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Past and Present Souns!

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Video of 3-year-olds sounding USA English letter-sounds. The sounds /o/ and /a/ are different for other English speaking populations.

From a Souns family, past and present:

We purchased a set of nylon souns years ago when our almost 7-year-old was about 1 year old! Our now 3-year-old is really interested in sounds, and we were wanting to show him the video of the kids saying the letter sounds – our 7-year-old LOVED watching it now and then.

Our 7-year-old now LOVES words and reading! We followed your recommendations, introducing one sound at a time when he was quite young. We saw him spotting sounds in the woodwork, so to speak – in our metal railings (O) and the S on Safeway, etc.
 
We haven’t really pushed reading at all, as we knew and trusted he would pick it up and love it more if he was truly interested in it. So, we strewed books and books and books around our home, read books for bedtime every night, and we read books almost every day for school (we homeschool).
 
We also use BOB books, which have been super rewarding. We just have a little reading nook and when I think of it, or he does, we sit and read a book or two together. I’m sure he could read longer books by now, but just hasn’t been super interested to yet. Though, he does read story books to his younger brother. 
[To add a] really cool bit of the story…

A couple months ago, the boys were playing in their room, and I was in my room next door. I overheard my older son teaching my younger son letter sounds. Following a beat, he was saying [the letter sounds], “/a/a/a/a/a/!” and “/o/o/o/o/o/!” I went into their room and discovered, that my older son had also made his own “Souns” out of pipe cleaners as a teaching tool! A while later, he had our little one recognizing those two letters and knowing their sounds.
 
Really, we have LOVED using SOUNS and were amazed by the ease with which he took to learning the sounds of the letters! Thanks for creating such a practical, simple tool for learning!
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  • Thank you for sharing your Souns story! We are always happy to hear from Souns families, as their experiences may change a child’s learning somewhere in the world.  Brenda
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Teachers Share – SA 2013

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SAtchrmeeting13

 

From a transcription of a meeting with teachers from primary schools in South Africa:

“So learners were given the presentation [with Souns] and then it was easy for the teacher, because most of the time we just present [material] without having resources on hand. We are writing on the boards. [With Souns] learners have the opportunity to go and touch so that was easy. They touched and they were able to associate the tool with the sound. It was easy for them. And those learners that were battling with acquiring knowledge without having a tool on hand got an opportunity. They are seated around [and] they had their chance to touch, to associate, to match, to build. And then it was just easy for them [and] it was easy for the teacher.”

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“You Are Good For Our Children!”

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nellmapiuspk2013

When the work speaks!

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For over a week we have been evaluating Grade R and Grade 1 learners in South Africa and reviewing the impact of a Rotary project – GG25244 – based on the Souns for literacy program. The 258 learners from seven classrooms are from three pilot sites: one in Pretoria and two in the township of Mamelodi.

The results are indelibly imprinted! Consider such comments from HOD’s as:

“You may come [to our school] any time you want. You are good for our children.”

“Thank you, Rotary, for Souns. It is helping our children read!”

“Our teachers are crying for this program.”

The children are the miracles: Imagine evaluations that are filled with giggles,  slow, deep smiles of pride, jubilant jumps in the air, eyes glowing with joy that burn into your heart. All this happiness during individual assessments. Children are so excited about KNOWING!

What magic to hear a preschooler saying, “Can I read to you? Can I read to you?”

Then there is the sadness we see with learning issues or lack of support at home that delays progress. If a child does not learn letter sounds in preschool with 38-40 children in a classroom (one teacher), the child will not likely learn them in Grade 1 with 45-60 children in a classroom (one teacher) which is scripted to move much faster. After that we know how the pieces fall.

“Our system is supposed to be designed for the children, but that is not what we are doing.” says one. “Souns is helping us reach our children.”

While we have clearly inspired letter-sound learning through the Souns project for the typically developing child, we have so much to do for those children who are capable but unfold on a different time line. It is promising that one of the schools has begun a conversation to address this issue.  We celebrate this possibility, particularly when the HOD’s exclaim, “Nothing is impossible! We must do what we need to do for our children.” This is change speaking!

Getting people to pay attention to how and when children learn best is the best outcome for any literacy project. This is the stuff of Souns through Rotary in South Africa. It is deeply rich and moving work.

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Thank you to The Rotary Foundation, and Rotary Clubs Pretoria East in RD9400 and Peachtree City in RD6900. 
 
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And We Clapped!

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A fuzzy image often goes hand in hand with a dancing heart!

“I wanted to write clap,” she said with a big smile! My daughter was so excited to share with her dad that she wrote “clap” with her baby….”and we clapped!” she exclaimed, as she clapped the baby doll’s hands.

Intentional play! Have fun learning letter sounds first. Then, with Souns, building words phonetically – by listening to sounds spoken and finding the letters that represents the sounds –  comes much before sounding  words out phonetically. The steps for Souns are at http://sounsworks.wordpress.com. Play to learn!

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And Now: “some of her friends”

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Sounsworkshop83013-2

A Souns mom shares:

Today, my daughter saw a plastic bin used when we moved that listed my name and the city and state where we moved from.

 She started calling out Souns- (s), (m), (t), and (o) and pointing to each one on the bin as she said it.
 
She was smiling as she talking. The look on her face was as if she had just come across some of her friends.
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It Is So Much Fun To KNOW!

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From ongoing Linkedin discussion, well worth visiting.

