Early Literacy
Janet Myers
Attitudes and Activities of Parents That May Foster Early
What is
literacy? Literacy is the ability to read and write. Early literacy, for the
purpose of this discussion, is learning to read and write,
to decode and encode words on a basic level, prior to the start of formal
schooling, which for many children starts at six years old.
As an Early
Care and Education provider for the past 28 years, in an eclectic Montessori
setting, I have observed that many children want to learn to read before
kindergarten, and will practically teach themselves to read if they are
provided with the materials to do so.
Toni S Gould, in, Get Ready
to Read, has experienced the same phenomena, and she suggests that all
children can learn to read at an early age. “From my own experience I have come
to believe that all children would benefit from an early start. Natural
readers, at one end of the continuum, while needing less time to learn, should
be taught before they go to school, when their readiness for learning is at a
peak. At the other end of the continuum...children who have some kind of
learning problems, ...need an earlier, systematic
development of the skills necessary for learning to read successfully. They are
proud of their achievement when they can record a sound they hear by a symbol
they have just learned.”(Gould 33) My experience has been the same. Preschool
children love to trace letters and to play sounding games. For me one of the
greatest joys of working with young children has been their delight when they
begin to read.
It’s becoming
clear just how important these early learning experiences are. Jeff Wilhelm,
in, You Gotta Be the Book, states on
page 161, “By looking back at the literacy histories I had collected from my
most reluctant readers, including Tommy and Walter, I noticed that none had
recalled being read to much, nor did they have any memory of ever reading
picture books. I wondered if they had ever learned to “experience” literature,
to evoke and “see” textual words in their minds.” (161)
As a teacher of
young children, I provide pictures to give the beginning reader a better understanding
of the text, and I provide excitement and involvement in the text by reading
aloud to them. When preschool aged children begin learning letter sounds
through age appropriate games and activities, they enjoy the process. It
appears that children who miss these important steps may never become involved
with the text, or they need extra assistance as they literally can’t “see” the
book.
As an avid
reader who becomes so involved in a book that a freight train could go by and I
might not notice, it saddens me that so many children, with the potential to do
so, do not become engaged readers.
Many children
seem to learn to read naturally, often at home, without instruction, as well,
and I wonder how they accomplish this. Are they exceptional, or could it be
that they engage in early literacy activities that all children could benefit
from? What do these parents do that help children develop these skills? Perhaps
by studying the attitudes and activities of the parents of children who
experience early success in reading and writing we can assist less successful
learners.
By studying
the back ground of one early reader, an eight year old girl, I’ll call Marilyn
Moonbeam, (pseudonym)
and comparing her development to current research, I hope to
discover the attitudes and activities which foster developing literacy. By studying “natural” or early readers and
determining the steps they went through, I hope to learn how to assist more
children to reach their potential and become engaged readers.
The data has
been collected through interviews with parents and a survey of teachers, as
well as, Marilyn herself, school records and evaluations, and through a study
of Marilyn’s early reading choices. Before we get to know Marilyn, an 8 year
old, third grade student, in a
A Look Back
Education in
In the 1930’s
William S Gray, an American reading specialist, developed the sight method to
rescue children from the tedium of phonics drill, and to focus on comprehension
so that, “from the very first moment, the beginning reader would experience
that reading consists of acquiring meaning from the printed word. This would
make reading come alive and motivate children to want to learn more since they
would no longer be subjected to meaningless drill.” (Gould 7 from Gray and
Rogers)
An article
published by Mabel Morphet and Carleton Washburne in 1931 reported that by postponing reading
instruction until children reach the mental age of 6 1/2, chances of failure
would be greatly reduced. What was the reasoning behind this new concept?
Public mandated education resulted in large classrooms and behavioral issues
developed due to the differing abilities and learning pace of the students.
Readiness became a useful explanation for variations in reading ability.(Anbar 21)
In the 1940’s
and 50’s the idea continued that children need to develop certain skills in
order to learn to read. There were still reports of children learning to read
at three and four but these were dismissed and precocity was even considered
harmful. By 1955, parents felt too intimidated to encourage reading at home.
