1. Emergent Literacy in the Kindergarten Classroom
By Cori Sweeney
EDRD 630

2. The purpose of this professional development is to
take a closer look at Reading Readiness
and Emergent Literacy.
You will be learning about the benefits
of Emergent Literacy for your ESL students
and activities to use with all of your
Kindergarteners! 

3. Reading Readiness
From this perspective, it was believed that the mental processes necessary for reading would unfold automatically at a certain period of time in development.
Researchers argued that good practice would provide an environment that did not interfere with the predetermined process of development in the child.
Readiness is a function of “ripening” usually around are 7.
Teacher – directed
Heavy focus on decoding.
During the late 1950s and 1960s, the dominant theory shifted from reading readiness as maturation toward readiness as the product of experience. Proponents of this viewpoint argued that if children had the appropriate experiences, their reading readiness could be accelerated. In response to this shift in thinking, educators and parents were encouraged to use more direct instruction and structured curriculum in early childhood and kindergarten programs in order to prepare children for reading. In reading readiness programs children were considered ready to read when they had met certain social, physical, and cognitive competencies.
* a growing reliance on reading readiness workbooks and tests during the first years of school, which had been used by the maturationists as an intervention tool; * increased research on young children which was demonstrating that preschoolers knew more than had generally been believed; * the adequacy of American education was being questioned since the Soviet Union was the first country to travel in space; and * supporters of social equality argued that "large numbers of minority children had culturally disadvantaged backgrounds and had to wait until they got to school to overcome the disadvantage.
Teale and Sulzby (1986), Mason and Sinha (1993), Morrow (2009)

4. Emergent Literacy
Marie Clay (1966) first introduced the term emergent literacy to describe the behaviors used by young children with books and when reading and writing, even though the children could not actually read and write in the conventional sense.
Literacy emerges before children are formally taught to read.
Literacy occurs in a social setting.
Child – centered.
Reading and writing develop at the same time and interrelatedly in young children, rather than sequentially.
Children have been found to learn about written language as they actively engage with adults in reading and writing situations; as they explore print on their own; and as they observe others around them engaged in literacy activities.
Child is an active participant.
Literacy is defined to encompass the whole act of reading, not merely decoding.
Clay (1966), Teale and Sulzby (1986), Mason and Sinha (1993)

5. Time for discussion! Think about the literacy practices and activities
you are currently using with your students in your
classroom…
Pair up with a partner…
Share your thoughts and ideas
with your partner!

6. Now… We will learn about important practices and
strategies to help support the implementation of
emergent literacy in the classroom.

7. Activities and Strategies that Promote Emergent Literacy
in the Kindergarten Classroom – Where do I start?
First, and foremost, Kindergarten teachers need to estimate where each child is
developmentally and build on that base. Instruction will need to be adapted to account for
children’s differences.
For children with lots of print experiences, instruction will extend their knowledge as
they learn more about the formal features of letters and their sound correspondence.
For other children with fewer prior experiences, initiating them to the alphabetic
principle, that a limited set of letters comprises the alphabet and that they letters
stand for the sounds that make up spoken words, will require more focused and direct
instruction.
In all cases, however, children need to interact
with a rich variety of print.
NAEYC (1998)

8. Phonemic Awareness Concepts of Print
Kindergarten students should be taught word rhyming, syllable segmentation, beginning sound substitution, sound isolation, and phonemic segmentation. Provide many opportunities for children to explore and identify sound-symbol relationships in meaningful contexts.
Concepts of Print
Kindergarten students should be taught what a book is, why we have books, the directional movement of print ( left-to-right, top-to-bottom), the orientation of letters, sequences of letters in words, and sequence of words in a sentence, front cover including the title and author,
printed words are different from pictures, words have meaning, and we hold a book and turn the pages in a certain way.
This can be done through…
small group instruction (ex: reading groups).
Read Alouds - Frequently read interesting and conceptually rich stories to children.
Shared Reading
Shared Writing
Morning Message
Poetry
Chants, and Songs
Literacy Games
Create a literacy-rich environment for children to engage independently in reading and writing.
NAEYC (1998)

9. Environmental Print
Have everything in your classroom labeled to help students become familiar with everyday objects.
You can have a center in your classroom with many different objects such as newspapers, books, journals, labels, menus, flyers, coupons, and greeting cards for kids to explore. Try to have them in different languages for your ESL students.
Morrow (2009)

10. Vocabulary Development
Listening to stories.
Variety of genres including information texts as well as narratives.
Explanation of vocabulary words prior to listening to a story is
related significantly to children’s learning new words. This is especially important for ELLs.
Asking predictive and analytic questions before and after readings
produces positive effects on vocabulary and comprehension.
Children should listen to stories through read alouds by the teacher, on the computer, and listening stations.
NAEYC (1998)

