Snapology - Stamford, CT’s Post

This video showcases kindergartners (5-year-olds) engaging in storytelling about a crocodile and its animal friends. It's fascinating to observe the creativity of children and how each story is uniquely represented. This activity prompted me to reflect on prioritizing what is meaningful for the CHILDREN rather than solely for adults. Are structured story-writing tasks about crocodiles something 5-year-olds genuinely desire or aspire to achieve? Or is it perceived as what adults believe is best for children? Numerous research studies have indicated that whether we commence teaching children reading and writing at age 3 or at age 6, their performance levels by age 7 remain consistent. Thus, perhaps we should emphasize creating environments where children can freely express their ideas and develop their language skills before introducing structured writing tasks that may exceed their developmental capacities. It's important to remember that kindergartners are still in their formative years, encompassing the Early Years phase. Let's encourage all kindergarten teachers to allow children ample time to develop and minimize academic pressures. Let's allow them the space to simply be children.

Sharing the importance of reading to a child on Channel 8 allowed me to emphasize how it nurtures language skills, imagination, and a lifelong passion for learning, all vital for a child's development and future success. https://lnkd.in/guay9-KR

FACT! I have led several conversations with parents about how to best help their students. They are always on board for extra tutoring, or small group instruction until I drop the words: special education. There is sometimes a visible and audible reaction where they are instantly turned off from the idea of extra support. But their reaction almost always stems from their experience, and fearing for their student to be “othered,” “made fun of,” or “riding a short bus.” This is when I start to talk to them about inclusive practices and offer them on a tour to see classrooms. This demonstrates how you cannot tell if a student is receiving special education services based simply on what they look like. After the tour, I often emphasize that I want them to think about the possibility of referral, provide them with reading material, and remind them that they can change their mind at any time in the process. This is the cultural responsive touch that is not often acknowledged or respected in some schools. However, by being gentle with families and allowing them time to sit with the information, ask questions, and come back to you, you build trust, which then you are able to leverage when coming up with creative plans to best support their students. Are you interested in learning more about how I approach the special education conversation with families? Let’s find a time to connect. https://lnkd.in/eiJ_BPZX

Media literacy needs to be integrated in an organic way for it to be effective!

📚The Importance of Summer Reading for Children📚 ☀️Summer reading is essential for children as it helps to maintain and enhance their literacy skills during the school break. Research has shown that children who engage in reading over the summer are less likely to experience the "summer slide🛝," a decline in reading ability and other academic skills. At 🎓Drdanielle-writes, we believe that encouraging emergent readers—those just beginning to understand the fundamentals of reading—to dive into 📚 during the summer can foster a lifelong love of reading❤️. 📖Reading during the summer not only prevents learning loss but also promotes cognitive development, increases vocabulary, and enhances comprehension skills. It provides children with the opportunity to explore new worlds🌏, understand different perspectives, and stimulate their imaginations. By integrating reading into their daily summer activities, children can build a solid foundation for academic success and personal growth, setting them up for a brighter future. Drdanielle-writes.com supports and advocates for summer reading programs to help emergent readers develop a strong reading habit💫. Visit our website for more tips and resources. www.drdanielle-writes.com

Unlock The Magic of Reading Aloud: Igniting Imagination, Literacy, and Love:Reading aloud to children is a powerful tool that sparks imagination, literacy, and parent-child bonding. It lays the foundation for literacy skills, ignites imagination and exploration, and fosters a deeper connection between parent and child. Through reading aloud, children develop essential skills like phonemic awareness, fluency, and comprehension, while also gaining exposure to diverse perspectives, cultures, and ideas. By sharing in this experience, parents and children create lasting memories, strengthen their relationship, and unlock a lifelong love of learning and reading #GirlzRiseAcademy

Are you feeling the pressure to formally teach letters in the year before children start school? This may come from parents/carers who are under the illusion that this is what reading/writing is all about or from school colleagues who want graphemes introduced earlier. Maybe you’ve fallen into the habit of ‘letter of the week’, thinking this might be the solution. This brand new workshop, led by two experienced early years practitioners and former CLLD consultants will clarify how you can easily develop early visual discrimination skills which progress into the introduction of letters in meaningful, early years appropriate ways. The session is for practitioners working with children in the year before they start school. It will take place live online from 3.45 – 5.15pm on Thursday 7th March. You can get further details and a booking form by signing up to the newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/gepAVjbr The session will give you: # an understanding of how visual discrimination skills develop and lead to letter recognition. # an awareness of the stages involved in children learning to recognise and write their names. # a bank of early years appropriate activities you can use immediately in your settings to develop visual discimination skills, as well as name recognition and writing. # an understanding of why sound tables, ‘letter of the week’ & formal teaching of graphemes may not be the most effective ways of introducing letters to nursery aged children. Don’t miss this opportunity to finally get the clarification you’ve been looking for and the tools you need to give your learners the best possible start on their journeys to becoming readers and writers. #phase 1 #visualdiscrimination #earlyyearsphonics #phonicsinnursery

Parents, July is here! 🏖 Summer is in full swing and will be over in the blink 😜 of an eye. This means now is the time to get your little ones prepared for the next school year. I know that is NOT what you want to think about right now! Would a 6-week checklist with all the resources make it easier? 😁 Well, that is exactly what I have for you. Scan the QR code in the video OR use the link in the comment section to get your FREE Parent Kindergarten/1st Prep Packet to start building your child’s literacy toolkit today! The packet includes: ☑ 6-week checklist with explicit phonics focus skills 👂 phonological awareness games 🎲 phonics board games 📚 multisensory routines to improve reading and spelling automaticity This packet will take the guesswork out of literacy, giving you confidence and an easy-to-implement system to support your child this summer. www.simpleliteracy.com

"My students are happier, kinder, and better at listening, speaking, reading and writing." We have heard this sort of thing from many teachers and leaders over the years, and this was nicely summarised by Tom Fay (Director of School Improvement at Pontefract Academies Trust) in a video I shared a few days ago. Please take a moment to listen to the children (ages 6-18) in the short clip below. These interviews were filmed in very different contexts around the country. As leaders in education, we are making a contribution to the fabric of the communities we serve, the fabric of our country, and our world. We will only get out what we put in. So let's put in powerful, authentic stories that will help our children learn from life; so they can better understand our world, as well as the diverse array of fellow humans that inhabit it. Let's put in rich, meaningful and memorable experiences that will help them to broaden their perspectives and thinking, while fostering a sense of belonging. And let us put in quality, because our children deserve it. What our children and young people consume will have a huge impact on how they view the world and who they become. We are supporting schools to ensure that they are getting a regular dose of meaningful, quality content that will play a positive part in how they develop as humans, while bringing the curriculum to life in a way that helps them connect with and understand numerous concepts and topics.