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Emma Brant and Kelly Jones Professor Serda English 1301 November 11, 2012 Word Count: 3,085 Kindergarten Literacy: Pre-School Advantages Back to the Basics In high school-level English classes, literacy skills include highly rigorous rhetorical and critical analyses. A reader uses the content from within the text as a basis for creative thought and inference. As described by Christina Haas and Linda Flower, reading should be thought of as a constructive rather than a receptive process: that meaning does not exist, in a text, but in readers and the representations they build (167). The goal of the rhetorical strategies and critical analysis is to engage the reader in the text by actively questioning the claim that is presented. From there, the reader is able to form their own opinions and questions that can ignite a new conversation. This process can be linked to what is known as literacy, the intellectual process of gaining meaning from a critical interpretation of the text. The key to literacy is reading development, a progression of skills beginning with the ability to understand and decode words in order to comprehend the explicit and implicit meanings. Reading development involves linguistics such as awareness of speech (phonological awareness) and spelling patterns (orthography). According to Callaghan and Madelaine, phonological awareness is defined as a broad level of metalinguistic awareness and refers to the sensitivity of any size unit of sound within the speech stream and orthography is defined as The study of spelling and how letters combine to represent sounds and form words (14). Phonological awareness and orthography are

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taught at the earliest level of education, beginning during pre-school and kindergarten. These are both skills that are the building blocks of a solid foundation for reading and writing. Literacy starts simply with the learning of basic skills and progresses to the knowledge of rhetoric. In our English class, we have intensely focused on the use of rhetorical strategies and critical analysis. When faced with the opportunity to create our own research project, we thought it would be best to incorporate our interests with our connections. Together we have full access to a learning lab pre-school and a kindergarten classroom. This led us to question when are the basic rhetorical strategies first introduced during any formal education? Rhetoric is almost a way of life; it is the art of effective or persuasive speaking and writing. There is almost never a point when persuasion is not used in the early stages of childhood; children have their own sly and devious ways of manipulating their authority and audience. Our next thought was what is literacy at the pre-school and kindergarten level? If literacy is the intellectual process of gaining meaning from a critical interpretation of the text, how have kindergarten teachers broken it down to fundamentals that are comprehendible at the ages of five and six? Children entering kindergarten are now expected to know basic academic skills such as knowing numbers and letters and how to write their names to ensure they have the best learning experience and are at the same level as the rest of the other students entering kindergarten (Barbarin, Bryant, Burchinal, Chien, Clifford, Early, Howes, Pianta, and Ritchie 1536). In order to guarantee that kindergarteners enter with these necessary abilities, they must be taught at a pre-school or other learning environment before entering their first year of formal education. At the pre-school level, children learn everything that kindergarteners do during the first couple weeks of school at a much slower and spread out rate. Preschoolers are taught the alphabet, numbers, and beginning literacy skills with the goal of helping them transfer these skills to

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kindergarten. With our experience in the classroom, this led us to question are the kindergarteners that went to pre-school more engaged with the material than the kids who did not attend pre-school? Do the pre-school educated children transfer the skills more effectively over a short-term and long-term period? Is short-term and long-term literacy transfers linked to preschool engagement in literacy pedagogies? Our hypothesis is that children who attended preschool or any other learning environment, such as a day care or other care facility, prior to kindergarten will have higher pre-literacy skills than those who did not attend pre-school and will transfer the skills to later grade levels. As we read in Callaghan and Madelaine, The gap present in literacy skills on school entry is particularly significant we feel inclined to believe that the children with no previous educational backgrounds will be on a lower level academically as those who did attend preschool (14). We modeled our primary research from ideas used by authors such as Linda Flower, John R. Hays, and Christina Haas. In The Cognition of Discovery: Defining a Rhetorical Problem, Flower and Hayes used models and charts that organized their findings and in Rhetorical Reading Strategies and the Construction of Meaning, Haas and Flower conduct a purely observation experiment. By using the basis of these two professionally written articles, we were able to structure our investigation similarly but also to meet our needs. Take a Walk on the Wild Side: Entering Kindergarten In order to further examine, we had to find the connection between our research and our classrooms. Throughout our secondary research we saw there were many early literacy success predictors such as print knowledge, phonological awareness, rapid automitised naming, verbal memory, vocabulary and grammatical and morphological skills (Furnes and Samuelsson 276).

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When considering our common ground between the lessons taught in the learning lab pre-school and kindergarten classroom and the early literacy success predictors, we found that there were six major reading skills that are being taught in pre-school and then reinforced again in kindergarten. During this time, we looked at both the kindergarten and pre-school learning lab to find which major skills were being taught to the children. In the learning lab, we looked at the lesson plans the prekindergarten teachers were using to instruct the children. The lesson plans included an alphabet number and various read aloud short story books. The prekindergarten teachers at each table would help the children write a letter and ask them what words started with that letter, to use that word in a sentence, and to slowly sound the word out. Similar exercises were also currently being conducted in the kindergarten classroom to help teach the students who had not already practiced these techniques and to help refresh the minds of those who had. We decided on a list of six major skills that portray what elementary school teachers felt were necessary components in literacy readiness for kindergarteners that are used daily in both the kindergarten and pre-school learning environments. The six major skills included start the word, check the picture, reread, think of what makes sense, look for words you know, and stretch the words (ability to work independently). Our first step was to work within the Clear Creek Independent School District policy and to obtain permission from the parents of the elementary students. We clarified to the parents that this was a one hundred percent observational study and that it was to only happen during a period of five days, each day being only one hour long during their childs reading exercises. On the parent permission slip we also asked the parents to allow or not allow their child to participate in our observational study. If their child was allowed to participate, we asked them to specify if their child had or had not attended a preschool or other learning environment before kindergarten.

