Reading Taught Wrong

I've done posts about how I teach reading. Now I want to do a comparison of what I think I do right compared to how I believe traditional instruction does it wrong. 

Can all my methods be incorporated into a traditional setting? 

Absolutely not. There is not the time. However, some of what I do can be, and should.

1. Expectation that children can read

Pretty much every developmentally on-track child can read by the age of 7 when they enter the next Piaget level of concrete operational. In many countries, reading instruction begins at the age of 7 when every child can be successful. Each child is unique. I've had children read at 3 and many more read at 5. However, EXPECTING every 5 year old to be able to read is not developmentally appropriate. Yet, we do that in this country. Under 7, it should be the child's choice and ability to read early, not an expectation. Under age 7, children are in the preoperational stage, where they CAN learn symbolic representations such as phonics and early sightwords.

Making their own books with markers
and cardboard to read to their friends

2. Teaching methods

Children under the age of 7-8 learn through movement and play. Which is how I teach early reading skills. Yet, traditional instruction has children sitting still and being instructed, which is again not developmentally appropriate.

3. Time and attention

Children have an attention span of, on average, one minute per age, increasing to 2 minutes at the age of 5. So a 5 year old has an attention span of about 10 minutes. This is greater if they are learning through play and movement and engaged in the activity. However, traditional teaching has them sitting in a group for up to 30 minutes and listening to a teacher or one another, or waiting their turn to read aloud. Again, not developmentally appropriate. My instruction takes no more than 5 minutes at any one time. The best is that they ASK for it, and they will choose to keep practicing and playing with it on their own after the lesson. Because, you know, it is FUN and ENGAGING, developmentally appropriate and at their skill level.

4. Skills introduction

Pre-reading skills are begun here from birth. Turning pages, left-right convention, one-to-one correspondence, crossing-the-midline ability, etc. I will use a baby's finger to point to the words as I read them. After doing this daily for 2 years, it is muscle memory for them to do it themselves. Kindergarten classrooms focus so much on reading, that they forget that there are pre-skills necessary for success. When those pre-skills are not embedded, reading is much more difficult.

5. Letter names

I could care less if a child knows an A is an "A". It has no bearing on reading. I do, however, care that a child learns the phonetic sound for an A, which is absolutely necessary in teaching reading.

6. Upper/lowercase letters

Uppercase letters comprise such a small percentage within print. I teach uppercase, lowercase and phonics simultaneously. Just as a child can learn mom, mama and mommy all have the same meaning, so can a child learn that A, a, and aaaa have the same meaning. Traditional methods often focus on a "Letter of the Day" or week. Again, random letter recognition has NO BEARING on reading, yet so much school time is wasted on this. Knowing that lowercase a stands for aaa DOES. It is the most important instruction, but done through meaningful experiences, not isolated instruction.

7. Phonics

Phonics are music. Traditional methods want to teach phonics as written symbols first, without recognizing that phonics are tones, lilts, blends of sound. They are magical sounds with meaning. Teaching them as this, brings them life and a richness that traditional methods simply don't engage. Much of my early reading skills learning is done through music. I start exposing phonics of lowercase letters to my kiddos at the age of 2 1/2. They often have them down by 3.

8. Giving meaning to symbols

Traditional instruction has children practicing phonics unconnected to anything engaging. They are taught as representatives of a letter symbol, and the letter phonics are taught individually, one letter at a time. Nothing engages a child more than attention to himself. By beginning spelling with children's names, they have an instant buy-in. We do it with their name songs each morning. After they do their spelling song for their name, we review the phonics. The children quickly learn how to spell their friends' names and how to sound them out. We sit in this stage for awhile.

Miss A 2yo, yeah, she did this

9. Timeline

As stated, we will sit in a learning stage for awhile to ensure that the children are fully engaged and have MASTERED a particular skill/stage before moving forward. Traditional methods push through a curriculum agenda, and poor readers are dragged along, often not mastering skills but sliding through.

