Tag Archives: early literacy

Now 6 and Ready to Read to Learn

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Oh, such happiness displayed! The confidence, the knowing “I can read!” wraps every word. This six-year-old will be entering first grade this year with a joy of reading that will make learning unfold as it should for young children.

She began Souns as a toddler.  A walkabout through SounsTalk will touch her journey, learning the tools for reading (letter sounds)…one step at a time….playing and exploring all the way! As her mother said, “it was effortless!”

Many thanks to this wonderful family for sharing their experience with Souns.

 

Ready – “Get Set” – GO!

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O n e   l i t t l e   s c h o o l ,   o n e   b i g   d i f f e r e n c e !

GET SET in Colorado Springs, CO, is part of the First Presbyterian Church and has two classrooms serving preschool children from economically challenged environments. This year the classrooms have 12 children in one (Purple) and 16 children in the other (Red).

Students at GET SET begin working with Souns in September and continue with hands-on activities to teach letter-sound knowledge throughout the school year. The story of this year’s learning pictured in the graphs below is to be celebrated. They speak louder than words about what can happen with the right pieces – dedicated teachers, volunteers, and a keep-it-simple early literacy program that focuses primarily on letter-sound associations.

The results were sent to us by the preschool and reflect letter-sound knowledge only.  Compilation of pre/post results are thanks to Rotarian Robby Dale Nelson. Many of the children ended the year sounding out words. What a way to begin kindergarten! Great job, GET SET!

Thank you, Rotarians from the Rampart Range Rotary Club of Colorado Springs, CO, for believing in Souns. We all celebrate the results for the children in your community.

Get_Set_5-7-14_Purple_Chart_1                 Get_Set_5-7-14_Purple_DataGet_Set_5-7-14_Red_Chart_1

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There Is A Moment!

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There is a window, a clear view into the moment a child “knows” … the look on the face when a detail has moved from the outside to inside that little mind. I saw that again yesterday.

A mom and her toddler son visited Counterpane wanting to sign up for the free Souns Early Literacy Workshops (ELW) we have about every two weeks during school sessions. Meeting a lovely, engaging mom and a lively, smiling, attentive young man of about 14 months was a delight.

I had the time and chose to share the concept of Souns so they would know what to expect at her first ELW this Friday. I fetched the first four Souns letters – /o/m/s/t/ – and sat down on the floor with the child. I introduced each, one at a time, and he spent several minutes exploring their shapes, sometimes two or three in hand at a time. Ready smiles intertwined with play with the symbols…moving them from one corner of the room to another on tip-toes all the way.  He would place one on the floor, exchange one for another, dance about, and repeat.

When it was time to go, I asked if I could write the four sounds on his hands. Both mom and child agreed. I carefully wrote the /o/m/s/t/ – one on the top of each hand and one inside each hand. As he was walking out, mom and I discussed how she could reinforce the work at home. When the child heard us say /o/ that lttle body stopped, he looked at the hand that had the /o/ on it and then over at us.  It was one of those moments where the eyes speak, “I know!”

Rotary / Head Start In Puerto Rico

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Giggles, smiles, engaged hands and minds of children were common denominators in our review of the Souns program in Head Start classrooms in San Juan Puerto Rico. The children in San Juan are making dramatic steps toward literacy with the Souns materials provided by Rotary Districts 7000, 6990, and The Rotary Foundation. This review celebrates comments such as these:

“I have 19 years of classroom experience, and I have never seen a program like this….it really works.”  

“Three of my students were able to read last year because of Souns. In my 13 years of teaching preschool, that has never happened before.” 


Beautifully, the conclusion of one grant can build to the beginning of another. With 4000 children in this pilot project in San Juan, it is the wish of Rotary District 7000, this time in collaboration with Rotary District 6900, to expand the program to as many Head Start classrooms in other regions of Puerto Rico as funding will allow. A Global Grant proposal is the next step. One classroom at a time is the road to change for these children. Rotarians from both districts join hands on the ground in Puerto Rico to make this happen. Head Start and Rotary are promising partners for literacy.

Rotary Clubs of Peachtree City (RD6900) and Rio Piedras (RD7000) are leading this effort to build support for a project that will reach from 150 to 300 more classrooms in strategic Head Start programs in Puerto Rico. If you are interested in joining this project, comment with contact information to this blog .

Thank you Rotary Clubs of Smyrna (RD6900) and Fort Lauderdale (RD6990) for initiating the pilot project in the San Juan Municipality. These four-year olds are reaping the harvest as they build words by listening to the sounds in them. They have learned letter-sound associations through Souns.

I Almost Didn’t Hear Her!

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sukey-so-14Walking briskly on a warm, sunny, winter day offered so much to enjoy that I almost missed the little voice saying, “Look Omi, an ‘oh’ and a ‘ss’!” A little finger pointed to tree flowers (catkins) shaped by happenstance into “sounds” after falling from the tree. She was inviting me to participate in her discovery of sounds!

A child’s interests show up in a lingering gaze, a slight pull of the hand in a new direction, a pause to examine a detail, or an explosion of glee at a sight or activity. I have seen a little one want so badly to stop and watch a musician performing along a sidewalk as the parents, unaware, pulled him along, never noticing the physical plea of the child to stop and absorb the moment. We try so hard to get them to listen to us; imagine how hard they work trying to get us to listen to them.