11. Comprehension
Reading comprehension is the level of understanding of a text. This understanding comes from the interaction between the words that are written and how they trigger knowledge outside the text.
Comprehension can be focused on during…
Read Alouds
Morning Meeting and Morning Message
Guided Reading
Writing Activities – students should participate in writing activities as much as possible. A great way would be to have a writing station in you classroom for the students to visit throughout the day with a variety of materials provided.
Students share their thoughts about the text, including questions and connections they may have had during the reading. The teachers job is to ask open-ended questions to enhance comprehension and generate dialogue. The teacher listens to student retell the story.
It is highly recommended that reading, writing, listening and speaking be integrated as much as possible throughout the curriculum for ELLs.
Avalos, Plasencia, Chavez, Rascon (2007)

12. Books and Materials in Different Languages
Have books and other materials available in your classroom for students who speak different languages. This will show the students that you value their language as well as your own. It will also make them feel more comfortable in their environment.
Morrow (2009)

13. Guided Reading for ELLs
Set the scene or introduce the text: The introduction sets a successful reading experience by mediating access to the text.
2. Shared Reading: An excellent way to engage learning with texts, particularly learners from diverse backgrounds. The teacher can model fluency, discuss the story and vocabulary as the text is read aloud.
3. Reading the Text: After the teacher has set the scene, introduced the text, and conducted shared reading the students read the book to themselves. This is an opportunity for the teacher to listen to individual students and take anecdotal notes and running records.
4. Returning to the Text: When the students have completed their independent reading of the text, the teacher engages the students in a conversation similar to the introduction.
5. Responding to the Text: Many books lend themselves to the extension of learning activities through art, writing, or drama in response to the reading, this expanding the meaning of the text.
6. Word Work: ELLs learn more when new concepts are context embedded. Guided reading lessons provide optimal opportunities for students to apply and learn word-solving skills throughout the lesson.
Avalos, Plasencia, Chavez, Rascon (2007)

14. ESL Students Assess Needs. Foster a sense of belonging.
Assign a buddy.
Teach key words.
Read and reread books.
Provide opportunities for success.
Keep track of language progress.
Value bilingualism.
Encourage the family’s involvement.
Foster an appreciation of cultural diversity.
Assess needs.
Within a few days of the newcomer's arrival, assess her English-language proficiency. Does she know letter names and sounds? Can she count? Can she follow simple directions and answer simple questions? What has her literacy experience in her first language been? Ongoing, informal assessment will give you a clear picture of where the student is.
 Foster a sense of belonging.
Help the newcomer feel welcome. Make sure to say her name correctly, communicating friendliness and patience with a warm smile and relaxed body language. Discuss with the rest of your class how they might help the new student adjust to the class and its routines. If you can find someone who speaks the student's native language (another student, a parent volunteer, or school personnel), have them write or record a welcoming message in that language. You might even have the new student answer her classmates' questions in her native language while her interpreter translates her answers for the class.
Assign a buddy.
Ask a responsible and friendly student to help the newcomer find his way around school, master classroom routines, get involved in games at recess, and understand directions. Arrange for different students to be his buddy for various parts of the school day, or rotate the responsibility on a weekly basis, so that a number of students can share the experience. Try to be particularly vigilant about certain problems that may arise, such as finding the right school bus at the end of the day, counting money at lunch, and so on.
Teach key words.
Make sure the student knows basic school-based words such as student, teacher, principal, bathroom, nurse, book, reading, math, writing, board, homework, clock, cafeteria, lunch, playground, recess, and bell. You might draw pictures on index cards and label the objects on the back. Keep a box with these cards in an accessible place in the classroom and add new vocabulary words as needed. The student can use them as flashcards or use the words in spoken or written sentences. Also, be sure the student knows how to ask for help in various basic contexts: if he's sick, if he doesn't understand, if he needs to know what page the class is on, and so on.
Read and reread books aloud.
Read aloud to the student (or have a buddy or volunteer do so) to help her learn the language, build curriculum concepts, and expand vocabulary. Choose high-interest books with strong visual cues that correspond directly to the text; use patterned, predictable books when possible. Read books again and again so that the student internalizes certain language patterns. Find books that she can read independently, using her reading level and interests to guide your selections.
Provide opportunities for success.
If the student is comfortable with this, showcase certain accomplishments and talents. For instance, the student might read a story to the class in his native language, display an outstanding art project, or act as the captain of the soccer team for a day. Give the student simple, nonverbal classroom jobs, such as passing out or collecting papers.
Encourage participation in less language-demanding subject areas: music, art, physical education, and certain areas of the math curriculum (such as computation). When the class is working in small groups (this type of interaction with native English speakers is ideal because the student gets many opportunities to speak), give the student a specific, manageable role such as being responsible for the supplies or creating a chart or time line.
Keep track of language progress.
Keep a portfolio of the student's work throughout the year. You might audiotape conversations with the student at different times of the year to show him how he has progressed.
Value bilingualism.
Support continued literacy development in the student's first language, because literacy skills in the native language enriches English-language development. Encourage the student to continue reading and writing in her native language and invite her to practice this during free-reading time.
Encourage the family's involvement.
Different cultures have different perspectives on family involvement in school. Help parents of ESL students feel part of the community by first arranging for an interpreter (or inviting them to bring one) at your initial conference. Explain certain school procedures and expectations that may be unique to American schools (such as an emphasis on cooperative learning, portfolio assessment, parent volunteerism, and so on). Find out what special skills, talents, or interests families might be willing to share with the class. If possible, have school communications translated into the parents' native language.
Foster an appreciation of cultural diversity.
Consider a whole-group social studies unit on family origins and cultural heritage. You might display a world map on the bulletin board and have all students put pushpins with their names on their families' countries of origin. Students might interview a family member, plan an international food festival, teach the class several words from another language, create country maps, and so on. Through these and other activities, students can learn to connect with their own cultural heritage and come to appreciate that the United States is a country of immigrants.

