This post will continue the discussion of early literacy. First we will finish the learning expectations and performance indicators for the component - Phonological Awareness. Then we will move on to the component - Print Awareness. Remember I am taking my information from the Tennessee Early Learning Developmental Standards (TN-ELDS).
The last learning expectation for the component, Phonological Awareness, is: Begins to combine (blend) parts of compound words to make a whole word. The performance indicator for this one is; When the adult provides 2 words that can be combined to form a compound word, child identifies the compound word (e.g., given base and ball, she produces the word baseball). This is another performance indicator that will not be conquered naturally until the child is older. If a teacher regularly does this type of activity with 3 year olds, many with normally developing language skills will conquer it. However, we seem to be getting a generation of children dragging in language development and those children will not have the language skills to conquer this one. The children also need to have a point of reference to be able to make compound words. Some 3 year olds have never seen a baseball. We have a generation of children coming up that do not have any point of reference with many things the previous generation just took for granted. The sad part is that many adults do not even realize the gap that has been developing for nearly a decade.
Now, we will move on to the component - Print Awareness. The first learning expectation for this one is: Demonstrates interest in books and what they contain. The performance indicator for this one is: Recognizes specific books by their covers; asks to be read to; asks for favorite books to be read again and again; pretends to read; makes comments and asks questions as story is read; participates in rereading by supplying repetitive phrases. That covers a lot. If a child is not read to regularly, that child will not conquer any of this performance indicator. Children that are read to daily conquer this one easily. I have one 3 year old in my care. She is not yet 3 and 1/2, and she does all of these things. I have a 4 and 1/2 year old that comes part-time. He now recognizes books by their cover, but he does not pretend to read or answer questions about what has been read. He does not supply missing words or repetitive phrases very well, either. The first child has been read to daily since she was 1 year old. The other may or may not have been read to much at all before he came to me at 3 and 1/2. He does not come regularly and therefore does not get the benefit of being read to daily. He still lags behind the first child even though he is a year and 1/2 older than she is. Unfortunately the second child is more representative of the norm than the first child
The next learning expectation is: Understands how books work and the way they are handled. The performance indicator for this one is: Recognizes when books are upside down or backwards, and turns to correct orientation. This entire component will hinge on whether or not an adult reads to a child on a regular basis. Going back to the example for the previous learning expectation. The first child has this one already conquered. The second child sometimes notices this and sometimes does not. When he was 3 years old, he did not have enough experience with books to come close to this one. I hope this walk through these standards has made it abundantly clear how very important it is to read to children daily. It makes such a noticeable difference but so many parents just do not bother. Some childcare providers also do not bother, but I hope they are the minority and not the majority. I would hope that if this is your profession you will know enough to at least read to your children daily.
The third learning expectation for this component is: Begins to attend to print in the environment, especially own name. The performance indicator for this one is: Asks questions about printed name and letters in it; recognizes printed name and attempts to print; uses same purposeful scribbling when "writing." For this one I am going to use a story related to me by the mother of the 3 and 5 year olds that I keep. Recently, she enrolled the 5 year old in a half-day preschool program in order for him to get more socialization. I let her even though I knew she might not be happy with the socialization he received. This society holds hard to the "socialization" reason for public school, but remember I am a former homeschooling mom. I do not. Well, the first slap of reality she received was on orientation day. All of the children in this program are at least 4 years old. This mom noticed that all of the cubbies used picture nametags instead of just the child's name. She asked about this and the preschool teachers told her that the majority of children start the year not being able to recognize their name in print. Therefore, they use the picture nametags until the children gain more exposure to their name in print. This mom left horrified because her almost 3 year old recognized her name in print and had for a good 4 or 5 months. That day that mom realized that what she thought was normal because of my program was not normal at all. That preschool represents the best preschool by reputation in this town. All the "good" kids (meaning rich or upper middle class) attend there. Maybe sometimes you wonder where I get my information on the state of our children. This story is probably by far the best example of just exactly how bad things have gotten. The preschool teachers at this preschool will tell you that 10 years ago they did not have to use picture nametags, but they do now.
The last learning expectation for this component is: Shows awareness that print conveys a message, that print is read rather than the pictures. The performance indicator is: Begins to look at and comment about the print as much as the pictures; begins to "read" common signs and other print when traveling in a vehicle. Aside from the McDonald's logo or maybe one or two others, this performance indicator is out of reach for 80-90% of 4 year olds much less 3 year olds. Many kindergarteners "read" the pictures as opposed to noticing the print for the first half of the year. Just ask kindergarten teachers how much experience with print awareness 80-90% of the children have on the first day of kindergarten. They might laugh at you. They have a daunting task these days because the print awareness of many children on the first day of kindergarten is at or near zero. Those children from the prestigious preschool I mentioned earlier will make up the 10-20% of children that do have some print awareness because those teachers work those kids hard for a year. Then there is my little 3 year old. She has already met this performance indicator, but I will tell you she is in the top 1% for her age.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
Check out Natalie's children's books at: https://www.amazon.com/author/nataliewade7457
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