This post will return to my series on child development and finish up the discussion on early literacy. We will look at the last two components with their learning expectations and performance indicators. Remember I am taking my information from the Tennessee Early Learning Developmental Standards (TN-ELDS).
The first component for this post is Visual Sequencing (Patterning). Its learning expectation is: Uses left-to-right and top-to-bottom scanning and observes and reproduces each element in a pattern of 3-dimensional objects. The first performance indicator is: Continues a color- or shape- or size-pattern using a concrete model. Wow! I really do not even know where to begin with this one. Three year olds that come to me as three year olds probably will not come anywhere near this one until they are four and a half. I usually have so much other ground to cover that we do not even attempt patterns until after their fourth birthday. This one assumes so much previous knowledge it is almost laughable in today's early childhood reality. I have a 3 year old that is not yet 3 and 1/2 that nearly has this one conquered, but I have had her since she was 9 months old. She has had good quality instruction from the time she was 9 months old. She has the background to conquer this one on time. Not very many other children get the opportunity to have that type of background. A program has to have infant and toddler instruction that goes beyond just letting them do whatever they want to do in order to really lay a foundation that accomplishes this at 3 years old. The program must have intentional teaching in short bursts for infants and toddlers. It does not have to be much, but it has to be every day.
The second performance indicator for this learning expectation is: Continues a pattern of 2 variables (shape and color, color and size, or size and shape) from a concrete model. This one is even worse than the previous one. I have had 5 year olds have extreme difficulty with this one. Only a child that had exposure to patterns as a 2 year old will even come close to this one before his/her fourth birthday. My three year old will probably conquer this one within 6 months, but she is in the top 5% of her age group. Patterns and sequencing tends to be something in which today's young children struggle. Something is missing from their childhood that we had as children, and I am not exactly sure what that is. Maybe we had more time as children to notice natural patterns. Maybe because we had to entertain ourselves, it made us more aware of natural patterns. It could be as simple as more outside time. Nature is full of patterns, and my generation spent a great deal of our childhood outdoors. Whatever it is, today's children are missing a foundation piece that we had. It affects everything.
Now we will move on to the last component for early literacy - letter recognition. The first learning expectation is: Begins to recognize beginning letter of familiar words or environmental print. The performance indicator is: Looks at peer's name in print and recognizes that Johnny starts with the same letter as his own name, Joshua. In most facilities where children's names are plastered everywhere and used to identify large numbers of objects in the room, this one does come naturally. It is only when the print has purpose that children truly start to notice the details. If the children's names are on everything but never really pointed out, then the children are less likely to notice the details. For those children that are raised at home or in small home childcares where the names are not really used on a daily basis, this one does not come naturally. In my facility, I post one child's name on the board every day. That child gets special privileges all day long. The children in my facility learn to distinguish the names when they are 2 and 1/2 to 3 years old because I put special significance on their names. I also have their names on their cubbies, etc., but the special day privilege takes it one step further. Therefore, when I start teaching letter recognition in earnest at 3 years old, the children have a good foundation to build upon.
The last learning expectation is: Attempts to "write" his own name. The performance indicator is: "Writes" name on paper; letters may or may not be readily identified by others; letters may or may not be from left to right or in a straight line. Like the one before it, in large groups this one usually comes along naturally. If a 3 year old sees another 3 year old or 4 year old trying to "write" his/her name, that child will follow suit. Sometimes even older 2 year olds will try to "write" their name when they see other older children do so. In mixed age groups where younger children get to shadow older children, the "writing" will start looking like real letters earlier than in instances where all the children basically scribble. Children in small settings or with stay-at-home moms will exhibit this behavior with adult prompting. If an adult models writing a child's name, the child will mimic that. The letters will become clearer in the first and last scenario because the children will have more exposure to real letters. The more that children are exposed to scribbling the longer that behavior will persist. It is important then for the children not to just be given the opportunity to write, but they must be given good exposure to real letters in order for true writing to begin to emerge.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
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