Sidney Pressey, a psychologist, criticized this attitude,
but it wasn’t until after Sputnik was launched that an interest in early
literacy revived and several books were published about the potential of young
children. (Anbar)
Dr. Maria
Montessori realized the potential of young children through her observations.
She acknowledged that children learn more from birth to six than at any other
time of their lives. She suggested that children show sensitive periods to
learn skills and may obtain optimal growth if appropriate learning materials
are available during these times. She saw that young children absorb
information and impressions from their environment during the first three
years. (
In 1964, in,
Stability and Change in Human Characteristics, Benjamin Bloom wrote, “The most
important period for developing intelligence occurs during the first eight
years of life.” (Anbar q Bloom 23) He believed that
fifty percent of mental capacity develops between conception and the age of
four and eighty percent develops by age eight. New research began to show that
acquiring early reading and writing skills did not have any harmful affect. (Anbar 23) New studies by neuroscientists supported
Montessori’s observations of sensitive periods to learn skills. (
Froebel is
best known for emphasizing the importance of play to learn activities and he
coined the term “kindergarten”, a children’s garden. He saw the child as a seed
to be nurtured by the teacher. He also emphasized the concept of learning
through the manipulation of materials that utilize the senses.,
as did Montessori. John Dewey believed that the curriculum should be child
centered and follow the lead of the child. (Morrow 5) Evidence has continued to
accumulate and research has shown that “literacy starts to develop a long time
before formal schooling. and a new concept began to
emerge” (Anbar 23) which was first used by Mary Clay
in 1966, Emergent Literacy. (Anbar)
Emergent
Literacy recognizes that a child’s literacy emerges as a result of his
interaction with his environment. The
proponents look at literacy from the child’s perspective, to study children’s
natural development. The Emergent Literacy approach recognizes, “that, for
almost all children in a literate society, learning to read and write begins
very early in life”, perhaps as soon as they are aware of print. (Teale and Sulzby 3 ).
Teale and Sulzby identify five
characteristics or dimensions of young children as literacy learners.
1. Learning to
read and write begins early in life. Children come in contact with print during the first few months
of life when parents buy soft alphabet books or read picture books to them. By
the time they are two or three, many children can identify signs, labels, and
logos they see in their environment.(Goodman, 1986; Hiebert, 1981;Kastler, Rosen, & Hoffman , 1987 in Teale and Sulzby 3)
2. Functions of literacy are an integral part of
the learning process. They’re
learning to read and write in real life situations which give meaning, and
“observational studies have
shown that the vast majority of literacy experienced by young
children is embedded in activities directed toward some goal beyond the
literacy itself (Heath, 1983; Taylor, 1983; Taylor & Dorsey-Gaines, 1988; Teale, 1986). For example, children may see adults reading newspapers and greeting cards, writing
checks, completing crossword puzzles, or using the T.V. guide.” (Teale
& Sulzby 3).
3.
4. Young children learn literacy through active
engagement, experiencing
reading and writing in many facets of their daily lives, while obtaining goals.
For example, while writing out the grocery list and finding the items on the
shelf, children are developing literacy skills.
5. Young children learn through the interaction with
print and their parents. They learn by observing others engaged in
literacy activities. (Teale & Sulzby
5)
Ada Anbar, in her book called,
The Secret of Natural Readers:How
Preschool Children Learn to Read, studied six early readers, and detailed
eight stages of development that all six of the children went through.
Stage 1: A preliminary period of
gaining awareness and general knowledge about books and print.
Stage 2:
Learning the names of the letters and acquiring a beginning sight vocabulary. Stage 3: Learning the sounds
of the letters.
Stage 4: Putting words together.
Stage 5:
Stage 6: Sounding out short
unfamiliar words.
Stage 7:
Independent reading of easy, unfamiliar books.
Stage 8:
Let’s look at Marilyn’s early development as reported by her Mom
and Dad and compare her literacy experiences to the research of Teale and Sulzby, and Anbar.
Background
Marilyn
Moonbeam was born on May 28, 1999, by C-section. Her Mom was 36 years old
because they had waited five years to be sure Mom would be able to stay home
after she was born.
