Since this chapter is about family literacy, I would like to
start off with a question: how did your parents help you with your literacy skills
when you were younger? Did they read to you at bedtime? Did they practice
spelling words with you? What does family literacy mean to you in your own
words?
The
statement from pg. 419, “family members who care for children are children’s first
teachers” could not be anymore true. This is why I think it is so important that
parents know exactly what is going on in the classroom so they can help their
children if need be.
Did anyone
have a lot of books at home when they were little? Did you have a house that
promoted literacy? In the chapter it talks about a girl who began to read on
her own because of what was exposed to her in her house- “because of her
constant exposure to books and print from birth, she developed a large sight vocabulary
and a number of reading skills.” As teachers, we can make this possible for our
students by providing numerous amounts of print and books.
If you were
giving advice to a parent in regards to how they should promote literacy in
their home, what would you say? How would you go about explaining how important
it is?
I would definitely
remember some of the strategies listed in this chapter on how to promote
literacy at home. I especially liked the “top 10 things to do with your child
at home” list. Which strategy was your favorite?
I agree that this textbook is a valuable one because it provides real-life examples that we can actually implement in our classrooms rather than just talk about what we should do! Centers are a valuable part of literacy development as in family involvement. I think it is important to send home some suggestions on how parents can work with students at home and maybe you could use the idea of a center to send home with parents to get them involved. I really liked the idea of a writing center for students to be able to write whenever they feel like it! I would really encourage students to use the writing center whenever they get a thought or a story and just jot down even a few words. Centers are definitely a great resource for students.
ReplyDeleteEmily, I think family involvement in literacy development is so important and that some parents might not know the little things that they can do that could highly benefit their child's literacy development. To answer some of your questions, my parents always read to us. I struggled a lot with reading because of my dyslexia but my parents helped me with everything that I had to do outside of school work because of that. I remember practicing spelling using sidewalk chalk outside and a dry erase board inside. My parents were very involved in my literacy development and I think that I probably wouldn't have done as well if they weren't. Also I believe that it helped me actually love to read even though I struggled so much when I was younger. The teacher can only do so much. As you quoted from the book, family members are their child's first teacher. I also agree that family members need to know what is going on in the classroom and how they can help. When I was in elementary school my 2nd grade teacher was convinced that I was just slow at picking up reading. Luckily my parents took it into their own hands to figure out what was wrong. They got me tested for dyslexia and it all got figured out from there. If they didn't do that and just listened to my teachers, I would have struggled so much more that I did. Thanks for the post!
ReplyDeleteI do not really remember much about how our parents used to read to me and my brothers growing up. I just know that they did, and that they always read us a bed time story every night. I really appreciate that they took the time to read with us and support us in our literacy development. My dad is a teacher and he retired and took the role of a stay home dad shortly after my younger brother was born. When he still was a teacher, he was almost always home when we came home or shortly after us and later on he was always home so he was always able to help us with our school work and support us.
ReplyDeleteWe always had a lot of books in our house and me and my brothers all shared them but we all had our favorite once. My parents really supported our literacy development and they gave us the opportunity to do so in simple everyday activities like writing letters, or "simply" writing grocery lists or our responsibilities or appointments for that day.
In my opinion it is important that we as teachers send home information and have conversations about how they can support their child's literacy development. I really liked the writing center because it allows the children to use their own imagination and use their literacy skills on their own time and still give the teacher the possibility to structure what they are doing.
Family literacy is very important. Family members are the child’s first teachers and the child can learn a lot about print before school starts. My parents were constantly reading and there were always books in my house. My family would often go to the library. My parents would read to me, until I started learning how to read, and then I hated being read to. I loved reading and I wanted to read on my own. I would even read in bed, under my blankets with a flashlight while I was supposed to be sleeping. I later found out that my parents knew I was reading and didn’t stop me because they liked that I was reading.
ReplyDeleteIf I were to give advise to parents, I would tell them to have plenty of books, or plenty of things to read. I would tell parents that reading and writing with their children and pointing out environment print can read can really help their child with literacy development.
I do remember my parents reading to me a few times growing up but they didn't read to me as much as they read to my sister. My sister is way ahead of her classmates in reading and writing skills because of it. I have always been a good speller but i don't remember my family members going over spelling words with me. I do remember having a library card growing up but i hated reading. Now a days i read a lot more than what i used to. The only way that a child is going to have a good experience in the classroom is if their parents promote family literacy while growing up. Students will understand what is being taught because their parents have already introduced reading and writing to them at a young age.
ReplyDelete