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I am thankful to be part of this learning community where teachers get to share their best pedagogical practices in terms of language and literacy.

We are able to share about the challenges and how we can involve parents purposefully in terms of L&L development. My takeaways would also be the use of technology in fostering high quality experiences involving L&L as well as the various phonics programmers. Another would be storytelling and the benefits of storytelling.

At my centre I also a positive impact in bringing these ideas to the classroom and I look forward to more sessions!

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In this first year of ECLC, there was never a dull moment of learning and sharing. I enjoyed the time away for work to be engaged in groups where I learned new good practices and opened up my eyes and sights on what was happening across the island – not only limited to our brand. With trainings provided for us, it definitely equipped us with skills needed to share more professionally. Of all the many topics of discussion, I truly enjoyed sharing of reading/ literacy programmes. Sharing of  reading programmes or literacy programmes done by other centres out of my organization so that we are more aware of what’s available in the market.Having insights of what other teachers did in delivery of lessons made me more knowledgeable in the subject matter. In return, the knowledge was shared to other teachers. Teachers can be more creative and opened up their vision into looking at how they had been conducting their teaching in general. They can apply new knowledge/ strategies into their classroom. I liked that the use of technology is one of the topics that we looked into. In this digital age and getting children to be future ready, we need to be able to be better prepared to handle children who are likely to be familiar or at times even better than us in this digital era. Through sharing of good practices and looking out for good practices in my centre, teachers put in more effort to look into more appropriate/ beneficial of learning centre materials – not just for the sake of putting something in learning centres. I hope that with more ‘ground’ level sharing session, we are more aligned in out early childhood industry and benefit more children from all background and diversity.

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The first year of ECLC session was very enriching and provided me with lots of new ideas and strategies to impart language and literacy skills to children. I have learnt that there are 5 aspects to the process of reading: phonemic awareness, phonics instruction, fluency instruction, vocabulary instruction and text comprehension. Through the LC sessions, I have also learnt about different strategies to build and enhance children’s language and literacy skills. For example, reading stories with books and without books.

Children can develop different language & literacy skills through story telling such as listening, speaking, comprehension and writing skills. For the younger age group of children such as N1 children, I focus on building their listening and oral language skill. Different types of stories books are being read to them daily such as picture books, fiction books and information books. Some storybooks are being read a few times to reinforce the key words or letter sounds. Picture cards or flash cards are also shown to them before and after reading to help the children to understand the meaning of the words. Children are also encouraged to participate in different language activities such as role play the story using props. Through these activities, children can converse and interact with teachers and peers and learn vocabulary in meaningful context.

I have also shared some of the strategies learnt during the ECLC sessions with my fellow colleagues. Some of the ideas, knowledge or strategies learnt are also being implemented in the setting up of learning centre in the class such as sight word game and sensory rainbow rice writing tray.

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First year of ECLC sessions were valuable and insightful. I learnt a lot about reading for preschoolers from my peers. For example the strategies to strengthen   reading for preschoolers.

I also learnt that parents should be engaged which provide learning bridge between school and home while instilling in children positive attitude and values.

My take away was also benefits of story telling which enhance communication, boost listening skills, and improve social skills and foster imagination.

I also came to know about phonics programmers and language components in different centers like writing, sight words, reading aloud, and sentence structure. Sharing of 5 components   of reading- phonemic awareness, vocabulary comprehension, fluency and phonic awareness was useful.

Sharing of learning centre activities was very useful.

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I am thankful to be a part of this learning community. Being in this LC has helped me to gain deeper insights on L&L through the sharing and PD sessions.

One of the most memorable sessions was listening to the sharing by fellow PASTELs on the integration of technology in L&L activities. Technology has become an integral part of our lives as we rely heavily on it in many aspects of our daily living. It is also increasingly important as Singapore moves into digitaliation. Therefore, it inspires me when I listened to the sharing by PASTELs on how they integrated technology and make learning enjoyable and meaningful for the children. For instance, creating digital stories and interactive digital activities to support children in their L&L development. Nowadays, when we talk about technology, many people will link it to high screen time and being overly dependent or indulging in electronic devices which lead to undesirable consequences.

However, we need to reframe that mentality and think of how technology can be a useful tool for teaching and learning for young children. It is inevitable that technology will be a part of us. The crucial part is how we leverage on existing technology to maximise teaching and learning for both educators and the children.

I was transferred to a new team three months ago and holding a different role right now. I hope that under my leadership, my new team will be inspired as well to make L&L fun and purposeful for the children through technology. I believe that if we continue to explore this area of interest, there will be many opportunities in using technology to support L&L development in children!

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I have learnt that reading should come naturally however it can be nurtured so as to spur interest and development.

As teachers, we are sometime pressurised by parents and even our own targets to push children to read "faster" however, we have to go back to understanding children's needs and ability.

Therefore we tweak our lesson plans and targets to cater to them instead of catering to our own needs.

I enjoyed sharing by fellow pastels on how they create a book. allowing children to take control of the plot, characters and problem-solving issues. I was amazed to see the process unfolding.

I look forward to applying this in the centre. I use to do this with my K2 classes but with the centre changing to EY, I would like to try it out with the younger age group.

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Children pretending to take photos of each other (left) and children working to build a Magna-Tiles Supermarket based on their photos (right).

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I was very much inspired by the PASTELs sharing on how strategies and practices are implemented in their centres. One of the practices that I have tried out is the Photo Wall by Nisa and Poorani's centre. Apart from the usual family photo wall, I added the Outdoor Learning Experiences Wall in my N1 class where I printed out photos of children's outdoor learning experiences such as our trips to the supermarket, their interactions with neighbours and their pets, and our study on snails as well on their water and mud play.