10. Developmentally appropriate

Children up to age 7-8 learn through play and movement. Phonics here are learned through music and games. I will make a phonetic sound and the child will run and jump on the letter laying on the floor. Early reading instruction here begins with simple sightword sentences with a movement component and some silliness. "I am a ______." goes on the wall in large letters with dots under each word. Each child takes a turn reading the sentence and putting his finger on the dot for one-to-one correspondence, adding in the word. Whatever the word is the child chooses, the whole group acts it out. This adds an element of anticipation and surprise, keeping the whole group engaged. The next week it may be "I can ______." always adding only one or two new sight words at a time. Then the sentences can be combined. "I am a MONKEY and I can CLIMB TREES." Further along, I will write in the words and we will sound them out phonetically after they do the movement, before moving to the next child's turn. For another game the current sightwords are attached to the wall and the children run around and I will call out a sightword as they come around and they hit it with a swat frame. Learning always has a movement attached in the early stages.

11. Books are engaging and complex

Our early readers are created around the child. "My name is...," "I like..." The books I teach with are from Nora Gaydos [affiliate link.] The stories are repetitive, building skills slowly with the ability for mastery, but complex and rich with vibrant illustrations. The children want to know what is going to happen next, which keeps them moving forward and eager to read another book. And, they are very appealing to both girls and boys. Often traditional methods focus on very simplified books with simple illustrations. The focus is on the READING rather than the STORY. We focus on the story, with the reading as a by-product. We talk about the characters and the story, working on comprehension and analytical thinking. Again, engaging the child with what he is reading, providing meaning and context. Children learn new skills because they are useful and fascinating, not because someone says they have to do so. Retention and mastery are dramatically higher when children are engaged with their learning. The Gaydos books also introduce phonics, digraphs, blends, sightwords and advanced reading skills in a perfect timeline for easy mastery. Often, books used in schools do not.

12. Individualized instruction

Since I read books individually with each child, they are never allowed to develop bad habits. They flow through reading instruction in a very linear, clear method. Instant, constant correction keeps them on the correct path. Traditional methods of group instruction at the early stages of learning to read allow children to become muddled, develop bad habits and become afraid to speak up about their confusion or to participate out loud for fear of sounding wrong and being corrected in front of their peers. Individual instruction and attention is simply something that doesn't happen in traditional settings to the extent that it needs to in order to create excellent early readers.

13. Optimized Instruction Time

The children here have a choice of whether or not to read. Some days they are engaged in something else and don't want to do it. Some days they will read 5 books in a sitting. Some days they are tired and unable to focus, and I will decide that this is not the day to be reading. Traditional settings don't have that option to optimize instruction time.

14. Sight word Instruction

I believe that everything is learned better in context. My children learn their sightwords more through reading and me telling them that it is a sightword, than learning individual sightwords through other activities. Traditional methods teach a sightword then the child reads a book focusing on that sightword. It just isn't as engaging and meaningful. Any word is a sightword if a child sees it enough, and time spent reading, which occurs through engaging stories, is what makes a good reader. Once we get enough sightwords and phonics to begin reading my Nora Gaydos books, reading instruction occurs through READING only. Only if a child is having a really odd, difficult time with a specific word or sound will I add non-reading instruction, which is usually just a few seconds, a few times a day, for a few days before he will get it down pat. This focused attention to a specific issue for a specific child is more impactful than a general instruction to everyone.

15. Reading aloud

Children still in the preoperational stage have a lot of trouble reading silently. Or, they simply CAN'T. They also have a lot of trouble with comprehension, even if they have the ability to sound out and recognize words. Asking a child under 7 to read silently is not developmentally appropriate. My 5 year olds need to hear those phonics to spell out words and read. They need to associate the letter and word symbols to the sound representation. In traditional settings, unless reading together as a group, this can be unreasonable in a class of 28. One of the benefits, is that the children will correct one another if they hear something another child says that is off or wrong. They also will ask one another for assistance, and they usually provide the same answers I will give, such as "try to sound it out," "that's a sightword," "igh says I," and not just give the correct answer. Teaching another is a powerful learning tool. 