Mom and Dad
were best friends, but stayed “just friends” due to the age difference of 10
years (dad is 10 years younger), until Dad left for college and they realized
how they felt about each other. They are still best friends according to Mom.
Mom loves to
read and she comes from a family of readers and writers. Mom’s brother is
writing a book and Mom’s sister is a reading specialist.
Dad comes
from a family of talkers, but not readers. He told me he wanted something
better for his daughter. His parents did not graduate from high school and
“couldn’t help me figure out solutions.” He felt limited and wants to offer his
daughter the best education he can, so she won’t be limited, like he was. Mom
notes that Dad and his brother both have a photographic memory. “Dad’s great at
trivia games like Jeopardy and geography because he can remember every detail
of what he’s seen or read.”
Mom feels
that their religion, Jehovah Witness, encouraged them as well. “As Jehovahs, we are encouraged to read to the kids, and they
publish articles on reading. We believe what you read is important, but the
positive feelings about reading is important, too.”
Both of
Marilyn’s parents love spending time with her.
They waited to have a child until Mom could stay home with her. Mom has
read to her since she was born. They always went to Borders for story time and
to the library. Mom and Marilyn love to do crafts, scrap booking and using clay, for example. For
Mom though, it’s “more the feelings of being together” that were important.
Marilyn’s dad
is active and takes her hiking and four wheeling. He lets her try anything she
wants, he doesn’t want to hold her back, and although he makes sure she’s safe,
his wife cringes every once in awhile, he admits. They attend lots of sporting
events together and go camping as a family.
Both Marilyn and her mom laughingly admit that Maya and her dad
both want Mom’s attention “Dad, it’s my turn. Let Mom listen to me now!”
Marilyn describes herself as a “Daddy’s girl.” This is a happy comfortable
family.
Teacher’s
Evaluation
I’ve been one
of Marilyn’s teachers for the last three and one half years. She is bright, personable, and inquisitive.
She is very creative and she loves to draw. Sometimes she seems to have a
maturity beyond her years. However, she is petite in stature and she is often
taken for a much younger child by those who don’t know her, which she finds
amusing and sometimes frustrating, perhaps.
This year, in
January of 2008, in her third grade year, Marilyn scored 8.4 (eighth grade,
fourth month) in spelling. On Gray’s Oral Reading Paragraph Test, also taken in
January of 2008, she scored high school level in reading. This test does not
measure comprehension, however.
Perhaps, even
more importantly, Marilyn
loves to read and write. On her bio for the yearbook she wrote,
“My favorite subject is writing.” During our interview she commented, “I like
to write fiction better than non fiction because I like to use my imagination.”
Marilyn
definitely becomes engaged in what she’s reading for pleasure. She glows with
excitement as she shares about her current favorite book, The Survival Guide to
When Marilyn
“grows up” she wants to be a photojournalist or a dance teacher. (Why?) “You travel and I love writing and I love
taking pictures!” She sees herself as coming from a calm family, but “me and my
mom both love to talk and sometimes we’re both trying to get my dad to listen
to us.” When I asked her what she’d like other people to know about her she
said, “that I’m a nice person and I only get mad when
people get over annoying and be mean to me.”
During a
recent interview, Marilyn asked me if I’d read, The Rescue. “I’m reading
my Mom’s books now. It’s a Nicholas Sparks book. Did you read the Notebook?” I
told her Yes, and that I had seen the movie twice and then found the book on
the bedside table where we were vacationing
Marilyn’s mom
after reading this part commented that, “I don’t let her read books written for
adults as they might not be appropriate for her age. I do let her read excerpts
(from my books) that are visually strong. The only trouble is, then she wants to read the whole book!”
Academic Exposure Birth to Four
Before Marilyn was one year old, Mom
taught her animal sounds with flash cards and a,b,c’
s in sign language. Her first books were I Touch, I Feel, by Rachel Isadora,
and Marilyn knew if Mom skipped a page.
Before two
years old Marilyn could pick out letters on signs and she recognized the
turnoff to Borders Bookstore.