15. What are the Theories Behind our Practices?
Why are we doing these things in our classrooms?
Behaviorist: Conditioned Learning 1960’s
Linguistics: Natural Learning 1970’s
Psycholinguistics: Natural Learning 1960 ‘s– 1970’s
Information Processing: Cognitive Psychologists 1970’s
Sociolinguistics: Sociocultural Learning 1980’s – mid 1990’s
Engaged Learning: Present
Behaviorist: Conditioned Learning ‘60s: Conditioned response; acquired behaviors; trainable; observable; parts to whole (synthetic phonics) Using research to inform teaching – reading problems.
Skill based. Break down tasks to be mastered – task analysis. Discrete Skills. Skill-drill. Deficiencies in needs of remediation. Skinner and David Hume.
Linguistics: Natural Learning ‘70s: Less environmentally driven. Children are hard-wired; language is innate, something they already have. Language developed through meaningful use. Develop own rules. Focus on grammar. Focused on oral language. No longer just visual. Chomsky.
Psycholinguistics: Natural Learning ‘60s - ‘70s: Innate not a set of learned skills. Viewed as inherent ability rather than a reflective act. Learning has meaning. Individualistic (not environment). Authentic literature. Learner is an active participant; Language is developed thru meaningful interactions;
Looking at positives of students. Goodman and Chomsky.
Information Processing: Cognitive Psychologists ‘70s: Schema; prior and background knowledge. Focus on individual mind. Comprehension important. Strategies for approaching text. Aesthetic and efferent reading. More than one interpretation of text possible based on schema. Kant and Anderson.
Sociolinguistics: Socicultural Learning ‘80s – mid ‘90s: Understanding of cultural differences. Multitude of “knowledges” school and home. Learning Communities. Learning through interactions. Literacy is a social process. Group work – cooperative learning. Shared knowledge of many. The outcome of learning came to be less important than the process. Vygotsky and Lave.
Engaged Learning: Present: Goal-directed. Developmental. Meaningful. Motivational focus. Student-centered and hands-on. Technology; hypertext and hypermedia; situated learning; non-linear texts. Student is interested in what they are learning/reading, feel motivated and want to participate. Choices. Dewey (also influenced by Skinner, Chomsky, Kan, Vygotsky, and Guthrie).
Alexander and Fox (2004)

16. Time for discussion! Think about what you have learned in this
professional development today. What would
you like to start using in your classroom?
Pair up with a partner…
Share your thoughts and ideas
with your partner. Plan some new
activities together that you can use in your
classroom!

17. References
Alexander, & Fox. (2004). Theoretical Models and Processes of Reading: A Historical Perspective on Reading Research and Practice. (pp ). Newark, DE: International Reading.
Avalos, Plasencia, Chavez, & Rascon. (2007) Modified Guided Reading: Gateway to English as a Second Language and Literacy Learning. (pp ). International Reading Association.
Clay, Marie. (1966). Emergent reading behavior. University of Auckland, New Zealand.
International Reading Association (IRA) and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). (1998). Learning to Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children.
Mason & Sinha. (1993). Emerging Literacy in the Early Childhood Years: Applying a Vygotskian Model of Learning and Development. (pp ). New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.
Morrow, Lesley Mandel. (2009). Literacy development in the early years: Helping children read and write. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Teale, William, & Sulzby, Elizabeth. (1986). Emergent literacy: Writing and reading. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation.