Kindergarten Literacy

Jan JoinesJjoines@lexington1.net

(803) 821-2547

Literacy Coach

Forts Pond Elementary

What to Teach in Kindergarten

• Developmentally Appropriate

• Expectations

• Literacy Research

Developmentally Appropriate

• Does not mean non-academic

• Teaching at the point of learning

• Not frustrating to the child

• Children’s exposure to language

Low Expectations

• Students underestimate their abilities

• Decreased self-confidence

• Students become more discouraged and withdrawn

• Achievement suffers

• Life suffers

Expectations

Expectations should be:

• Based on accurate information

• Flexible

• Continually increased to challenge

Kindergarten Teachers…

• Must be equipped with reliable assessments

• Have to know what children know in order to teach them what they need

Literacy Research

• Teachers can accelerate the development of children who are “unready” for kindergarten

• Teachers revise their instructional interactions, not their expectations

• Marie Clay – Appropriate teaching in reading could accelerate young children’s development in a dramatic way

Durkin’s Research

Classroom resembled home literacy experiences

• Read alouds

• Talk about books

• Talk about writing

• Talk about spelling

Durkin’s Research

• No pressure on students to achieve

• Content, pace, and duration of instruction were in response to students’ needs

Durkin’s Results

• Children significantly outscored comparison groups

• Identified 10 times as many words as the control group

• Effect of instruction moved child from 50th percentile to 70th percentile

• Effect held through to fourth grade

Durkin’s Results

• The effects of the “little books” surpassed fourth grade.

• The influence of the kindergarten instruction lasted two decades later.

Durkin’s Results

Students receiving formal reading instruction in kindergarten exhibited:

• Superior reading skills

• Higher grades and better attendance

• Needing and receiving less remedial instruction in elementary and secondary school

Students receiving reading instruction…

• Outperformed higher socioeconomic students who did not have reading instruction

• Was a beneficial experience for all students – reduced poor readers in all groups

Research Results

• The more reading instruction, the better the results

• Results show it is so important to build literacy with more rigor in kindergarten

You Have the Power

• You hold the key to your students’ learning to read and write.

• What you teach your students in kindergarten today will have a lasting effect on their educational career.

• How will you teach this year?

Resources

• Expectations: How Teacher Expectations Can Increase Student Achievement and Assist in Closing the Achievement Gap. 2005.

• Kindergarten Literacy: Matching Assessment and Instruction in Kindergarten. 2006.