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Play is a critical component of literacy development, and its benefits would be multiplied if parents were encouraged to foster play in the home. Through play, children take on different roles and experiment with creative language (Saracho & Spodek, 2007). This creative role-playing allows children to enrich their social language, use flexible tones, and apply content knowledge. Children engage in oral storytelling, collaboration, and communication as they role-play.

Recently, I watched my boys playing together on the trampoline. As they rolled under and jumped across each other, they described how they had become the characters of Donkey and Diddy Kong. Our family video game time playing Donkey Kong resonated with them profoundly and translated into a unique story they had created and were acting out kinesthetically. Although not in written form, these oral stories demonstrated their engagement and how deeply they valued the story they were creating together (Peterson, 2016).

The importance of play applies to my practice in several ways. I must find meaningful ways to engage my students in play and story creation. Shelley Stag Peterson shares a classroom account where a teacher adds a writing component when she sees her students playing with blocks and creating stories (Peterson, 2016). Time, content knowledge and modelling are also essential to include in play (Saracho & Spodek, 2007).

At home, parents should engage with their children by conversing, reading engaging books, modelling play, and making space for play. Unfortunately, parents may not be receptive to teachers' advice on the importance of play (Sahlberg, 2020). Parents and teachers must be informed about the value of play and integrate play pedagogy at home and in the classroom.

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Week 3:  Balanced Literacy: The Sequential Blending of Phonics and Whole Language

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Week 3:  Balanced Literacy: The Sequential Blending of Phonics and Whole Language

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When I was in Grade One, I loved learning to read. I could barely contain my excitement as my teacher told me I had progressed to the next colour of guided reading books. I benefited from the Science of Reading approach in my early years of literacy education.

With the ability to decode words in hand, I moved into Grade Three and developed a love for reading as we shifted away from phonics into the vivid world of novels. As my third-grade teacher read us The Last of the Great Whangdoodles, she shared the excitement of reading, encouraged us to use our imagination, and helped us dive into the stories we read together. Her enthusiasm and whole language approach to reading impacted me so greatly that I have now read this same novel, and many others, with my children.

These stories from my education serve to illustrate a beneficial sequence for literacy instruction: the Science of Reading (systematic phonics instruction) comes before Whole Language instruction within the overall scope of balanced literacy. More specifically, in the early years, the emphasis on phonics must be greater but not devoid of Whole Language. A student must still be engaged and motivated by high-interest storybooks, topics, and texts in the early years. Students should not, however, continue to have a strong emphasis on phonics as they move past Grade One as “systematic phonics instruction reaches a point of diminishing returns after Grade One” (Cummins, 2022). As students master decoding skills, they should be exposed more and more to stories, texts and language to foster a love for literacy (Wolf, 2014). The Science of Reading and Whole Language work together, with sequential weighting, to create a balanced literacy program.

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Here is a sketch note video about the importance of Multiliteracy and Multimodality, the way society influences them, and the implications for teaching literacy.

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Week 1: Vocabulary Acquisition and Literacy Development

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Week 1: Vocabulary Acquisition and Literacy Development

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Gee's analysis of how oral vocabulary development by the end of first grade impacts future academic performance has several implications. Gee suggests that reading meaningful books, having lengthy conversations, and interacting during everyday activities increase a child's vocabulary (Gee, 2011). Parents, therefore, must be informed about the importance of literacy development, and, as educators, we must, in a sense, "reschool" society (Street, 2012). In British Columbia, current early childhood programs like Strong Start, Mother Goose, or library reading programs can increase parent involvement with their child's vocabulary acquisition. However, is there sufficient parent education about the importance of fostering early childhood literacy and oral language skills? In an increasingly fast-paced, dual-income world, is the development of our children's vocabulary taking an inevitable plummet? How can families prioritize meaningful conversation and quality books?

As noted in Brian Street's article, schools with an autonomous approach often take a deficit approach to literacy, assuming that children come to school lacking literacy skills (Street, 2012). However, if parents and children are more engaged in everyday conversations discussing books, games and daily life, children would be more successful as they enter their school years. Street shared a similar experience from his ethnographic studies of Iran, where he noted that, in this more ideological approach, children did not enter school with a deficit in literacy because of how language was culturally, religiously and socially practiced before entering school (Street, 2012). In the same way, parents who take time to regularly connect, converse, and discuss the world around them, should see greater success in their children's literacy development.

In my personal experience with my boys, I have found that shared experiences with them lead to academic success and even a stronger bond in our mother-son relationship. The educational and relational benefits of increasing conversation, connection, and reading time with our children are significant.