literacy

What is the very first language thing your child ever did?

Listen Speak/ vocalisation/ babbling Gestures/ smiling/ imitating your gestures Comprehension Listening to stories and imitating them Act out stories and draw them

Oral tradition Nothing was written Everything was handed down through stories and art

The next thing the child does is artistic expression Then pictograms Then hieroglyphics Then alphabet – with modern writing we put stories to sleep Finally we use reading to wake up the stories

Children learn from The bottom up Not the top down Reading Writing Alphabet Pictogram Artistic expression Speak Listen

Children see peripherally, they don’t see on focus Seeing on focus is called Foveal vision Foveal vision doesn’t mature until the child is eight years of age At between seven or eight the frontal lobe of the brain matures and fine motor skills in all the muscles naturally develop Eye teaming for two dimensional occurs at this stage

The dominant eye tracks along the page of writing and the non dominant eye follows the movements exactly and blends into binocular vision Reading is a motor skill and the eye muscles have to be mature enough to track left to right together The eye muscles and the brain have to be able to move from seeing in the peripheral to seeing on fucus

Children under eight are living in a three dimensional world and are not ready yet developmentally for two dimensional work

Give children a rich tapestry of language Drama Puppetry Poetry Story telling Reading aloud Expose them to big words and rich language

Children under eight learn through movement, art, music, singing and drama In order to read they need to learn to visualise the stories and the arts give them the tools to do just that The brain learns through movement Through the arts they learn auditory discrimination They hear how the words sound

Working on balance helps to turn on the inner ear which in turn enhances listening skills Without visual imagery there is no comprehension, children can decode but they cannot read The body builds the brain which is why children need art, drama, music and PE in order to be successful readers The stronger their bodies the better their memories

Reading comprehension Auditory discrimination Training the muscles in the eye

Media is an obstacle to academic success If children are deprived of media they will be more inclined to utilise their inner skills to visualise

Analysis – taking things apart Synthesis – putting things together Start with a story Attach meaning Without meaning reading is pointless, like reading a law book

Consonants are taught first always using references to nature

Pictures of consonants are all grouped together to make little books full of stories

Vowel sounds represent feeling Oh ahh ooh They are the earth sounds

Working with the vowels we are learning auditory discrimination

orange sox with spots and clocks oh you dandy Mr Knox keeps his sox in a pale pink chocolate box orange sox with spots and clocks oh you dandy Mr Knox