Mr. G 5yo

Reading ability, and time spent reading and being read to, are the key to a child's future success. Time spent on reading instruction is never wasted. I wish traditional school settings could incorporate more of my methods and allot more time for individual instruction. 

So many children under the age of 7 are being labeled failures for not being able to read, when they are simply just not YET in that developmental stage where they have the ability. The joy of reading and learning is being stripped from them for simply being young children. That is something I can't forgive or forget.

Teaching Twos - Language

I had an interview recently and was explaining how I teach. She asked, with what I perceived as a large amount of derision, "What can you teach a TWO YEAR OLD?"

Yep, SHE was about to be schooled. 

Please remember that this is child-led learning through play and movement. No drills, worksheets, etc. I'm going to present them in a series of subjects:

• Language
• Mathematics
• Science
• Social/Community
• Gross Motor
• Fine Motor
• Art

LANGUAGE

Vocabulary, vocabulary, vocabulary
2-year-olds pick up about 10 new words a day, when provided with 10 new words a day. Each child has different words that s/he will be drawn to, so I need to expose them to many more than that. The favorite word for them all yesterday was flamingo. Since it is estimated that an average person only uses 700 unique words on any given day, and a child has a vocabulary of 14,000 words at age 6, it can be implied that only through targeted efforts at vocabulary introduction does this happen. The main source for this is READING. Each book introduces a child to another person's vocabulary and voice. Given that there is a DIRECT correlation between time spent reading and future grades and adult success, reading is the key aspect of teaching 2-year-olds language.

Parroting/mimicking/repeating of words is key to rapid vocabulary acquisition. We work on this from birth. A newborn will stick its tongue out if it sees someone do it. That's how it starts. We start with parroting of movements, move on to parroting of sounds/babbles, and on to words. A child that will parrot words will pick up twice as much vocabulary in half the time as a child that doesn't.

To expand vocabulary, we will work with our monthly/weekly preschool themes to prep vocabulary they will need for those in the following years.

Sentence structure
The little ones are 2 years and 2 months old now. This week we have been working on pronouns. Previously they all used their names and said things like, "John do it." "Daddy truck." "Mommy go." Now they are speaking at up to five word sentences, and have thrown out a couple of pronouns. So it's time. So instead of me saying, "No, that's Randy's truck. Give back." I'm saying, "No, that's his. Give him his truck back." In just a week the use of pronouns by the 2's has greatly increased. This is a conscious directional shift in how I speak to them, with a specific goal in mind. A few weeks ago they were not ready for this shift, now they are. 

Enunciation
In parts of the world where eye contact is discouraged, enunciation is much better and mastered earlier than here in the west. [Just read this, but can't find source.] For us westerners, it is rude to not have eye contact when speaking, however when the eyes are on eyes, the mouth movements are missed. I purposefully teach the children to look at my mouth when learning new words. I say the word in a specific tone that keys them to parrot me, and put my finger to my chin to indicate them to watch my mouth. 

I will have them parrot a few times, until improvement is made, or they look away, indicating end of interest. I always end with a, "Good job!" and high five.

Enunciation is key to being understood, so the sooner we get good enunciation of the words they know, the quicker we get better communication and fewer tantrums from communication frustration.


Phonics
While many would consider the ABC song language acquisition, I do not. For me, it is mathematical sequence. It teaches order and the concept of consistency. The language component is simply the vocabulary introduction of the letter names.

ABC recognition means little to me. It doesn't matter to reading if a child knows an "A" is an "A", it matters that they know that "A" says "aaa." Most of my former 2-year-olds knew their phonics for both upper and lower case by 3, and learned the letter names by 4. This meant that they were often reading some at 3/early 4, without knowing their letter names.

We learn phonics through acquisition first of sounds. Not just letters and their partner sounds, but also digraphs and blends. We'll spend a week focusing on the CH sound for instance with casual references to the letters shown. We start at 2 to make clear the concept that letters make sounds. At 3 we work on sounds making words, and by 4 we move to words make sentences, make paragraphs, make stories, etc.

