Literacy Centers
Literacy Centers – I believe that they are essential
to be in every classroom no matter the age of the children. My goal is to work
with infants and toddlers and I believe that even or especially at such a young
age literacy is a very important part of teaching and the children should
regularly be exposed to print.
I have already worked a year in a classroom for 11
months old children to 3-year-old children in Germany, which I have really
enjoyed and learned a lot of positive things that I hope to include in my own
teaching in the future.
One of these things is how they handled literacy
education with the young children. In that classroom they had a big shelve with
books that the children had access to over the whole day. Right across from
that, they had a big couch, were several of the children could be seated and
read books on their own or ask one of the teachers to read it to them. But the
children could also chose to take their book and sit down on the large carpet
on the floor and read their book there.
I remember that every time I sat down with one or two
children to read them a book, immediately, several others would come and fight
for a place on my lap or very close to me to listen to me read the story. This
was a really amazing experience for me because I saw that even so young
children really enjoy reading books and like to be read to. Have you ever had
an experience like that ?
In this group we also had “special teacher books”
which were higher on a shelf in the classroom that the children could not reach
but we would use those books to read them to the children and the children could
also ask to read those books, but then they knew they had to be extra careful
with them and give them back when they were done.
The book also talks about a writing are, but for me
that is an area that can easily be located within the Literacy Center. Even
though the children in my group were so young we made sure that there always
was paper and pencils or different colored pens or markers that they could use,
to “write” or draw something they connected with what they have read. Do you
believe those two centers should be separated or incorporated into one area?
Great post Verena! I find it so important that children should be exposed to print at a very early age as well. I started to read books to my niece well before she could walk and now she's six years old and insists on reading to me! Typically in the summer the camp that I have is 6-7 year olds, but for a few weeks last summer I worked with our preschool camp and I did notice their excitment when I would take a book out to read. They all would get as close as they possibly could to me to hear me read and I was happy with their enthusiasm! I always read to my 6-7 year olds after they swim and they are happy to hear me read, but if the book does not interest every single one of them I have some children who will get distracted. In this instance I let some children read to themselves if they would prefer a different book. When you talk about connecting the two areas of reading and writing in one literacy center I completely agree with you at younger ages. But I think once students are in third to fourth grade the areas should be more separated since longer writing becomes more important. Good post!
ReplyDeleteI agree with many of things that you said! I believe that reading and writing should be incorporated together at some points but also separated at certain times. I also believe that incorporating reading and listening to reading at a young age is crucial. I grew up listening to my parents reading me books and then reading them books when I was old enough. And I can also relate to the fact that when I read books to kids they are always fighting for that attention and wanting to sit on my lap. But this just goes to show that children like being read to , so starting at a young age is crucial. You want children to realize that reading can be fun and should be fun for them!
ReplyDeleteI loved and appreciated your post Verena! When you mentioned how children love to listen to you read stories to them I instantly had a connection. When I volunteer at my home towns community center the children always have a new stack of books for me to read to them and immediately sit down so I can start. Just seeing that I can see that they loving reading, or being read to so a literacy center is definitely a must have. I also agree with you when you said reading and writing should be incorporated together during some points of learning but also separate when needed. Reading and writing go hand-in-hand so why not teaching it that way? Thank you so much for the post!
ReplyDeleteVerena, I also agree that literacy centers are very essential in the classroom. I loved reading about your experience in the classroom. I can relate to reading to children because I babysat my twin cousins one summer and they constantly wanted me to read. They would also fight over who was on my lap and who was right beside me. I really liked the idea of the "special teacher books" and I liked how the kids could still ask to read them on their own if they wanted. I believe that reading and writing should be taught together. After all they do connect together.
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