Shelly Speagle
Independent Study 5100-375
Robert Schlagah
Summer 2005
Appraisal/reaction paper
Chapter 2
Reading Instruction is Kindergarten
Darrell Morris outlines a developmental perspective of teaching beginning reading in kindergarten. He is a clinical practitioner at Appalachian State University. He sees Kindergarten as a year for social learning, oral language development, exploration with art and music, and a year for academic preparation. The reader is given clear and practical information that answers questions and offers a balanced approach to teaching five year olds.
The author acknowledges that the kindergarten teacher faces two major challenges. First, the teacher needs to provide children with engaging doable, reading-related tasks.
Next, we must choose a curriculum or set of tasks that prepares children for success in a first-grade reading program. Naturally, the task is balancing these two challenges to provide a developmentally appropriate kindergarten-reading program. Dr. Morris knows that we can level the playing field for children.
Dr. Morris lists four core activities needed in a kindergarten reading program: reading aloud to children, guided contextual reading, letter-sound study, and writing. I agree that each of these activities is needed. However, the information in this chapter extended my understand and offered additional information.
Reading aloud to children is a key activity discussed. According to the author, it prepares children for the literacy demands of later grades. Gordon Wells offers additional explanations of why teachers need to read to children. First, it helps children extend their experiences beyond their immediate surrounding, gives them a vocabulary,shows them the structure of written language, involves the child in creating a mental image and sustaining it over time, and helps them literate. Kindergarten must provide these learning opportunities. I value reading aloud to children. Each day, I read aloud to my children for twenty minutes. I sit in my rocking chair and the children find a comfortable spot in the reading center. I have benches, pillows, and stuffed animals that we call “reading buddies” that can be held during this time. I choose books that are beautiful and developmentally appropriate. My children enjoy this time and look forward to my “special’ books. After reading this chapter, I will continue to read aloud and value this activity. I will remember that “the story’s the thing” that helps children internalize the structure, cadence, and meaning-bearing characteristics of written language.
Guided contextual reading is another core activity. The author discussed dictated experience stories or language-experience approach and the use of big books. Dr. Morris discussed a sample dictated experience story lesson/shared book-experienced method and weekly schedule. My schedule is very similar. However, I use several different management techniques. When my children arrive at school, they visit three different centers for the first thirty minutes. The centers are language experience, big books, and listening. I have older children and adult volunteers in the language experience and big book centers. The volunteers watch me do several language experience lessons/Big Book lessons and then they work with individual children and follow a similar five-day schedule. I work in the centers and answer questions as needed. times when we do whole I agree that ths “old” activity is important because it captures and preserves experiences by writing them down in their own languages. Big books are an important part of my classroom. Dr. Norris noted the differences between the two activities. He reminded me that the consistent use of both methods would extend the children’s experiences, nurture their language development, and help them master some basic print-related understandings. These guided activities provide the “whole” or meaningful frame for learning to read. Early writing is another core activity in kindergarten. Writing should be emphasized in kindergarten. As I discussed earlier, writing is a daily part of my classroom.
The text reports that alphabet, phoneme awareness, and letter-sound correspondences provide other key “bits” that children must learn. I agree that this is an essential part of the total program. Dr. Morris reminds us that phoneme awareness is a complex, multilayered understand that develops slowly over time. Also, he states that all these core activities are integrally related to each other. At my school, we use Saxon Phonics in K-2 classrooms. The Kinders spend thirty to forty minutes each day doing Saxon lessons. The lessons are taught whole group. I have observed several Saxon lessons at this level. The children were successful. However, there were problems with the program including lesson length, number of sheets children had to complete, and children were not motivated. I agree that a more kid friendly “program” is needed. We are planning to use Letter Land next year. When I taught Kindergarten, these programs were not used. The methods that we used were less successful. Since that time, I have been Orton trained. I think Orton is an excellent approach and I would use Letter Land and Orton strategies. Next, The text discussed assessment and its instructional implications. Dr. Morris states that effective teaching requires ongoing, informal assessment by the teacher. I teach in Catawba County Schools at Banoak. We give the county literacy assessment three times each year. My goal is to follow his suggestions: the teacher instructs or models, observes, and evaluates children’s reading behavior, and then adjusts instructions accordingly.