 

To add to the discussion, I would like to share an experience this past week with a young child of three who has learned her letter-sounds as incidentally as she learned the doll or cup she was playing with at the time of this observation. She was role playing and was teaching her doll how to build the word “cup” by teaching her to listen to the letters in the word. I have had many say why teach a child letter sounds when they should be playing with dolls and cups and I find great frustration at not being able to explain successfully that the child was playing with knowledge she had of the world around her. She was so happy with what she “knew” about the world. She knows cups, dolls, and letter-sounds. After all, how many cups and baby dolls does a child see in a day compared to the number of printed letters. If the system could shift just a bit…with moms, dads, and caregivers sharing /m/ and /s/ as mmm and sss instead of letter-names offered at the same time as letter-sounds, we would find children building critical associations between what they heard people say and the letter-sounds that represent what their ears hear. I know I am the developer of the Souns program and this could be seen as a marketing moment…but I was a teacher of three decades before Souns and it is the child who led me to the logic of it. It is the child who wants real tools and if we could just offer the most useful tool – letter-sound associations – there would be no need for Souns or 70% of the intervention programs exhibited in conference halls. Rant over! 

Thank you for your ears and your hearts and your talents and your permission to share. Those little minds are ready and we are not ready for them.

 

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Washing My Souns

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Intentional play is the best way to learn. Email from a Souns mom:

We decided to wash the Souns with shaving cream and my daughter loved it.  I started off by sitting with her putting the shaving cream on a rubbermaid container top.  We both spent time drawing Souns in the shaving cream then I left her alone to play.  

She was quite fascinated with the shaving cream and she spent tons of time cleaning then organizing the Souns on the side of the tub.

I had to take some pictures of this wonderful experience!!  Thought you would like to see some. The pictures are in order to see the start and finish of her project.

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Building Words With Soun(d)s

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jenpcv10-13
A Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa shares her work with the Souns program funded by The Rotary Foundation. What an amazing collaboration between two globally sensitive, benevolent-minded organizations. Thank you Rotary Districts 6900 and 9400!
I had such a great day with the children today that I thought I should share.  I made some “picture cards” earlier this week to help teach new English vocabulary to the children through pictures. 
 
I showed them the pictures, gave them the meanings in Xitsonga and English, and we started to figure out how to build them.  At first the children had no clue what I wanted when I asked “What sound does ‘pot’ start with?”  But after getting a translation, a little boy  whispered “pih pih pih”.  We soon had pot built, and the children took turns saying “pih ah tih” several times.  A few even started saying “pot”.  It was amazing to see the kids take their first step in writing and reading.  I could see the educators who were watching finally get what I was trying to do with the programme, and they began to get excited and more involved with the groups.  They were seeing 3-4 year old children figure out how to write words and read.  
 
I look forward to teaching them a few new words and sounds each day.  

Second day: We work together to sound out the word, and the children are eager to grab the Souns and build the word.  Today we focused on “hat”, “mop” and “pot”.  Right now, the kids are still struggling to separate the individual sounds in the words, but little by little they are getting there.

Some of them are even starting to read the words we build.

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The Quiet Hand Of Rotary!

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pretoriarobinhand

At bottom left is the patient hand of Rotarian Robin Jones as he watches preschoolers build words.

Children building a word by listening to the sounds in the word is so much fun. In truth, futures are being built. Thank you to The Rotary Foundation for what this project is doing for the township children in South Africa.

A feel-good letter! Thank you, Rotary District Governor Blake!

Johannesburg / 17 Oct 2013

Robin,

Thank you for your email. I am the District Governor for D6900 which is the Peachtree City Rotary Club’s district. I am currently in South Africa on business for a few days so please let me know if I can be of any assistance.

The SOUNS project is a great example of the power of collaboration between Rotary clubs and making a significant difference in the peoples’ lives and their communities.

Thank you for your Rotary leadership and congratulations to the Pretoria East and Peachtree City Rotary Clubs on the success of the SOUNS program in Zebediela, Dennilton, Soshanguve, Atteridgeville, Mamelodi South Africa.

Yours in Rotary Service,

Blake McBurney

Rotary D6900 District Governor 2013-14

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Giggles, Letter-Sounds, Results!

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It was such a treat to train preschools in Longview, Texas, today. The bright-minded teachers and the eager children made the experience exceptional.  We trained teachers for 12 classrooms and enjoyed the assistance of a few little ones to demonstrate the fun one can have learning letter-sounds.

Longview10-13Large smiles from those teachers and giggles from their little people painted a promising picture for early literacy in this community. Four children of different preschool ages and abilities played with Souns as teachers were trained to implement the program. Amazingly, play is the teacher. When learning is fun, the timing is right, and the hands are involved, school looks very different to a child.

And it works! One public preshcool in Longview began implementing Souns in eleven preschool classrooms this year in September. Today they ordered materials for three more classrooms. Results are clear – Souns is making a difference. Consider this letter that greeted me in an email today from a preschool using Souns in Colorado. It is from parents celebrating the reading ability of their Souns child who graduated from the preschool and is currently in kindergarten. We are grateful for such sharing.

I was told that you called the other day to follow up on the [Souns] reading program you did this past year.  I longview10-13-5wanted to send you the picture of [my daughter] as September’s super reader for her Kindergarten class.  I gave her teacher the letter you had given in regards to the Souns program.  She is reading now and just the other day read 5 books in a 15 minute period. When we do spelling words with our older son, our daughter is able to spell many of them just because she knows what sound the letter makes!   Thank you so much!!  The only downside is that she said she hasn’t learned anything new in Kindergarten yet!!  I suppose that is a problem that can easily be fixed!!

Build her library and stand back. A reader will always be learning. Once a child can read, you can’t take that away!

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