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Make It Meaningful! Emergent Literacy in the Kindergarten Years

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Make It Meaningful! Emergent Literacy in the Kindergarten Years Conference 2012 Make It Meaningful! Emergent Literacy in the Kindergarten Years Building on their workshop presented at the ECEBC conference, these educators explore how one can foster an environment that supports emergent literacy development in a Reggio Emilia-inspired kindergarten classroom. BY LAURA LOGARIDIS, KATIE TRANter, AND LeslIE SIEGRIst Introduction In an emergent program, children programming. Although we know act as the protagonists of their that this type of program is best As many ECEs know, the Reggio own educational journeys and are suited for early learners, we can be Emilia philosophy was developed given freedom to construct their challenged as educators to meet for preschool and primary-age chil- own learning and deepen their this balance between our beliefs dren by the educators and parents understanding through authentic and curricular expectations. In in the region of Reggio Emilia, a experiences. In our Canadian con- our experiences of working with small city situated in Northern Italy. text, where curricular pressures for three-to-six-year-old students, we Through the development of this kindergarten teachers exist, educa- have found that it is possible to approach over the past 60 years, tors may often feel comfortable foster an environment where play many key elements have emerged, aligning the structure of Reggio and an emergent curriculum are which have come to be known as the Emilia in the areas of science, art, also inclusive of emergent literacy defining principles. These principles and mathematics. However, when development. Literacy can and does include an emergent curriculum, it comes to literacy, the pressure develop naturally in a classroom project work, representation, docu- to use traditional practices such as environment that is purposeful in mentation, importance of environ- teacher-directed instruction and its organization and where depth ment, and teachers as researchers prescriptive programming persists. of thinking is supported. (Edwards, Gandini, and Forman, Benchmarks and milestones can 1998, p. 325). The educators of drive the focus of a program, which The Environment Reggio Emilia believe that “young is reflective of the pressure put upon children are powerful, active, com- teachers for accountability. The environment is thought to act petent protagonists of their own as the third teacher because it is growth…with the right to speak A study out of Columbia University, “alive, it has its own identity, and from their own perspective, and to as referenced in a keynote address it speaks for itself” (Boyd Cadwell, act with others on the basis of their by Dr. Kathy Hirsh-Pasek (Novem- 1997, p. 102). This is a place that own particular experience and level ber 2011) compared two groups of is laid out thoughtfully, inspiring of consciousness” (Edwards et al., children aged four through eight learners to engage in exploration 1998, p.180). The overarching belief who were in either a prescriptive and discovery. The Reggio-inspired of Reggio Emilia can be connected program that focused on academic classroom is highly organized and to the metaphor “The Hundred milestones or a play-based program. divided into a number of small Languages of Children.” Children Results showed that by age eight, no spaces, where students are free are understood to be capable in- academic differences were evident. to work independently or collab- dividuals that come to us with a However, children in the prescrip- oratively. The materials are placed wealth of valuable experiences and tive program demonstrated higher intentionally to inspire investiga- knowledge and should be supported levels of anxiety and were less cre- tion and creativity and are easily in communicating their ideas in a ative. This study is one example that accessible to the children. Elements variety of ways. reaffirms our belief in play-based within the space evolve as children The Early Childhood Educator Summer 2012 3 Conference 2012 evolve, thereby allowing the space ronment facilitates opportunities selected pieces from the collection to be flexible and to meet the needs to collaborate with others, develop and placed them intentionally on of the children. and challenge theories, and reflects a white canvas. She quietly studied a strong belief in the importance of her arrangement, positioning and As educators who are inspired by valuing the voice of the child. Proj- repositioning until she was satisfied Reggio Emilia, we believe that it ect work that emerges from student with her work. When asked, she is important to create a classroom interests supports and showcases slowly began to describe the story environment where children are growth in oral language, reading, that inspired her design. invited to demonstrate their un- and writing. derstanding and their thinking “That’s the mom and that’s the dad through countless opportunities. A project inspired by the book and these are all the sisters and this The classroom is organized into Beautiful Stuff written by Cathy is their house. This is Koala and he eight defined spaces where children Weisman Topal and Lella Gandini always wakes up before his family. have the opportunity to explore illustrates how oral language de- This is his table and this is his cake nature, dramatic play, light and velopment in participating kinder- with sparkles on it and all the stones shadow, sand and water, math- garten students can develop and are his chairs. This ribbon is the door. ematical manipulatives, graphic be enriched. Through collecting, This is the baby and after Koala’s communication, paint, clay, and sharing, and working with found birthday it is baby’s birthday. The a variety of materials to construct materials, students participated in a straw is like a gate so it can open like with. The vehicle that they choose variety of encounters that were initi- this when people want to go out…” to express their understanding is ated by the students and facilitated valued, celebrated, and made vis- by the teachers. One documented This experience demonstrated Ava’s ible through documentation of encounter highlighted the oppor- developing understanding of story. learning. As children develop over tunity for oral language develop- As she worked with the materials, the course of kindergarten, their ment through the arrangement of she developed characters, a set- learning emerges throughout their “beautiful stuff.” ting, and the beginnings of a plot. playful inquiries in each space. This photographed image below Within these spaces, materials such Ava sat down in front of a variety was given to her to take home and as books, letters, print, names, and of sorted materials. She carefully was placed on her refrigerator. Her a variety of writing tools are placed purposefully to support and fa- cilitate the development of literacy. Painting a picture, arranging mate- rials with the purpose of telling a story, or putting words on paper, all support emergent literacy develop- ment through rich and authentic experiences. As a provocation, teachers inspire children to engage in meaningful projects that support their development of literacy. Authentic Experiences in the Classroom Working with Found Materials Oral language is the foundation of all literacy development (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2010). A Reggio-inspired classroom envi- Ava’s transformation of found materials 4 The Early Childhood Educator Summer 2012 Conference 2012 Once familiar with each name in the Spontaneous Writing class, we proceeded to co-construct Spontaneous opportunities for writ- an alphabet with the students. We ing are abundant within the projects wanted to engage them in all aspects that emerge throughout the year. of the development of this project, Writing materials are placed sys- from first painting a background tematically throughout the room to with watercolours, to attaching let- encourage emergent writing at each ters to each card, then ordering the centre. As children develop their letters as a group, proceeding to understanding of print, they initiate photograph environmental images, writing with markings, symbols, and and having students determine their letters for the purpose of convey- placement on the alphabet. ing a message. A demonstration of With the background intact, photo- understanding emerged at the space graphs of the children’s faces acted for building and constructing where Co-construction of an alphabet as a provocation in order to make the students began writing labels on this a relevant and meaningful ex- sticky notes for what they had built. mother later shared that the story of perience. Students discussed what Teacher: “Can you tell me what Koala and baby continued to evolve letter each photograph should be you’re doing here?” as Ava extended her ideas outside of placed on the alphabet based on the Emily: “We’re making cat’s houses.” the classroom. beginning sound of each name. This Teacher: “What is all the writing for?” Co-Construction of an Alphabet proved to be an effective strategy Moira: “So people know what the kitty- as they brought with them a strong The development of oral language cats’ names are, like little signs.” connection to their name and the strengthens children’s phonologi- Emily: “That is their names,” (point- names of friends. After this expe- cal awareness (Whitehurst and ing to them) rience, the children instinctively Lonigan, 2001). Through daily Teacher: “Why is it there?” associated F with Fiona, which is a conversations and storytelling, as Moira: “So that we know who they
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