LANGUAGE:
Language development includes speaking, writing and reading. Pre-reading skills include the development of vocabulary, expression of thoughts, recognition of letters, discrimination of shapes, sequencing, moving left to right and top to bottom. Pre-writing skills include preparation of the muscles to hold a pencil, preparation of the hand to trace outlines, and the ability to control the pressure when using a pencil. Reading skills include the use of sandpaper letters, letter sounds, classified pictures, mystery words, blends and digraphs, long vowel patterns, and commercial books.
Writing skills include tracing letters, writing letters on squared, lined, and penmanship paper. Stories are read and discussions are held to increase the childs's verbal, vocabulary, and thinking skills.
Pre-Reading
Because our classrooms are multi-age, younger students are constantly exposed to the older children in the class who are already reading. The total environment of the Primary classes
( 2 1/2 to 6 years-old) tends to create and reinforce in our young children a spontaneous interest in learning how to read. We begin to teach reading as soon as that interest is first expressed. Younger students recognize the shape and phonetic sounds of the alphabet through the sandpaper letters: a tactile alphabet, and Zoo - Phonics.
Using a total exposure approach, we help the youngest children to develop a highly sophisticated vocabulary and command of the language. Children are taught to listen and recognize the individual phonetic sounds in words. Children are introduced to literature by reading aloud and discussing a wide range of classic stories and poetry.
