Emergent Literacy

Emergent Literacy

This year, Ms. Parks and our Studio Teacher, Mrs. LaSance, both visited other Reggio schools and came away provoked and inspired by the provocation tables and activities we saw set up in hallways and shared spaces throughout those programs. We saw an assortment of ideas — hallway marble and ball runs, wind machines, Lego walls — but ONE common provocation we NOTICED was the message centers. So, we set out to provoke our Day School community to think about how we message one another.

There are all sorts of ways to communicate, and with technology, our children already know about texts, email, and messaging apps. But one oldie but goodie is mail. This past year, I made a personal decision to return to the lovely, old-fashioned practice of writing thank-you cards and sending real mail — it still feels so good to get something in the mailbox!

So we created a writing and message table in the hallway. We added paper of all sizes, envelopes, colored pencils, crayons, and tiny rock crayons for little fingers that can just barely pinch. We put up the Giant Mailbox and watched it take off. Children and families sat down together, and the children started drawing. Some made random marks, some made scribbles, some asked adults to write their names, and some children even wrote their names themselves.

When Ms. LaSance and I both noticed those message centers, this mattered to us because …those first marks are one of the very first milestones of emergent literacy. These early marks symbolize a child's beginning awareness that printed letters form words that communicate our thoughts. As children build eye-hand coordination and fine motor control, their marks naturally begin to refine themselves. Once mark making takes off, children usually make fast progress — especially once they realize they can form the letters of their own name.

Families often ask which letter to start with when teaching their child the alphabet, and many people default to A. But from a child development perspective — understanding where children are cognitively — the letter most likely to be recognized, attempted, and understood first is the first letter of their own name. From there, children often move on to learning the names of friends and family members who matter to them.

That's part of why our message area centers around a mailbox. We wanted to create a system where children could see how their marks carry a real message, so we're starting to "mail" them. We're placing small mailboxes outside the office and each classroom, so children can send a message through the large mailbox or deliver it directly to the mailbox of the person they're writing to. We hope this kind of messaging carries over into the home, inspiring children to create messages there to bring back to school. We're even hoping to take a walking field trip to the church mailboxes to mail items — and who knows what questions that might spark along the way!

I've also started adding ABC books that introduce letters and show where we encounter them in daily life. One favorite was written years ago by Mary Mezera, a classroom teacher who took her class on walking field trips around the church to find "letters in our environment."

Just yesterday morning, a young man named Henry was crossing the carpet that has our Day School letters on it, and he pointed out the letter H — completely on his own, unprompted. It was such a natural moment, and I was elated to witness it: a true emergent literacy moment in real time.

I can't wait to share more as our message center evolves and the children grow into mark making, the power of messaging, and the joy of receiving a special note of their own.- Ashley Parks