Conference 2012 Make It Meaningful! Emergent Literacy in the 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 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 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 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- -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 . 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 meaningful connection for them, described in Ava’s example, children are, the writing tells us that.” as it is the name of their friend. are developing an understanding The students used their knowledge Environmental images were then of how phonemes work together and approximations of letters and photographed at the request of the to make words. Recognizing the phonemes to print the names children. At lunchtime, Marta ex- importance of developing essen- they had chosen to label their claimed, “L! Lunchbox! We need to tial skills for reading and writing, “cat homes.” This is one example take a photograph of the lunchbox we were conflicted as to how we of many that demonstrates how and put it on the L!” As the students would present letters and sounds thinking becomes visible within a collaborated in building their alpha- to students in a way that was both classroom that supports free and bet, they in turn built upon their meaningful and student-driven. An spontaneous writing. article entitled “Letting Go of ‘Let- phonemic awareness and extended ter of the Week,’” by Bell and Jarvis their language development. Conclusion (2002), supported us as we explored By giving children access to all let- “Emergent literacy is based on the the alphabet with students. ters and sounds and not limiting idea that children learn literacy as Bell and Jarvis (2002) discuss the them to one letter a week, they were they come to it, rather than as it importance of making all letters of granted the freedom to engage, comes to them” (Bardige and Segal, the alphabet accessible authentically explore, and express themselves in 2005). The environment acts as the rather than introducing isolated many authentic ways. The alphabet third teacher, providing authentic letters and sounds sequentially. We they constructed was posted at experiences in defined spaces that began by introducing each child’s student eye level and acted as a key house materials to support literacy written name and identifying as resource to them in their spontane- development. Children find literacy a group the first letter and sound. ous reading and writing. in a variety of developmentally ap-

The Early Childhood Educator Summer 2012 5 Conference 2012

Emily carefully places her labels for cat homes. propriate ways, such as organizing tions (2nd Ed.) Westport, Connecticut: found materials to inspire storytell- Greenwood Publishing Group. ing, co-constructing an alphabet to Hirsh-Pasek, K. (November, 2011). develop phonemic awareness, and Community Workshop on Playful Learn- building and labelling elaborate ing—An Evidence-Based Model for Early structures. These examples illustrate Education. Keynote speech presented at the intentional and purposeful ways St. Catherine’s, Ontario. that children communicate their thoughts and ideas. Teachers act as Hirsh-Pasek, K. & Michnick Golinkoff, facilitators of learning as they push R. (2003). Einstein Never Used Flash for depth of understanding and Cards: How our children really learn— inspire children through provoca- and why they need to play more and tions. Literacy permeates the space memorize less. New York: Rodale. and is made meaningful through Ontario Ministry of Education (2010- authentic opportunities that sup- 2011). The Ontario Curriculum: The port its development. Full Day Early Learning Program (Draft Version. 2010–2011). Toronto: Queen’s References Printer for Ontario. Bardige, B.S. & Segal, M. (2005). Build- Weisman Topal, C. & Gandini, L. ing Literacy with Love: A guide for teach- (1999). Beautiful Stuff! Learning with ers and caregivers of children from birth Found Materials. Worcester, MA: Davis through age 5. Washington, DC: Zero to Publications Inc. Three Press. Whitehurst, G. & Lonigan, C. (2001). Boyd Cadwell, L. (1997). Bringing Emergent literacy: From prereaders to Reggio Emilia home: An innovative readers. In S. Neumann & D. Dickson approach to early childhood education. (Eds.), Handbook of Early Literacy New York: Teachers College Press. Instruction: Volume 1 (pp. 11–29). New Bell, D. & Jarvis, D. (2002). Letting York: The Guilford Press. Go of the Letter of the Week. National Laura Logaridis, Leslie Siegrist, Council of Teachers of English, 11 (2). and Katie Tranter are kindergarten Edwards, C. (Ed.), Gandini, L. (Ed.), teachers who work in a full school- Forman, G. (Ed.) (1998). The Hundred day early learning program that is in- Languages of Children: The Reggio spired by the Reggio Emilia approach Emilia Approach—Advanced Reflec- to early childhood education.

6 The Early Childhood Educator Summer 2012