K-Buddy and Phonics

My new Kindergarten buddy is five years old. When my reading partner and I met her for the first time, she was extremely quiet and seemed shy. We talked with her a little before reading her a book called “Ella Sarah Gets Dressed.” She drew a picture for us with a house and two girls. She told us that one of the girls was her and the other was her sister. I was a little surprised at the effort it took to get her to talk with us. I haven’t read to very many children or spent much time trying to get to know kindergarteners. I am not sure why, but I thought she would be more talkative. Upon reflection, I can see how it could be intimidating to have a couple of adults whom she had never met, take her aside and start asking her questions.

Our Kindergarten buddy knew how to write some letters and a few small words. She has had this book read to her before. She knew the ending and other parts of the story. I am not sure if she could read some of the words or if she could figure things out because of the pictures and her familiarity with the story.  I will find out more about her abilities next week when we read with her and administer the Emergent Literacy Profile. 

The Fox readings were interesting and educational. They definitely helped me understand that children learn to read in specific stages and the extreme importance of phonics in learning to read. I did not know that the basic principal for phonics teachers is that learning to read happens in a predictable sequence before children ever pay attention to actual words in books. Knowing phonics is a critical basic skill for becoming fluent. Instant word recognition develops as children use phonics to read and learn new words.  It was amazing to me that by the end of first grade the good decoders will read twice as fast as the poor decoders. It follows that the good decoders will read twice as much in the same amount of time, and this will greatly enhances their fluency.

Studies show that high-fluency readers at the end of first grade will be high-fluency readers at the end of second grade. Low-fluency readers at the end of first grade will likely be low-fluency readers at the end of second grade.  Once this trajectory is set, it usually remains and the gap between reading fluency increases. Developing good phonics skills as a base for learning is critical in the very early years of literacy development. 

Kindergarten buddy

When contemplating a book selection for my first day at Juanita Elementary School, I realized that I had no clue as to where to begin. I asked my master teacher in my new dyad placement for guidance. She specializes in teaching literacy and art for sixth and eighth graders, but I thought she would certainly know more than me about read-aloud books for a child of any age. She has been teaching for over 20 years and recommended several books for reading out-loud to my soon-to-be kindergarten reading buddy.

Before deciding on one book, I read the three assigned articles for our Reading, Writing and Communication class and discovered that one book, “The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes,” was out of the question. It had far too many words and not enough pictures. I realized that it would not be suitable for a child just beginning to learn about literacy. Through our classroom readings, I learned to notice the difference between reading books to entertain children, and books intended for interactive reading.  This might have been an okay bedtime story, but it would not have been helpful for developing literacy knowledge for an emergent reader. The words were too big for a child just learning to read. He or she would not have been able to get involved in the reading in a meaningful way. It was too complicated for a child to successfully predict what might happen, and there were not enough small words for the student to sound out and become engaged in the reading. One of the major characteristics of young children as literacy learners is that they learn through active engagement, constructing their understanding of how written language works.

The article called “Teaching for Equity and Justice” enlightened me about analyzing children’s books for racism and sexism. The ten guidelines to help detect such language, was helpful in determining the suitability of this book for young students. I only had to read until page two to find racist undertones such as “One day a little country-girl bunny with a brown skin and a little cotton-ball of a tail said…then all of the big white bunnies who lived in fine houses…laughed at the little cottontail and told her to go back to the country and eat a carrot… She grew up to be a young lady... by and by she had a husband ... then 21 babies...” This struck me as dated and condescending. There was no detailed biographical information about the author on the jacket flap except that the book was published in 1939.

My dyad teacher liked this book because it does deal with racial and gender stereotypes. The underdogs, which were brown, female, poor, country bunnies, win in the end but I wonder to myself if this is even worth reading to children. I can see a positive lesson in this story, but it seems to me that the children would be better off not even hearing such dated language. Since much of that language has been replaced in current children’s books that contain a more balanced mix of characters and story lines, I think we would be better off to just skip stories like this and avoid placing those old harmful stereotypes in the minds of young children. When they are older and able to analyze and discuss such language, the introduction to such books could provide a valuable place from which to learn. We do need to learn about the past to create a better present and future for our citizens, but I think old books like this one should not be read to young children.