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Each day we went into the kindergarten classroom with an Excel spreadsheet that we created that included a list of the names of the students and the six major skills, and looked for students who were exemplifying each skill. For every skill a child exhibited, they would receive a checkmark in the appropriate spot that indicated which child it was and what skill they had performed. Since it was purely observational, we did not look at any of the parent permission slips before or during observation in order to make sure we did not bias our results. The reading exercises that the students were doing during our hour of observation included the reading of a pocket chart story and their writers workshop. A pocket chart story is a short story that includes simple sentences and pictures that encourage the selected reader to exhibit good reading strategies in front of the rest of the class. Writers workshop allows for each student to creatively express previous events or actions through drawing a picture and then describing it. Similar exercises are also performed in preschool environments, such as in the learning lab pre-school that was currently working with the same reading development objectives as what was being taught in the kindergarten classroom. After our daily observations we were able to successfully get the results we needed in order to analyze our information. A Day in the Life of a Kindergartener Out of the twenty two students in the kindergarten classroom, we received twenty one parent permission slips back. Of the twenty one, fourteen students attended a pre-school or participated in an early learning environment prior to kindergarten and the seven other students did not. Each day as we both observed in the classroom, we came to the realization that generally every student was capable of performing the six literacy indicators. The biggest difference between all of the children in the classroom was whether the child was capable of performing the tasks independently or with the guidance of a teacher or another helper. The students who were

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able to perform the tasks independently usually were able to read the pocket chart stories and complete their writers workshop on their own. If any child ever made a mistake while reading independently, we would consistently see them use any of their reading strategies that we included in our list to go back and correct the mistake they had made. One student in particular was chosen to read the pocket chart story of the day aloud to the class and performed five of the six skills that were included on the checklist. The student began by reading the words she knew and when faced with a word she didnt know, she would use one of the strategies she was taught to use. She either looked to the side where a picture was included, started her word with the correct letter, thought of which word or sound would make sense, or reread the sentence when a mistake was made. Another child in the class was seen working independently on her writers workshop everyday. Although every word she wrote was not correctly spelled, she was able to properly use four of the six major skills that aided her in completing her work. We would see the children who did not work well independently, struggling to complete these tasks on their own; they would always need the aid or specific directions of a teacher to push them in the right path. These students would generally be seen constantly raising their hand asking what the next step was, or would always need help when trying to sound out the beginning of the word that was trying to be said. Several students were clearly still developing these cognitive and language skills. One student would need the help of the kindergarten teacher almost every day when trying to identify one of the sight words that had previously been covered during a class discussion on the pocket chart story. At the beginning of each new day, the child would have difficulty in making the connection that it was the same word that was being identified during the reading of the story. Another student was also seen always raising his hand and needing the guidance of the teacher. However, whenever the student

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was given a reminder as to what to do when he came across a word that he couldnt identify, he was able to then make the next step and use one of the six skills. We began to wonder why some students were working independently and others were struggling to take initiative? If the majority of the students were able to exhibit the six major factors, then why did some students need specific directions on how to complete these tasks? At the end of the week, we consulted with the teacher of the kindergarten class and asked why there was a difference in the students in that some were able to work independently and others consistently needed help. She was able to tell us that this was ultimately the difference in the children who had attended pre-school or any other learning environment and the children who had not. She explained to us that children who were seen needing help and specific directions are currently undergoing the stage in which they are now developing their cognitive and language skills. This information was very valued because it allowed us to confirm that our observations that we had made were accurate in separating the children who had gone to preschool or any other learning environment prior to kindergarten and the children who had not through exhibiting the six major skills. On our Excel spreadsheet, we measured the amount of checks each student received daily for the engagement in the six skills. Every day each child could get up to a total of six checkmarks, of which we then totaled to get the overall amount of checkmarks received during the duration of our observational study. We then took the number that we totaled at the end of the week for each child and averaged the separate results of the kindergarteners who did attend pre-school and the kindergarteners who did not attend pre-school. Of the students who attended pre-school, the average number of checkmarks received over the period was 5.93. The students who did not attend pre-school averaged 4.71 checkmarks. These results indicate that the students

