September 23, 2013

In our articles this week, one in particular stood out to me containing valuable information allowing students to learn how to read words without the "sounding out" process. The teacher has provided a visual way to learn letters and the sounds they make by relating the letters to objects and words they already have seen and know. I know that I am a visual learner, by having certain known objects in the classroom seemed to helped with the students learning and remembering what sound goes with what letter. It was always more appealing for me to get up and get out of my seat and do an activity rather than sit and read a book for twenty minutes. I think it would also help learning to be seen as a fun activity with younger children, so as they get older they will continued to love to learn. As a young reader and when I am with younger children learning to read I see a lot of the "sounding out" method still in reading. In my opinion this reading method does not help the reader to actually understand what they are reading. The student is too concerned about sounding out each letter of the word that they do not take notice of sentence structure or what the sentence and words actually say. What if students learned definitions of words with the pronunciation of words? Would that help them remember more?
These are websites that include literacy games that include sight and sound:

http://seusstastic.blogspot.com/
http://www.learning4kids.net/tag/sight-word-activities/


       

Just like a familiar song that you know all the words to. The activities presented by Yopp & Yopp's articles will not only teach students about literacy awareness, but will teach students about their environment as well. Words are everywhere, space around students are filled with symbols and words that they see on a daily bases. It's up to us, the teachers, to use this to our advantage and connect things that we know about the language and what we assume our students see on a daily basis and bring it to our classroom. The activities given by Yopp & Yopp sound very familiar and do a good job making connections, so students are proned to remember more and continually stimulate their minds even when they are out of the classroom.
         The NAEYC/ IRA report does a good job breaking down what is asked from teachers, family members, and students to help learners succeed in the classroom. The article gives valuable information for steps of learning and practical exercises that should be used to expand learning. I like how it gives not just classroom information but touches on the bigger picture as well. How do you think the community helps a student? The community is important, because in most cases it is the source of a good education. Depending on the certain community, it brings the valuable resources that students need to learn, these resources depend on whether the student gets the best education they need or not. A community provides schools, educators, and outside influences that strongly can effect a child's
education. I thought it was important for the children to engage in reading and writing attempts to give them practice and get them ready for lessons in the classroom. I think it's important for teachers to promote literacy related play activities, because this will help children correlate reading with fun and excitement at an early age. For parents, I feel that is important to talk with children, engage them in conversation, give names of things, show interest in what a child says, this will not only help their learning but improve the parent- child relationship as well.

pictures: http://vet-education.org/welcome/?p=6
http://www.learning4kids.net/tag/sight-word-activities/