Allysa D’AmourREAD 366

I am in a pre-school classroom for my practicum site, and throughout the classroom there are many opportunities and examples related to literacy! When it comes to the physical set up of the classroom, as you can see in the pictures above, there are specific places designated for reading, and not pictured are the classroom tables designated for other types of literacy. The top left picture shows part of the book section (which is also pictured on the right) and a couch where the children are free to sit and look at their books during centers or free time. The picture in the middle shows where the classes circle time rug is located, and the big chair the teacher sits on when she reads to them.

Similar to the picture on the bottom left which shows the letters of the alphabet, there are tons of posters that line the classrooms walls. Almost every single item in the room is labeled to make it easier for the students to comprehend what they are learning and/or reading. For example, when the students make their lunch choice, there is one picture per lunch option followed by the words of what will be served to them that day. The connection between pictures and words is extremely important at this age in order to help build the child’s word recognition.

When it comes to literacy, from what I have seen, there is no grouping in this class. The literacy objectives that they have been learning throughout the year involves learning the alphabet: including letter identification, phonology, and being able to correctly and neatly write letters. After learning about a letter, the teacher will play songs and videos related to the specific letter on the smart board, which is then followed by an activity where the students will practice writing the letters out in their “letter journals”.

Each day a read-aloud is facilitated by the student teacher that is in the class. She reads books to them that always relate to the specific topic of the week. For example, one week the class was learning about occupations so she would read a book about a different job (police man, fire man, doctor, etc…). When she was done reading the book, she would try to ask the class questions about what she read and what they had learned. Considering the class consists of 18 four year olds, it is usually a struggle to keep all of them on tasks. A majority of the class will sit still and listen when being read to, but as soon as they lose interest, they can’t stop wiggling and poking their neighbor!

I definitely believe that this classroom promotes literacy. The teacher just recently started sending home cite-word books for the children to read to their parents at night. If they can successfully re-read the book to the teacher the next day, they get rewarded. I really like this method because everyone knows how much a child loves getting rewarded for doing something great, and in order for them to keep getting rewarded, they have to continue to learn and to read. I also really like how often she lets the student’s go to the library to check out books throughout the day. I think the class may like going so much because it promotes a sense of independence by allowing them to go and check a book out by themselves, but either way, the more books the better!