Be ready for surprises! Follow their lead! A walk can turn into so many adventures: comparing leaf shapes, little hands tracing twisted roots, or following an insect into the crack in the pavement. Since I didn’t miss the little voice on that winter’s walk, I stopped and we examined the many shapes on the sidewalk under the tree. We found so many sounds waiting to be discovered, sounds only a child would have seen.

TEXAS – “Let The Sounds Tell You!”

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“Let the sounds tell you!” says the teacher as the child listens to the sound of each letter to find the word hiding there. That little analytical mind is at work and at play all at the same time! Learning is happening.

What a visit I had in Longview, Texas! In each of the follow-up trainings – Longview Independent School District and Pine Tree Independent School District (including Head Start and Early Start), and several independent preschools – it was soon obvious to all that the children were ahead of what their teachers expected. Learners in classrooms were either more ready to build words or more ready to sound out words than thought. Surprisingly, this was true of even those quiet learners who we suspect are not progressing as well.

The teachers in these preschool classrooms have done excellent work helping their learners know letter sounds. The next step was right there, waiting within the child. How fortunate these children are to have such a supportive community of educators wrapped around them.

Our mid-year visit was perfectly timed. Now the teachers will finish the year giving their children the greatest opportunity to flourish in this work, to know “I can!”  What a step up for success in writing and reading when they enter elementary school. We were delighted to have a kindergarten teacher sit in on the training and share her enthusiasm for what she saw unfolding for these children. She is excited to get some of these children in her classroom next year. We can’t wait to follow the story.

I acknowledge this amazing community for taking such a united stand for literacy. I also want to thank Claudette Jones for her relentless determination in supporting these teachers and the young people of her community in this effort to build readers. Souns is a great idea, but it takes willing and dedicated people to make a great idea turn into reality. The following comment from a teacher of three-year-olds makes it all so worthwhile:

Since implementing Souns in our classroom, my children have not only grown in their knowledge of letter sounds, but their self-esteem has sky rocketed! When they see the Souns their eager faces light up with anticipation.

I was surprised at how organic the whole process was and how naturally the children began to visually recognize and physically represent the Souns. After introducing a new sound, I can just sit back and watch them teach themselves and each other. It has been nothing short of remarkable!

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Souns Grows Legs in South Africa

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Our training trip to South Africa – January 27th through January 31st – was a leap into tomorrow for Souns. We spent the week with Souns teacher-trainer candidates…eighteen in all. These were teachers whom we have trained and shared Souns time with over the past few years. They have voiced an interest in becoming teacher trainers:  volunteers who observe, guide, and train teachers to implement Souns in their classrooms.

This move forward, in conjunction with the development of an online training module, ensures good practice as the interest in Souns grows. It is a very simple program, but simple can be quite difficult to implement. Having hearts, minds, and talents trained on the ground in home countries to assist teachers can make a tremendous difference for learners.

The week also included training a group of Grade 1 teachers. It is important to continue the program for children who had Souns in Grade R (kindergarten) or who enter Grade 1 new to formal schooling. Without letter-sound knowledge, a child is handicapped in writing and reading. Progress is minimal or absent for the child who enters Grade 1 in South Africa without being reading ready. Classes we have visited have from 45 to 85 children with one teacher. The attention needed to “catch up” is not likely. These children do not have to be trapped if we build a support group of Souns trainers to assist classroom teachers, ensuring basic letter-sound knowledge is learned in playful, engaging, and lasting ways.

Souns is making a difference. This project is a result of The Rotary Foundation and Rotary Districts 6900 and 9400. Rotary Club Pretoria East is the host club in South Africa, and Rotary Club of Smyrna is the international partner in the USA. Rotarians from Rotary Club of Peachtree City are volunteer trainers for the Souns program. These joined energies are changing the world for children. Thank you, Rotary!

Colorado Springs – An Observation

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From the heart and experience of a preschool administrator in Colorado Springs. Random observations of learning with Souns:

Forming the Soun[d] with their mouth, saying the Soun[d] with voice, limbs moving to the mat, hands holding the Soun[d], hands sliding the Soun[d]s on the mat feeling the Braille, hands passing the Soun[d] to share with a friend, skin feeling the O on their nose, on their mouth, on their chin is telling the brain this is part of you, this is your language, this is part of your legacy as a human being, you own this.

 

A Beginning – CPCD / Souns

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Building a future for children brings smiles to everyone’s face. Head Start has a plan! There is a tool – Souns – to make that plan come true, and there is an energy – Rotary – in the community wanting to make all the pieces fit together for children. Rotary is committed to impacting basic literacy skills and this project is about our preschool children learning to write and read in our community in Colorado Springs.

CPCD (Community Partnership for Childhood Development) is piloting the Souns program during the next few months to gather information for a grant application that, if approved, will provide Souns to as many Head Start classrooms as the grant will fund in the CPCD program. The excitement is clearly visible in the smiles, but is even more contagious as one watches this program unfold with children. Magic wraps up every moment as the little ones respond with… “I want to do it!” “It is my turn!” “Can I help her?” “Look, there is /m/ in Monday!” … at every turn when implementing the Souns program.

Thank you Rotary Clubs  in Colorado Springs for this possibility! Thank you Rotarian Robby Dale Nelson of the Rampart Range Rotary Club for your enormous commitment to the children in your community.