We also work on phonics through reading of alphabet books. I emphasize the phonics element, since the letter name is usually the focus of the book. It's easy with books like Dr. Seuss's ABC.

Reading
While reading, we work on many of the pre-reading skills
- Left to right convention
- Recognition of print as meaningful words
- One-to-one correspondence of words 
- Repetitive readings to encourage comprehension, sequencing, filling in

When we do reading, it is ALWAYS interactive. The children get to play out the story in some way. In Goodnight Moon they pop balloons, meow like kittens and do a lot of other movements and sounds. For any book that has a repetitive phrase, like Pete the Cat, then they say that phrase whenever I pause and look at them. If you haven't done this type of interactive reading, it's easiest to start with books meant to be interactive, like From Head to Toe by Eric Carle. However, any book can be made interactive. 

The one way we do letter name recognition is the first letter of their names. Since I put it on their work, and they have their names on their cubbies, I make a point of introducing the first letter of their names at 2 years old. 

Observational skills
A huge part of comprehension is paying attention to and remembering details. When we read, I always ask them to find different little elements within the pictures. With repetition, they become use to looking more closely, paying attention longer, remembering elements, connecting the story to the picture, and gaining a clearer understanding of the content. What this leads into is greater comprehension once they start reading, and a better ability to visualize the story once the pictures are removed in chapter books.

This is not done just in fine work like a picture book, this is a skill that we focus on at a large scale as well. The 2's will point out the moon, a pear in the tree, a spider web over the garden, an ant on a tree, etc. They are more observant through practice, and while the goal is to be better readers, having attention to detail and a broad visual perspective have many excellent advantages.

SUMMARY
Language acquisition begins in the womb. So many pieces of the language puzzle are in place, ready to go, when a child hits 2. Twisting and turning the pieces until they make sense, go together, and create a beautiful picture of meaning, is a large part of the skill set learning for twos.

You've Got Mail Sorting Activities

I've been waiting for these little mailboxes to arrive in the stores. I've tried using small buckets, muffin cups, etc. to do independent sorting activities, and simply kept mentally kicking myself for not buying some of these last year.

Luckily, Target had them in their dollar section last weekend, and I snagged the last few. 

Since children have a natural affinity for the number three, I try to appeal to that natural order. However, I can use only two of the mailboxes if that's all I need, for instance noun vs. verb; or up it to four on the few occasions that is needed, for instance sorting by seasons.

The tops of these mailboxes come completely off, so I am able to label them on either side for two completely different activities, one for the bigs and one for the littles.

For the bigs, I wanted to work on them distinguishing the blends dr, gr and tr. I used my clipart program and made up picture cards. Since they read well, I didn't want the word on the cards, as many teachers do, so I had to make my own. It was pretty easy for them, but helped to reinforce the skill. 

Surprisingly, dragon gave them the most trouble, with it often going into the gr box.

For the little ones, I simply take the top off and plop it the opposite direction. For the youngest, they have red down, but green and blue get mixed up. So I included red as a given success. For the first few times, I place the green and blue right next to each other for easier discrimination. Once they seem successful, then I move them to either end with red between for higher mastery.

These thick magnetic number and letter tiles were also in the dollar section at Target.

One of the best aspects of these little mailboxes, is that I do not allow the children to take off the tops. First of all they would ruin the soft plastic trying to get them back on, and secondly this allows the children to not fix their mistakes, usually what I DO want, which allows me to assess their first response ability. I can go do something else, and have assessment results wait for me, rather than having to observe the activity. 

Some of the other planned activities:

• shapes sorting, including 3-D
• person/place/thing
• number/letter
• beginning sound sorts
• ending sound sorts
• living/non-living
• animal pictures to habitats
• animal families
• land/air/water
• size sorting
• sequencing sort
• root/stem/leaf/fruit
• food groups
• senses

And I'm certain to find a LOT more uses for these little gems!

Tags: homeschool, preschool, pre-k, children, child, kids, math, language, science, sorting, fine motor, homeschool, homeschooling, child care, daycare, care, learning, activities, 

Affirmation From a 2-Year-Old

These children amaze me daily. Nothing is better, as a teacher, than it to be affirmed that I am doing it right in most ways, that I am having a positive impact upon them. 

