Preschool
What We Saw:
A teacher is holding up a card saying the letter
and making the sounds of the letter. "A, a, apple,"
the children repeat. The teacher asks, "what other
words have the ah (short a sound) sound?" The children
called out the words, "cat, dad, mad, glad, sat, sad,
tall." The teacher interrupted them periodically,
and expanded on the word selections. "Mad. Right.
That has the "ah" sound. Some of us get mad sometimes,
right?" A child says, "Mall." The teacher answers,
"Mall. Right. Do you go to the mall sometimes?" The
children offer several answers, "Yes, we go to Southridge,"
one says. "I go to the mall with my Mom," answers
another. Another child says, "Fall has that sound."
The teacher replies, "Fall. Is it fall or summer?"
"Almost summer," answers one child.
What It Means: Starting in infancy
children become increasingly sensitive to the sounds
of speech. Learning to read requires that children
have substantial awareness of the sound structure
of spoken language. Quality programs promote phonological
awareness. This includes the whole spectrum from
primitive awareness of speech sounds and rhythms to
rhyme awareness and sound similarities and, at the
highest level, awareness of syllables or phonemes.
Research confirms that greater phonological awareness
at age 3 predicts better reading ability later, in
grades 1 through 5. When teachers model a love
of language, it fosters a conducive atmosphere
for the development of pre-reading skills.
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