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who attended pre-school exemplify more engagement with the literacy materials and were able to successfully transfer the skills over a short-term period. Although we were unable to look at how preschool affects kids after kindergarten through long-term primary research, we found many studies that had done just that. The students who entered school at the time of kindergarten were never able to catch up to those who had and over the course of elementary school, the academic gap widened (Foster, Miller, Wayne 173). This is not the case for all children, but the majority of students who had not attended a school before kindergarten had more difficulty throughout grade school than the students who had. In research by Montie, Muennig, Neidell, and Schweinhart, they found that children who went to prekindergarten programs experience lifelong improvements in schooling, income, family stability, and job quality (1431). The effects of any pre-school environment didnt just last through elementary school, but showed a superior life compared to people who had not attended preschool almost forty years later (1432). We also had the chance to question first grade and second grade teachers about their thoughts on how the learning of these skills prior to entering kindergarten affected how well the students were able to transfer them into later grades. Both of them agreed that the gap between the two groups of students was prevalent even two years later. The first grade teacher explained that when covering certain material, children suffered setbacks when trying to learn new literacy material. The second grade teacher also told us that the gap never fully closes between the students that attended pre-school and the students who did not. The effects of learning these necessary skills at an early age will not only show exceeding engagement in kindergarten, but also in other grade levels as well. District Policy

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It is not possible to account for all other variables that determine a childs readiness for kindergarten. As we found in our secondary research, Many preschoolers begin their first year of formal schooling (usually kindergarten) with varying levels of emergent literacy skills, and this variability is largely affected by prior home environments (Callaghan and Madelaine 13). The involvement of the parents and the time spent at home are also factors in how well the student performs during school. Unfortunately we did not have access to any other form of primary research other than exclusively observational research due to the Clear Creek Independent School District policy. Also, the two of us were forced to change our observation schedule to fit those of our class schedules at the high school. However, it was very fortunate that the time our high school schedules had allotted us for time off campus was also the time in which the kindergarten classroom did reading and writing activities such as the pocket chart stories and writers workshop. The kindergarten teacher was also very supportive in that she gave us full access to her classroom during school hours and adjusted the schedule of the class on some days during our observation. Although we were very fortunate and had the opportunity to come into the elementary school every day, we would have ideally liked to have more time observing the kindergarten classroom and have been exposed to other reading strategies. The Next Step After observing, we were able to conclude that just as we had read in many case studies, any pre-schooling environment will affect the transfer of literacy pedagogies. Once totaled, the children exhibiting the most skills were in fact the children who had attended a pre-school or any other learning environment prior to kindergarten. Literacy is a necessary component at the preschool and kindergarten level. The early predictors that were observed have long-term effects on the students that carry through to later years in elementary school. The learning development that

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occurs throughout this critical time period in a beginner students life indicates how successful they will be with literacy in the future. One very prevalent factor that affects the ability for children to receive essential reading development at an early age is that many families in this area cannot afford the education that is a luxury to others. However there are many programs that benefit low income families with children at the ages of birth to five. One of the largest programs, Head Start, is a federally funded program that promotes the school readiness of children in low income families by enhancing their cognitive, social, and emotional development. Because literacy is such a necessary component, it is best to encourage all families to employ their child in a pre-school or any other learning environment prior to their enrollment in kindergarten.

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Works Cited Barbarin, Oscar A. "Children's Classroom Engagement And School Readiness Gains In Prekindergarten." Child Development 81.5 (2010): 1534-1549. Print. Callaghan, Georgia, and Alison Madelaine. "Levelling The Playing Field For Kindergarten Entry: Research Implications For Preschool Early Literacy Instruction." Australasian Journal Of Early Childhood 37.1 (2012): 13-23. Print. Foster, Wayne A., and Merideth Miller. "Development Of The Literacy Achievement Gap: A Longitudinal Study Of Kindergarten Through Third Grade." Language, Speech & Hearing Services In Schools 38.3 (2007): 173-181. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. Furnes, Bjarte, and Stefan Samuelsson. "Preschool Cognitive And Language Skills Predicting Kindergarten And Grade 1 Reading And Spelling: A Cross-Linguistic Comparison." Journal Of Research In Reading 32.3 (2009): 275-292. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. Logue, Mary E. Early Childhood Learning Standard: Tools for Promoting Social Success in Kindergarten. Children & Schools. 29.1 (2007): 35-43. Print. Moschovaki, Eleni, Sara Meadows, and Anthony Pellegrini. "Teachers' Affective Presentation Of Children's Books And Young Children's Display Of Affective Engagement During Classroom Book Reading." European Journal Of Psychology Of Education - EJPE (Instituto Superior De Psicologia Aplicada) 22.4 (2007): 405-420. Print.

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Neidell, Matthew. "Effects Of A Prekindergarten Educational Intervention On Adult Health: 37Year Follow-Up Results Of A Randomized Controlled Trial." American Journal Of Public Health 99.8 (2009): 1431-1437. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. Pullen, Paige C., and Laura M. Justice. "Enhancing Phonological Awareness, Print Awareness, And Oral Language Skills In Preschool Children." Intervention In School & Clinic 39.2 (2003): 87-98. Print. United States. Department of Health and Human Services. About Head Start Services. Washington D.C.: , 2003. Web. <http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ohs/>.