Around three,
during commuting time to and from school and work, they played sounding games
like /t/, /t/, tree. First they played with the first
sound of words, then the last sound of words, then homonyms and then opposites.
She began memorizing Time to Read Books by Fisher Price and loved the Eric Carl
books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The
Very Busy Spider.
Academic Exposure Four to Eight
In September
of 2003, Marilyn was enrolled in the Montessori House of Children. The
attendance chart for that year shows she attended on Monday, Wednesday, and
Friday. She continued learning sounds through games and activities such as
Phonics Bingo, and a Phonics Song (/a/ as in apple, /b/ as in bell, etc.)
In February
of 2004, her pre kindergarten evaluation shows that she recognized all of the
letters of the alphabet, both lower and upper case, except lower case d (she
confused it with b, which is common at that age) and lower case g. She knew all
the letter sounds except for /y/ and /e/. At that time she could write the
upper case alphabet, not lower case, and numbers 1 through 20, although her
2,3,4,7,9 were backwards, which is common, developmentally, for 4 year olds.
She began reading phonetic readers and working in the, Explode The Code Series, and the SRA series of workbooks. She began
learning to write the lower case alphabet.
In
Kindergarten, I gave Marilyn her first formal reading tests. On the “Slosson Oral Reading Test” she scored 2.0 (2nd grade) and
on Gray’s Oral Reading Paragraph Test she scored 2.6, showing she read better
in context. In February of 05, on her Kindergarten Evaluation I commented,
“Marilyn is a joy to have in class. She’s well above grade level in all areas.
Marilyn is kind, cooperative and an all around great person.” By the end of
kindergarten, Marilyn had jumped into reading easy chapter books, and continued
working in workbooks.
During her 1st grade evaluation she scored 7.6
(seventh grade sixth month) on the Slosson test and
8.0 on the Gray’s test. Marilyn was
first given a spelling evaluation in March of 2006. She attempted almost all of the 100 words
on the test and scored 6.6 grade level. On her !st grade evaluation I wrote, “Marilyn has excellent cursive
skills, (which she learned at her request.), and she loves creative writing!”
and then later in the report,”Marilyn is an excellent
reader!”
In second
grade her reading scores leveled off and she scored 8.0 on each of the reading
tests. In third grade, however, she jumped again and scored on a high school
level. It should be noted that these reading tests only evaluate decoding
ability. They do not measure comprehension. In second grade her spelling score
was 8.3, and in third grade her spelling score was 9.4.
A comparison,
of her reading and spelling scores, shows an interesting trend.. Both have risen fairly consistently, except in second
grade when her reading leveled off and allowed her spelling to catch up!
It is very
clear that Marilyn Moonbeam is the child of two loving parents, who have
provided her with a rich literary and sensorial environment. Her parents
planned for her arrival and wanted, in her Dad’s case, something better for her
than he had had. Both parents wanted an education for their daughter and they
provided her with literary experiences and role models from birth.
Books have
always played a big part in her life. Trips to Borders or to the library are
common family outings.
It is
interesting that both parents mention the commute to work and school as a time
that they played games with her to occupy the time. Mom mentioned sounding
games played during the ride. Dad mentioned how much Marilyn loved spelling
games and how she’d ask for harder and harder words. I can remember so many
times when she would arrive at school and say, “Guess what, Janet? I know how
to spell ...”
Does
Marilyn’s development meet the criteria of Teale and Sulzby’s five dimensions? Yes, she learned to read and
write early in life, she learned through daily activities, she learned to read
and write concurrently, she was actively engaged, and she learned through the
interaction of print and her parents.
How do the
activities and attitudes of Marilyn’s parents compare to those used by parents
of the early readers studied in Ada Anbar’s book, The Secret of Natural Readers:How
Preschool Children learn to Read? Did Marilyn follow a similar
developmental path? Let’s look at each stage.
Stage 1: A
preliminary period of gaining awareness and general knowledge about books and print.
Marilyn’s mom notes that, “I read to her
since she was born. She always loved books. By the time she was a year old she
knew if I skipped a page!”
Stage 2:
Learning the names of the letters and acquiring a beginning sight vocabulary.
