PH-O-N-I-C-S

Last Tuesday was a very exciting day in my literacy class. I got to meet my reading buddy. Before arriving to class, each of us were asked to bring in a book that would be appropriate to read to our Kindergarten buddy. My partner and I decided to bring Olivia and Ruby in Her Own Time. The most amazing thing about the whole situation was that our reading buddies name is Ruby. What are the odds? This definitely got us started on the right path! 

I can already tell that working with Ruby is going to be an amazing experience. This gives me the opportunity to read some material on literacy and then work directly with a student who is in their prime of learning how to read and write. My first experience with Ruby's literacy was through a worksheet. The most interesting thing that happened with the worksheet was that when Ruby was unsure of how to sound out a word she referred to the pictures and did the same thing when she was unsure about how to write a word. Rather that using inventive spelling, Ruby felt more confident drawing the word. It is amazing to me, how when we do not know something we try to connect it to something that we do know. 

The more I am reading and learning about literacy I am realizing that it exists everywhere. Reading and writing skills are taught through nearly every aspect of the classroom. In both my main placement and my dyad placement posters cover the walls, rules and procedures are written on the board, and almost all of the work that is done includes some type of writing or reading. Not to mention that the teacher speaks to the students throughout the entire day. All of these parts of a classroom require the students to be able to read, write, and understand the English language. 

Without such tools as phonics, which reflects the relationship between letters and sounds, as pointed out in Word Identification Strategies by Barbara Fox, students would have a much harder time sounding out how to read and write words. Fox points out that phonics is helpful in having students learn new words, develop a large reading vocabulary, read fluidly, and become independent readers. When I first read this concept, I thought back to my schooling and initially thought that I was never taught using phonics. However, the more I think about it I think I began reading and writing this way all on my own. Just like everything else we learn, we have to connect it to what we already know. By teaching children how to make sense of more advanced words by connecting parts of the word to words they already know makes this process comfortable and logical.