This post will pick up the discussion of early literacy with the component - Phonological Awareness. We will cover 3 of the learning expectations for this component with their performance indicators. Remember I am taking my information from the Tennessee Early Learning Developmental Standards (TN-ELDS).
The first learning expectation for this component is: Initiates word play and likes rhymes and silly sounds and words. The first performance indicator for this learning expectation is: Repeats rhymes without prompts and enjoys rhymes in songs, poems, and finger plays. To be honest, I do not know many 4 year olds that conquer this particular performance indicator. Rhymes are not as big a part of childhood as they once were. A child must have a thorough background and exposure to rhymes, poems, and finger plays to be able to do them without prompts. I do lots of rhymes in my childcare, but because this is the only place where the children have exposure to them, they do not pick them up very fast at all. I read tons of Dr. Seuss, but the 3 year olds just do not latch onto the rhyming like they did even a decade ago. It is sad.
The second performance indicator for this learning expectation is: Identifies whether or not two words rhyme. Again, children in today's world struggle with the concept of rhyming because nursery rhymes have disappeared from childhood. It is not only that, but the lack of exposure to books in general also plays into this phenomenon. It is the rare 3 year old that can conquer the concept of whether or not two words rhyme. I have to work extensively with my 4 year olds to conquer this concept. Children just do not pick this up easily anymore. Childcare providers have to spend a great deal of their time dealing with social/emotional issues these days, which leaves little time for the academic. Some in the early childhood world would say that the preschool years should be mostly about the social/emotional development of a child. I say that we are having to deal so much with the social/emotional development of children because our society and parenting styles and philosophies are dysfunctional. Preschool children used to conquer much more academic content naturally.
The third performance indicator for this learning expectation is: Enjoys stories with alliteration, where all words have the same speech sound; plays with the sounds and participates in the production of more words. I am sorry, but I just do not see 3 year olds playing with sounds anymore. Most of us do well to get 3 year olds to actually sit through an entire book without walking away. Most of the time the children do not even pick up on the fact that all the words begin with the same sound unless you specifically point it out, and that is 4 year olds not 3 year olds. Most of the 4 year olds I have had recently struggled horribly with providing words that all begin with the same letter, and I work hard with that concept. Language development for children has declined at an increasingly alarming rate just in the last 5 years. I feel so sorry for the kindergarten teachers now. Because I know what is coming down the pipeline, I know their job will only continue to get harder and harder as the expectations only continue to increase. These two phenomenons cannot coexist. The educational movement in this country is heading for a meltdown. If you think the teacher burnout rate is bad now, just give it a few more years.
Now we will move on to the next learning expectation: Completes a rhyme and recites at least three rhymes. The performance indicator for this one is; With a familiar poem, supplies a missing word that rhymes with another word. I hope it is becoming obvious by this point that phonological awareness has all but disappeared in the preschool years. Poetry and rhymes have disappeared in all but the best of programs. A child cannot fill in the blanks for something in which they have not heard enough times to be familiar. I would venture to say that 75% of today's children arrive at kindergarten not being able to quote three rhymes. I would also say that 50% of today's children arrive at kindergarten not truly understanding the concept of rhyming. If it has not hit those percentages, just give it a few years. My latest batch hits kindergarten next year. This is the batch that began to truly show the uptick in immaturity and drag in language development.
The last learning expectation for this post is: Begins to detect the syllable structure (rhythm) of oral words. The performance indicator for this one is: Claps or beats the rhythm (syllable beats) in own name and other familiar names. The only way a 3 or 4 year old will conquer this particular performance indicator is if you the provider/teacher do an activity on a regular basis where the child is exposed to this concept. If not, the child will not pick this up on his/her own unless the child is gifted. When 3 and 4 year olds are regularly exposed to this concept most of them will pick it up in time. By regularly exposed, I mean at least once a month, and do not expect them to perfect it the first time you introduce it. Normally, it takes several exposures for the children to fully grasp the concept.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
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