Literacy Observations

Art and line- The most inspiring moment I had observing a language moment, occurred during the second day of kindergarten, when I accompanied the class to an hour of art with Eleanor. First I'd like to mention how welcoming the art room is and the fact that the lesson of the day dealt with different types of lines, which fit snugly with the line lessons pertaining to the alphabet we have been having in the regular classroom. As a group, we met together and she visually and verbally explained the differences between the different lines, including zigzag, castle, fat, thin, and so on. The children were engaged in the activity and even knew most of the line names. It was impressive and neat to see how she tied art in with the process of learning to write letters by observing line forms and names.

Writing folders- Another great literacy activity are the children's writing folders. Each afternoon they have an opportunity to 'write' a story or as it has been the first couple of weeks, draw a picture. Although, some of the children from the beginning have included letters as well as words using invented spelling as well as sounding out the words phonetically. This past week, I had the privilege of assisting several children in their quest to write out a story or sentence to go along with their picture. It is fun to watch them as they try out the letter formations and scrunch their foreheads in thought as they think about the letter sounds and match them to the written form. Whenever they struggled, I referred them to the posted alphabet on the wall, as way to familiarize them with the letters and a way to job their memory. I would also choose other words that began with the letter sound they were trying to think of as a hint for them. Once they did figure out the correct letter or finished a word/sentence/phrase, the look of accomplishment on their grinning faces makes it all worthwhile. I can't wait to see how their stories grow and I need to remember to ask Jean when we start incorporating the author's chair as well.