Often, it comes years later as they do well in school and show a commendable level of character. Or, from tidbits clients relay about compliments their child[ren] receive on their behavior or abilities.

Here at school, affirmation usually comes in the most unexpected situations and forms.

Shadows. She doesn't have a black eye.
But this pic so captures her solemn moments, 
when usually she's a laughing comedian.

Little Miss H, 25 months, suddenly burst around the corner of the island from the block area, full of drama...wailing, crying, tears rolling, holding her hand to her head.

"I hurrrrrt myyysellllllf!" 

"Hmmmm....should you be more careful?" I ask, kneeling down as she runs into my arms.

"YEEEEESSSS! I HURRRRRT myyyyy HEEEEEAD!!!"

"Let's see," I say, pulling her hand down. I see nothing. No blood, no bump, no redness.

"Shhhh..." I wait for her to comply, getting her act together. When she looks me in the eye, tears controlled and calm, I say, "There's no blood. I know it hurts, but you'll be fine." She looks at me as if she doesn't trust what I'm saying. "Would it help if I kissed it?"

She thinks on it. Quietly, "Yes."

I give a quick peck to her forehead, let go and stand up.

A look of total indignation moves as if in slow motion onto her face, her little body gathers itself up tight.

"NOT THEEEERRRRE...," she says loudly, leaning forward slightly and jabbing herself in the head, "HERE!!!!"

I am so trying not to burst out laughing. She looks soooo MAD that I didn't hit the proper location.

"I am SO sorry. Would you like me to try again?" I say solemnly. Again, she looks as if she doesn't trust me to do it right. She just looks me in the eye, assessing. I can see the little wheels in her mind turning over the situation. I simply wait.

"Yes." She even gives a little nod almost to herself when she says it, as if she's convinced of her decision.

I kneel down and gather her up again, ask her to show me EXACTLY where her boo boo is, and give it a big ole long smacking kiss. I sit back on my heels with her still in my arms and wait a few seconds. "Now, does it feel any better?"

She looks down, brow furrowed, the wheels once again turning, assessing. Eventually she looks up at me, seeming a little surprised. "Yes."

I let her go, waiting for her, this time, to make the decision that our interlude is concluded. As she takes a step, heading away from me back to her play, very quietly I hear, "Thank you." 

Why I consider this exchange with a child who just recently turned 2 SO important:

• She immediately took responsibility for her situation, it wasn't the fault of some inanimate object causing her to get hurt, this centers her sense of power/control

• She immediately SOUGHT OUT my comfort and assistance, took control, rather than simply going dramatic and waiting for me to arrive, or calling out to me to come to her, acting the victim

• She knew she had a voice, she was able to clearly communicate her situation, wants and needs

• She was able to get her emotions under control VERY quickly

• When she didn't get her needs met to her satisfaction, she let it be known

• She deliberated before making her decisions, even in an emotional situation

• When she made a decision, she stuck with it

• She used proper pronouns and grammar, which for 2, that's pretty remarkable

• She volunteered a "thank you" at the end

These types of exchanges occur all the time, but this one struck me as simply covering all the bases, because as their teacher I work so hard from the moment they enter my domain to:

• Let them own their responsibility, power and control
• Allow them to assess situations, and source needed resources
• Let them own their voice
• Guide and promote their ability to self-regulate
• Stand up for their needs and be clear on their wants
• Think critically, analyze, be decisive and hold them to their decisions, not allow them to be wishy-washy with snap decisions they come to regret and try to change
• Use language as a tool to be heard and get results
• Be polite and considerate of others, no matter what the situation

It's simply the way the environment is composed, our philosophy of being, passed around and melded into our lives here. Personality plays such a huge role, along with their home environment, but they are here 40-50 hours per week, so the school's influence on these children is significant. 