Marilyn’s mom reports that she taught her
the ABC’s in sign language before she was one year old and Marilyn recognized
letters on signs before she was two.
Stage 3: Learning the sounds of
the letters.
Marilyn’s mom reports that on car rides
they played sounding games like /t/, /t/ tree. First they played with the
beginning sounds and then the ending sounds. She recognized the turn off to
Border’s bookstore before she was 2 years old.
Stage 4: Putting words together.
According to
her mom, Marilyn could “read” I Touch and I See by Rachel
Isabella. “She would fill in the blanks if you skipped a word”.
Stage 5:
“Before she
was three, she had read Fisher Price’s, Time to Read Series, she’d read
two level one books and two level two books”.
Stage 6: Sounding out short, unfamiliar words.
She was
around three when they began playing games with homonyms and opposites. Before
three years old she began sounding out signs and box labels.
Stage 7:
Independent reading from short, unfamiliar books.
Marilyn’s
mother reports that before 4 years old she read, The Very Hungry Caterpillar,
and, The Very Busy Spider, by Eric Carle.
Stage 8:
Marilyn’s
school records show that she knew almost all sounds when she began school, and
she had a second grade reading level in kindergarten. As at home above, Marilyn
read books for content and enjoyment at school as well.
Conclusions
The
similarities between the stages of Anbar and
Marilyn’s development seem clear. “As is
clearly evident in the documented accounts of the children in this book, they
all learned the names of the letters and their sounds at the same time that
they acquired a sight vocabulary; in other words, they developed phonemic
awareness and knowledge of phonics in parallel to acquiring word recognition
skills.” (Anbar 156) Marilyn learned in a similar
fashion..
Marilyn’s
parents, intuitively, assisted her in using “a combination of the two basic
approaches to beginning reading development”. Anbar
notes the following conclusions which are true for Marilyn, as well. The
learning situation evolved naturally, and a rich variety of reading related
games, essentially a form of play, helped make learning sounds and letter names
fun.
Marilyn’s Dad wanted more for his child than
he had. He believed in the importance of education. Lesley Morrow in
her book, Literacy Development in the Early Years, discusses the
importance of family literacy, and notes that parents are a child’s first
teachers. Beginning at birth, children’s experiences affect their success at
becoming literate. (Morrow) Let’s look at some of the ways parents, as first
teachers, may affect their child’s literacy development.
What we do,
our kids will want to do. Family literacy occurs naturally during the routines
of daily living and helps adults and children get things done. (Morrow 55) We
read directions and then measure ingredients to make cookies, or we write notes
and read them. Children want to do what we do. We are role models for reading
and writing.
We can
provide books with pictures and read them to the child. “
If we follow
the child’s lead and provide what they need for continued growth we will not
hold them back. There are optimum times for children to learn skills, often
referred to as “sensitive” or critical periods. Trying to teach a skill too
soon can be frustrating and wasteful. On the other hand
waiting too long, “is unproductive because the child’s natural aptitude for
achievement and growth has subsided.” (Gould 17) If the child is
enjoying and responding to the interaction then he is ready for it. If she is
disinterested, it could mean she’s not ready.
We should
encourage the child’s natural curiosity and creative thinking. By asking how
come, or why not, type questions we encourage children to put their experiences
and ideas into words. By talking about pictures in books or magazines and
imagining, what if, we can assist children to express ideas and develop
vocabulary. Praising or acknowledging the child’s literacy efforts will
encourage them to continue.
We can
introduce the child to the sounds the letters make. “Research also suggests
that young children’s awareness of onsets (initial sound) and rimes (the rest
of the syllable, traditionally referred to as phonograms or word families), is
related to success in beginning reading.(Goswami, 1988,1990; Goswani and
Bryant 1994, Houghton Mifflin p) Marilyn’s parents played games such as “What
sound do you hear at the beginning of tree?”
Most children
learn the names of the letters first.
“While teaching children letter names does not in itself result in
success in learning to read, it can facilitate memory for the forms and shapes
of letters and can serve as a mnemonic for letter sound associations or
phonics.” (Jenkins, Bausell, and Jenkins 1972
Houghton Mifflin p) We use the sounds of the letters to read and the names of
the letters to spell.
