PicabooLane » Learning

Letters and Sounds: Beginning to Read

admin — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:01:22 +0000

How do we learn to read? Do children read by recognizing whole words or do they use phonics while reading?

For several years, teaching specialists debated the importance of teaching phonics to children learning to read. Some suggested that teaching whole words and whole language should be emphasized over phonics. However, now researchers agree that teaching phonics is an important part of decoding the written language. The International Reading Association’s policy on teaching phonics also suggests that phonics is an important part of reading instruction. However, the Association does state that phonics knowledge is “critical but not sufficient to support growing independence in reading”. As such, phonics instruction is more effective if it is linked to children’s reading and writing, rather than being practiced in isolation.

The importance of phonics in developing reading skills was also highlighted a couple of years ago, when researchers at NYU showed that all three processes, phonics, whole word recognition and whole language processes, work together to determine reading speed.

Phonics is the process of decoding words letter by letter by using sounds of each letter. Phonics accounts for 62% of reading speed and is the most dominant process in reading.
Holistic word recognition is the process of recognizing words by their shape. This process accounts for 16% of the reading speed.
Whole language processes are processes where words are recognized by the context of the sentences. These processes account for 22% of the reading speed.

These researchers also showed that the three processes work independently of each other and all three are important in reading speed.

Project EASE (Early Access to Success in Education), which has had great success in increasing the reading level of children, suggests several activities to help children develop phonics awareness. The Project EASE Cracking the Code (letter recognition and sound awareness) activity unit introduces the shapes, names and sounds of letters to children, using most of their senses – sight, hearing, touch and movement. Below are some activities, based on Project EASE that we, as parents, can use to teach phonics to our children.

Making collages of specific letters using words and pictures of items that start with that particular letter. This helps children look at items and think about the starting sound.
Playing games that involve sound. For example, play a rhyming game, where a child is encouraged to come up with words that rhyme.
Playing games that require children to sort through various items, and then sort the items into boxes labeled with the 26 letters of the alphabet. This helps children identify the beginning sound and associate the sound with a printed alphabet.
Reading books which involve playing with letters and identifying the starting sounds of objects. Some recommended books are shown below.

Children and Learning

admin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:15:16 +0000

It was once thought that newborn children came into this world as “blank slates”. People believed that children had to be taught and that they did not actively participate in their own learning. But over the years researchers discovered that young children are actually active learners. They gather and organize materials that lead to their own cognitive development and early-on develop an understanding of basic biology, physics and numbers. Over the past few years, these researchers have provided many insights into how children learn. Some of their findings are as follows:

Children are born with a natural inclination towards learning certain areas, such as, science, numbers and languages. These are their “privileged domains”.
Outside of these privileged domains, children like all other learners have to use will, ingenuity and effort to learn.
As they mature, children develop different methods for learning and understanding. As such, children learn in different ways and there are many ways of being “intelligent”. By understanding this we can help children learn by working with their strengths.
While a lot of learning by children is self-motivated and self-directed, we as parents and teachers, play a major role in helping the development of learning in our children. Other tools, such as, books, television and computers also play an important part in the learning process.

By understanding how children learn, we as parents and caregivers can have a huge impact on the lives of our children by providing an environment that supports their learning.

This post is based on the book “How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School”. Visit the PicabooLane store to purchase or read this book for free online at http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=6160.

A Brief Introduction

admin — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:15:40 +0000

“And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, “Speak to us of Children.”

And he said:

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;

For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.”

“Children” from the book “Prophet” by Khalil Gibran

When I first read this poem about children, I understood that from the time our children are born they are on a journey into the future that we cannot imagine because that future resides in their own minds and souls. Our children are natural-born learners and come into this world with many dreams. And, best of all, they are born with the talents to turn those dreams into reality. While we cannot look into their minds and souls, we can help them realize their true potential by making the process of learning effortless for them.

PicabooLane is where we have fun exploring different aspects of life with our children as they build the skills needed to succeed in their future.

PicabooLane is where we build a loving relationship with our children as we blur the boundaries between playing and learning so that learning is effortless.

PicabooLane is where we meet as a community to share our experiences of learning with our children.

PicabooLane is where we join our children on a journey of discovery which ends when our children discover their true passion and realize their dreams.

We welcome you to join us on PicabooLane whenever you want to go on this journey with the children in your life!

About Me

My own journey down PicabooLane started when my daughter, Alexis, who is now 3.5 years old, was born. I wanted my time with her to be special in several ways: I wanted to have fun with her, laugh with her and explore the world with her in a way that helped her develop the skills and the knowledge she needed to succeed in life in a loving, caring environment. From the time she was born, I started reading books and articles on child development and how play could be used to teach children almost any skills and subjects effortlessly. The journey continued when my son, Ethan, who is now 19 months old, was born. As I continue to grow with my children, I want to share what I have learnt and invite other parents to share their experiences with everyone on PicabooLane.

Over these last few years I have been amazed at the power of children and how fast they can learn when they are taught in an environment full of laughter and love. It has been exhilarating watching them learn new skills and achieve a new level of understanding of the world around them everyday. At the same time, it has been humbling to realize that I cannot even keep up with their thirst for knowledge. If you are reading this blog, at some point you have experienced the same feelings. I hope you find this site useful as you look for ways to make the time you spend with your children special and make learning effortless for them.

Anu Lance, mother of two wonderful children, Alexis and Ethan