As she walked away, I gave a big sigh, and thought, "There goes one of my successes, and she's only just begun." 
Tags: child, care, daycare, development, toddler, toddlers, behavior, discipline, language, learning, communication, parenting, 

Language Acquisition

The goal is to raise children who have a good vocabulary, proper/precise enunciation, varied pitch and tone, proper sentence structure, and an ability to converse in a socially acceptable manner.


First off, each child is VERY different, and language acquisition occurs in it's own time, at it's own pace. However, there are things that can be done to encourage and enable a child in this very important skill.


Secondly, children focus on either language or motor skills at any given time, never both. If a baby is learning to roll over, they coo less. Once that is mastered, they will be more interactive verbally. A child learning to walk, may stop using any words and again become less vocal. Even as they get older, a toddler focusing on running or kicking a ball may suddenly have a momentary lapse in verbal skills. This is normal and to be expected.

Research shows that the amount of verbal interaction an infant/toddler has with his/her MOTHER, is the deciding factor in how quickly and easily the child will acquire language skills. It is assumed that this connection is created inutero. No matter how much any other caregiver verbally interacts with a child, it is the MOTHER's interactions that take precedence and make the greatest impact and advancement. So PLEASE, mothers, talk incessantly to your child, using as much eye contact as possible, but even random babbling about what you see, hear or think will make a huge difference in your child's language skills. 


The tongue is the last muscle in the mouth to fully develop. Sucking, eating food (moving food to the back of the mouth), cooing and talking all help to develop this essential tool for speech. A child who constantly has a pacifier or thumb in her mouth, creates a passive mouth and may not be talking as much as she would without one. One thing I do to assist with increasing this muscle control, is to insist that children say YES, which is a whole mouth movement with a sharp consonant, rather than letting them get by with YEAH, which is a mushy, passive mouth word that does not help to increase the muscle formation. While it may sound like a small thing, children say YES many times a day. Every time they do, they are increasing their ability to speak distinctly.

Infants learn conversational conventions with their first coos to which you respond. The baby says maamaamaa, she stops, and you say maamaamaa, then stop and look at her, waiting for a response. Conversation is a give and take, and infants pick up on the expectation of that interaction very early. Repeat back as much as possible, as accurately as possible, the sounds your baby/toddler makes in a conversational manner. This will increase their interest and ability in language and is the necessary precursor to teaching the key element of mimicking. 


When speaking to your child, try, as much as possible, to be on eye level with him. When you stick your tongue out at a newborn, he will stick his out at you. Babies are innately programmed to mimick facial expressions and mouth movements. When you speak to your little one, exaggerate your mouth movements and speak distinctly, making the same sound and movement, over and over again. Hopefully until the child repeats the sound. A child that repeats sounds and words consistently will gain language skills at a higher level and far more quickly than a child that doesn't. With an older child that is having difficulty with specific words or sounds, you can assist in the same way; exaggerated mouth movements and enunciation, and having the child repeat after you several times, giving praise for efforts. One of the words we are working on with my 2s is pretzel. One says predel. So I get down on her level, ask her to watch my mouth, and very distinctly say PRRRREEEETZZZZ and have her repeat that, and then EL having her repeat that. Since she already has the second syllable down, I spend more time on the TZ sound she is having trouble forming. 


If a child does not have the words, you give them, providing a pause for them to chime in with a mimicking. "Milk?... Milk?... Milk, please?... Thank you!" Try to say the key word at least three times. I do this also with older children when they make a grammatical mistake, rather than pointing out the error to the child. They learn better and understand better by providing modeling in context. 


Child: "He want to go." 


   Me: "He wantSSS to go? You think Charlie wantSSS to go? 
           He wantSSS to go where?" 

Children who are read to daily have a much larger vocabulary. There are simply too few words that the normal human being utilizes in every day life. Children hear their parents' word choices from birth, so they have those down pretty quick. Reading books expands vocabulary, especially if new books are regularly introduced. 

Lastly, children learn language from hearing it. Keep in mind the manner you wish your child to eventually speak, and model that language. Please, thank you, you're welcome, may I, are appropriate from day one. 

Tags: language, speech, speak, teach, baby, infant, toddler, preschool, childcare, daycare, teaching, acquisition