One of the biggest change I observed from implementing this practice is that the N1 children as young as 28 to 30 months, were able to include their outdoor learning experiences indoors. For example, they used their photos of walking along supermarket aisles to build a Magna-Tiles Supermarket at the Light table.

Even more beautiful is that they're beginning to add a toy camera to their play and take photos of each other during play. Which inspired me to allow them to use the class iPad to capture their own moments. Furthermore, the children would tell me to help them take a photo for them to add to the photo wall.

From time to time, they also revisit the photo wall and talk to each other about their experiences. I hear their rich conversations and truly understand the importance of their oral development. These opportunities to use photos as a springboard for their conversations also extends to the other teachers and level children who come over during mixed group time.

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I am thankful to be part of the Language and Literacy team. I have learned so much from the other educators throughout this 1 year. The knowledge and skills I gathered through the sharing enable me to enhance my practices in my own class and also enable me to impart the learning to my fellow colleagues in the centre.

I believe that teachers play an important role as a facilitator in a child's learning. Be it in their daily communication with the child or setting up the learning environment that support children's growth in language, as an educator, one should provide a vast range of opportunity and exposure for the children to enhance their language and literacy skills. This include interaction with adults as well as providing a print rich environment for the children to interact with. Different types of storybooks could also be made available to the children in the class. It helped them in learning new vocabulary and being expose to different context. Activities such as creating own book also allowed the children to enhance their creativity and language skills at the same time.  I had also gain a further insight on how others educator conduct their literacy or phonics programme which allowed me to build on my teaching of the subject.

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I am glad to be part of the Language and Literacy team, as the past 1 year has given me the opportunity to grow as a leader/educator. I have learned from each and every person that had shared their insights and good pedagogical practices. Attending all the sessions has also provided me with the knowledge and understanding of certain skills, such as communication and planning of lessons, that can my teachers in class to help their children better in language.

I have also encouraged the early year's teachers to enhance their communication skills with infants to toddlers as it will provide children with a vast knowledge of words. We are trying to encourage the early years' teachers to come up with various ways or told that could help them make their environment rich in literacy as well.

It won't be easy to get all teachers to picture the goal; however, with tiny steps, I am confident that I can get all teachers to understand the importance of communication and language in the early years.

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I am privileged to be a part of a team that gives importance in learning and sharing of their good practices. Each and everyone never failed to enlighten us with the effort they put in just for the developmental needs of very young children. Where Language is concerned, they are not to be compromised in anyway.

During our CoP sharing session, we only learn the passion we have grows more and not less. All of us share a common goal with regards to the skills our teachers have and what they pass on to children. I underwent the Abecedarian approach to further equip myself in order to provide children with a rich caregiving environment with language priority.

I got the opportunity to work with children 18 months to 2 years old and assisting teachers them to set up their environment, ensuring an enriched environment. As I have been practicing to communicate with the young ones, I have since developed the skills to orally engage children in conversation (even though they were not able to reciprocate).
In addition, I have conducted a sharing session with my colleagues in our district who are with Early Years using the AA approach as a tool. This was a great moment I felt that I have achieved. I have since received positive feedback and hope to hear the staff implement in their own centres.

The upcoming CoP sessions hopefully allows educators to look in Language in a different angle and be more aware of the needs of the young ones.

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My First year in ECLC has been fruitful and enjoying. We network and connect together, sharing our practices in our own schools. We also shared concerns or issues we are facing on the ground and brainstorm ways we can alleviate it.

As a team, I believe our common goal is to raise the standard of conducting quality Language & Literacy activities for your children.

Through the various sessions, my understanding towards the domain deepened and I am more confident in sharing and approaching my fellow colleagues.

With the dialogue sessions planned for us, I gained new knowledge and understanding of the importance of certain skills such as speaking. These are skills that can be nurtured and it is very important.

Nature vs Nurture is very debatable however, as an educator, I truly believe that providing children with sufficient exposure and opportunities will value add to their language development.

I am proud to be a PASTEL and with all these knowledge, I am always very excited to share with my colleagues. To observe that they are carrying out is even fulfilling.

I hope to gain more friends on board this journey so we can continuously bounce ideas off each other. (:

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As much as we deem the ability to read and write to be “academically focused”, through the many sharing, it has come to a realisation that it is an essential skill for preschoolers to learn.

During the sharing I’ve learned the importance to give children many opportunities to practice the reading and writing skills. It can be as simple as writing a grocery list, journal writing or even story writing.

These past few months I’ve been working closely with my teachers who are taking the 4 to 6 years old on creating these writing opportunities for the children. However during the process, I also realised it is important to make the children feel successful when completing the task. Therefore it is important to cater the writing activities to their abilities.

As my teachers practice this differentiated writing approach, the children are starting to develop at their own pace. Both the children and teachers do not feel overwhelmed when it comes to writing activities, thus they felt accomplished by the end of the lesson.

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You may view your past padlet entries on your LL Learning Community here , here and here!

Please use this padlet space to share your reflections, key insights and takeaways from your first year as an ECLC PASTEL!

We have provided some guiding questions below that you may wish to share in the padlet:

What are some key concepts of LL that really resonated with you/new concepts that you learnt this year?

What are some new or innovative knowledge/practices shared by fellow PASTELs that you were inspired by?

How have you implemented/incorporated these practices in your centre?

What were some positive changes you observed in your centre after implementing these practices?

Have you changed or improved on any existing projects or practices in your centre as a result of your experiences and insights gained from your Learning Community session?