Child as a Participant of Literacy and Numeracy – Birth to Four

Charlie is a 2 year old boy I worked with briefly.  We connected by way of reading.  He worked out pretty quickly that if he saw me sitting on the floor, it was a good time to be opportunistic.  With a certain look of shy excitement, he would toddle off to the bookshelf, choose a book then walk to me, turn himself around and plop down in my lap. 

More often than not, other children would join Charlie and it seemed to me they would unite and respond as a group. 

Mem Fox wrote an article on the importance of reading aloud to children.  She emphasised the significance of not teaching our children to read.  Quite the opposite she says.  “The moment we teach is the moment we fail.” (2002) Fox believes the joy of reading occurs during the shared experience of reading where laughter and other expressions are expressed and repeated. 

In this centre there were few books to choose from, Charlie knew them all however. If I asked him to get the shapes book, he came back with the shapes book.  The books were simple board books about colours, shapes and transport. 

The room offered little by way of story books.  However there was a book about a sheep that ate thistles (represented by Velcro in the shape of a thistle) and had soft fur (made from wool).  The children liked feeling the material and pretending the prickle hurt.  They would touch, pull their finger back while inhaling quickly – displaying hurt!  The soft fur would have children touching their cheek saying “aaaahhh”.

Charlie’s Dad and I had a conversation about his love for books which prompted me to reflect on how I could expand his learning, starting with a book.

Besides reading being something Charlie liked, I think he also used the activity as a means of getting a bit of respite.  There were not a lot of spaces a small child could spend some solitary time in this busy environment and reading seemed to serve this purpose.  During my research for this topic, I have found little that discusses a child’s need for alone time in child care. 

What learning is going on?

Reading provides many opportunities for Charlie to build on his literacy and numeracy skills.  The simple act of reading to Charlie is teaching him about rhythm.  To read a story, we need to hold the book upright, turn the pages from front to back, read left to right. The rhythm of my voice also acted as a prompt for what was to come – the symbols or pictures on the pages. 

 

According to Freebody et al, (1990) this helps children begin to understand the relationship between spoken sounds and written symbols, and the content of that relationship.

 

Charlie was an active agent whilst reading.  He was engaged and would show this by choosing a book, holding the book, knowing when to respond and when to turn the page.  I was also active and at times would take advantage of his interest and direct the activity.  I would ask him to point out colours or shapes in the room that we saw in the books. 

 

Although these books were not specifically written to teach mathematics, they provide opportunities to further mathematical thinking.  Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen (2009) believe picture books provide cognitive hooks’ by means of “novel images or actions that linger in their mind, which they can combine with previous experiences, and on which they can build new thoughts and understandings.”

 

His literacy and language skills were exercised when he made the noise of the animals.  His memory skills were being strengthened every time he repeated this. 

 

Research by Caine et al (1996) indicated that the brain will register the familiar while simultaneously attempting to discern and understand patterns.  Through reading, Charlie is learning about patterning, a tool that will help him search for meaning and enhance his thinking.

 

Suraya et al, (2012) say that the importance of reading to young children cannot be understated.

   “Learning to read in early childhood remains paramount in assuring the

    acquisition of a level of literacy that can enable the child's ultimate

    educational success for lifelong learning and effective citizenship for full

    participation in our increasingly complex and globalised society.”

 

This is quite a responsibility as an educator and I have considered it well.  I hope to build on the ideas of Comber (1993) and ask children questions about the stories that encourage them to use their current funds of knowledge with regards to numeracy and literacy concepts. 

 

By using correct language and asking purposeful questions I would ask Charlie questions like “Can you point to the presents on the page?  Let’s count them together…Can you group the blue presents together?...Shall we make these boxes our blue presents?”

 

Using magazines and catalogues could prompt children to use materials to ‘label’ things – e.g.; the kinds of people that would buy presents. (Comber, 1993)

 

Unfortunately I did not get an opportunity to continue my work with Charlie however I would have asked his Dad about a favourite book. 

 

Although Marston’s (2014) work focuses on the school years and thinks we could do better than Carle, I believe her ideas around transferring knowledge from story books to real life are appropriate.  For example, the book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle (1970) is appealing for many reasons.  The colour, content and its simplicity lends itself as a tool or manipulative material (Swan et al, 2010) to extend on. 

 

Finally, I believe this learning can be connected to The Early Years Framework Outcome 2:  Children are connected with and contribute to their world Children develop a sense of belonging to groups and communities and an understanding or the reciprocal rights and responsibilities necessary for active community participation and Outcome 4:  Children are confident and involved learners Children resource their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies and natural and processed materials. 

 

References

Caine, RN., & Caine, G., (1997), 'How the brain/mind learns', in Caine, Geoffrey & Caine, Renate Nummela, Education on the edge of possibility, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, Va., pp. 101-115.

 

Carle, E., (1970), The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Penguin Group, London.

 

Comber, B., (1993), Classroom explorations in critical literacy, The Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, Vol 16, No 1, February, pp73-83.

 

Fox, M., (2002), ' The power and the story: how reading aloud to children will change their lives forever', Orana, vol. 38, no. 2, p4.

 

Freebody, P., & Luke, A., (1990), ‘Literacies’Programs:  Debates and Demands in Cultural Context, Prospect, Vol 5, 3^rd May, 1990, p8.

 

Marston, J., (2014), Identifying and using picture books with quality mathematical content, Moving beyond Frank and The Very Hungry Catepillar, APMC 19, (1), 14-23.

Suraya, H., Tarasat, H., & O’Neill, S., (2012), Changing traditional reading paedagogy: the importance of classroom interactive talk for year one Malay readers,  International Journal of Pedagogies & Learning, 7.3 (Dec. 2012), p239.

Swan, P., & Marshall, L., (2010), Revisiting Mathmatics Manipulative Materials, APMC 15(2), pp13-19.

 

Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen, M., (2009), Picture books stimulate the learning of mathematics, Australian Journal of Early Childhood, Vol 34, No2, June., pp30-31.

The Early Years Learning Framework, (2009), Belonging, Being & Becoming, Commonwealth of Australia, pp27&37.