Last month I wrote about some of the language lessons that we begin with in the primary class.  After the child has practiced with the moveable alphabet and remembers a handful of sounds they are ready to begin blending sounds which is the first step to reading.  The child will begin to blend phonetic words, read labels, match them to vocabulary cards and begin work with the function of word materials. 

Many children call it the barn work. The function of word materials consist of barn animals, prepared phrases and colored symbols in various shapes. Each symbol represents a different part of speech. They are used to label the words the child reads. The lesson is designed to focus on one part of speech at a time (article, adjective, noun, conjunction, preposition, verb and adverb).  To help the child really understand what each word tells them, the language we use is very specific. Such as: What word tells you what you got?  What word tells you what you did? Which word joins others together?  The child won’t know the word “in” is a preposition but they will know it is the word that tells him where something is and that it gets the green crescent symbol.  Using this language helps the child to really stop and think what each word is telling him and then they are able to connect those words to the symbols.  When the child symbolizes the phrases he may see a pattern which helps the child understand how words are placed in a sentence.  

After work with the function of word materials, the child moves on to reading analysis materials.  This work allows the child to begin to dissect sentences and focus on the structure of sentences. When reading the prepared sentences the child is thinking, what is the action, who did the action and they are able to answer other questions such as where, when, why, what for and many more.  At this time the child is also working with word study materials.  Word study materials consist of compound words, synonyms, antonyms, homonyms habitats, animal sounds, words of genders and prefixes or suffixes.  

Watching the children as they work with and learn from the language materials is a wonderful experience.  You see a child who goes from knowing no sounds to being able to tell you which sound goes with what letter. Then they move to creating words with the moveable alphabet to making creative stories. When they get to the moment when they explode into reading, I am always so excited for all the new possibilities the child will have using the skills they have learned. It is wonderful thing to experience with each child.

Sincerely,

Rachel