can reach average reading skills with early interventionIf intervention comes by 9 years – 75% still have difficulty.

The typical middle-class child enters first grade with 1,000 to 1,700 hours of one-on-one picture book reading, whereas a child from a low-income family averages just 25

hours. All research retrieved July 11, 2007 http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/ECRR/workshopsab/workshopdescriptions/handressources.pdf at Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Library.

How The Brain Learns!

First Step: to detect and understand patterns – the brain wants to create meaning. Second Step: to develop meaningful neural connections by connecting new information

to information already understood (stored in long-term memory)

Using knowledge that is understood first requires assistance; assistance lessens with repetition, until one can use or produce skills automatically. Learning occurs when there is high sensory input for the learner because the event/activity engages more parts of the brain. As a result, the experience is held in the brain as a vivid memory. Now the information can be stored in long-term memory and retrieved for new learning and uses!

The most effective learning environments are those where the learner “is there” and “doing it.” Other environments, in order of effectiveness are: immersion (engaging in activities, skills, at almost all times and almost everywhere), “hands-on” activities of the real thing, “hands-on” activities of representational items, secondhand, and symbolic).

Learning is the result of an inseparable partnership of brain and body. Emotion is the gatekeeper to movement, learning, and performance. Positive feelings are imperative for optimal brain function in learning experiences. They maintain the learner’s attention and build confidence for repeated trials and errors.

Kovalik, Susan J. and Olsen, Karen D. (2005) Exceeding Expectations: A User’s Guide To Implementing Brain Research in the Classroom, pp. 4.1, 13.4, Ap. 15, 29-33.

The Brain Holds Onto Information Easier and Faster With

Music and Movement

Sing, Sing, Sing

And Dance!ABC Songs The Alphabet Song Jam Toast’s ABCs

http://www.freekidsmusic.comhttp://www.mp3forkidz.com/pages/songframe.html The ABC Song

Phonemic Awareness Songs(that emphasize initial letter sounds - alliteration

and ending sounds - rhyming)Dr. Pam Schiller

http://shop.dynextechnologies.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=4

Dr. Jean http://www.drjean.org/

Jack Hartman http://www.jackhartmann.com/

MOVE YOUR BODY WITH BIG AND SMALL MOVEMENTS TO MAKE LETTERS

• What letter is this _____? What’s the sound you hear in ____? (Practice the ABC’s like I do in school. Make a motion for /sound/ for “word” 3 times, /sound/ again 4 times) Watch me on the video.

• Walk like a pencil on a large letter made with masking tape on the floor the way a pencil would write

it! Make uppercase and lowercase letter side by side.

• Make capital and lowercase letter pairs together using materials that begin with initial letter sound (cotton balls for Cc, glitter for Gg, icing for Ii, etc.)

• Make letters with toothpicks or popsicle sticks for letters made with straight lines. Use yarn, Play dough, and Wikki Stix for letters that have curved lines. Use fine motor skills in fingers to roll out Play dough and clay “worms” to cover letters on index cards or shape Wikki Stix into letters.

• Put magnetic letters on refrigerators or cookie sheets to make names!

MOVE YOUR BODY WITH BIG AND SMALL MOVEMENTS TO MAKE LETTERS

• Use writing tools: scissors, pencils, glue, paint, brushes, for tracing, writing, coloring, and cutting out large letters.

• Trace 2-3 letters (from left of paper to the right of the paper in a space – no lined paper) in a name over and over until tracing and “reading” the letters is smooth and automatic. Then add another letter to trace and read.

Visual memory is strengthened by tracing the correct form of the letters in a pattern and emphasizing left to write movement of eyes and fingers as well as directionality of individual letters, capitalization of first letters, and following with lowercase letters within a large space. Naming of letters is strengthened and easier to recall because of patterned “oral reading” of letters.

Children write with a large, triangular pencil to make the correct pencil grip easier to maintain.

The Importance of Vocabulary *Vocabulary knowledge is one of the best indicators of verbal ability (Sternberg,

1987; Terman, 1916).*Vocabulary knowledge contributes to young children's phonological awareness,

which in turn contributes to their word recognition (Goswami, 2001; Nagy, 2005).

*Vocabulary knowledge in kindergarten and first grade is a significant predictor or reading comprehension in the middle and secondary grades (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997; Scarborough, 1998).

*Vocabulary difficulty strongly influences the readability of text (Chall & Dale, 1995; Klare, 1984).

*Teaching vocabulary can improve reading comprehension for both native English speakers (Beck, Perfetti, & McKeown, 1982) and English learners

(Carlo et al., 2004). Growing up in poverty can seriously restrict the vocabulary children learn before beginning school and make attaining an adequate vocabulary a very challenging task (Coyne, Simmons, & Kame'enui, 2004; Hart & Risley, 1995).

Michael F. Graves, “Teaching 50, 000 Words,” University of Minnesota, Emeritus, IRA Annual Conference, Toronto, May, 2007

Effects of Mother's Speech on Infant Vocabulary

Right From Birth: Building Your Child’s Foundation for Life, Birth To 18 Months by Craig T. Ramey. New York: Goddard Press, 1999. (649.122 RAM) posted at Every Child Ready To Read @ your library

READ FOR MEANING

Read a book that is about your child’s interests (nonfiction topics) or realistic fiction that teaches social and emotional development, or fiction books that are fantastical and engage imagination and teaches story structure (character, events of the plot beginning, middle, end, settings, problem, and solution). Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning Book List

PREREADING: Ask your child to think about the title, and what comes to mind. "Let's take a picture walk and think about

what is going to happen!" Look through the story's pictures to get information about the plot, characters, setting, and type of story (fiction, non-fiction, realistic fiction). Then create and organize a verbal prediction about the story's main idea. "What do you think is going to happen in this book?" Read favorite stories again and again for different purposes! For a repeated reading, ask your child

to tell you one of the “AFTER READING” questions or draw, talk, and “drite” about the book. DURING READING:

Use the Dialogic Reading Method AFTER READING: Ask for your child's opinion! Let him/her become a literary critic!

"What was your favorite illustration?" "What do you like about it?""What did you like best about (the character)?""What is your favorite part?""Does this story remind you of something (or someone)?"

AFTER A REPEATED READINGSet Another Purpose Before Reading

Now your child can draw the setting, character, and an event from the story! Ask your child to tell you about the drawing. Write down what your child says about the details (words, phrases, sentences).

That’s called “driting!”

PRINT CHOICES FOR AFTER REPEATED READINGS OR PLACES WHERE PRINT IS SPOTTED

CHOOSE A HUNTING OR “I SPY” ACTIVITY! LOOK FOR LETTERS AND OTHER PRINT CONCEPTS

• Have your child “hunt”/scan for letters in the book! Use finger pointing/sliding and eye movement from left to right, across the text, with a return sweep to the next line (like real reading)!

• Count words and notice that words have spaces around them.

• Where is the letter in the word? Is it at the beginning, middle, or end of a word?

• Count the letters in the words.• Notice .?! And “ “ around words.• Hunt for letters and print concepts in other places

(newspapers, magazines, road signs, stores, license plates, labels,

menus, etc.).

CLIPARTGUIDE.COM http://www.clipartguide.com/_new/free_pictures_1.html http://www.clipartguide.com/_new/free_clipart_1.html