We can
introduce the child to phonemes (sounds) and how they are put together by
playing and singing rhyming games and songs. Reading Rockets on line recently
published an article from the Gazette called, “Goose was One Bad Mother but She
Helps Kids Read”, which states, “At least half a dozen studies over the last
two decades have shown nursery rhymes contribute directly to the understanding
of syllables and phonemes”
Fortunately, there are other good rhyming sources, they noted,
which may be preferable, due to the
violent nature of many nursery rhymes.
By
introducing the child to as many experiences as possible and talking about them
we can assist the development of vocabulary and self expression. In a recent
survey of educational colleagues, when asked to list 10 attitudes and
activities to assist early literacy development, sharing experiences and
putting them into words is deemed an important activity.
This evidence
seems to refute the idea that it is necessary to wait until a child is six
years old to engage in literacy activities and indeed that it might be harmful
to do so. “If a child’s intellect does not have the opportunity of developing
in accordance with nature’s plan, he suffers and becomes abnormal.” (Montessori
325)
By following the child’s pace and facilitating
the literacy journey, by providing tools and materials, by creating experiences
to share with our child and by sharing ones they have created, we will find
them more engaged in life, as well as literacy pursuits. When we follow the
child’s pace these literacy pursuits will begin very early in life and will
continue emerging throughout their lifetime.
Works Cited:
Anbar,
Beck, Joan, How to Raise a Brighter Child, NY, Pocket Books, 1975
Carle, Eric, The
Very Hungry Caterpillar, NY, Harper/Collins Publishers,1969
(amazon.com)
Carle, Eric, The Very Busy Spider, NY, Harper/Collins, 1989
(amazon.com)
Educators Publishing Services, Explode the Code, MA 2005
Fisher Price, Time to Read, NY, Levels 1 and 2, Mattel,
1989 (amazon.com)
Gazette, The, “Goose was One Bad Mother
but She Helps Kids Read”,
ReadingRockets.com, Reading Rockets on Line, 2008
Glazer, Susan Mandel, “Oral Language and Literacy Development”,
Strickland, Dorothy S and Mor row, Lesley Mandel Ed, Emerging Literacy:Young Children Learn to Read and
Write, DEL, Interna tional
Reading Association,1989
Gould, Toni S., Get Ready to Read:A Practical Guide for Teaching Young Children at Home and in School, NY,
Walker and Co, 1991
Gray, William S., “Standardized Oral
Houghton Mifflin P, “Emerging
Isadora, Rachel, I Touch, NY, Greenwillow
Publishers, 1991 (amazon.com)
Isadora, Rachel, I See, NY, Greenwillow
Publishers,1991 (amazon.com)
Moonbeam, Marilyn, Personal Interviews, April 8, 10, 14, May 1, 5,
2008
Moonbeam, Mrs., Personal Interviews, April 10, 15, 2008
Moonbeam, Mr., Personal Interview, April 10, 2008
Montessori, Maria, The
Discovery of the Child,
Morrow, Lesley Mandel, Literacy Development in the Early Years:Helping Children to Read
and Write,
Rasmussen, Donald and Goldberg,
Sacher, Louis, Holes, NY, Random House,
2000 (amazon.com)
Sacher, Louis, Survival Guide to
Scholastic Publishing Co.,SRA
Workbooks, New York 2005
School of Modern Montessori, Home Study
Slosson, Richard L. and Nicholson, Charles L., “Slosson Oral Reading Test”, Amazon website, Slos son
Publishing Inc., 2002
Survey of Colleagues, “What attitudes and activities foster early
literacy?”, sent out by email, May 1, 2008
Teale, William H. and Sulzby,
Elizabeth, “Emergent Literacy”, Strickland, Dorothy S and Morrow, les ley Ed., Emerging
Literacy:Young Children Learn to Read and Write,
DE, International Reading
Assoc., 1989
Wilhelm, Jeffrey D, You Gotta Be the Book:Teaching Engaged and
Reflective Reading with Adoles cents,
NY and IL, Teachers College Press and NCTE, 2008
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