Tag Archives: Souns

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Compelling Success In South Africa

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SounsCount: Mid-year assessments for two Grade R classrooms: One where learners are taught in home-language (N=35) and one (N=42) where they are taught in second language.

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The  5 year old children from these two Grade R classrooms in the township of Mamelodi* began their work with Souns in January 2013, several weeks after the beginning of their school year. These assessments were administered in late May 2013. Considering school holidays and only a portion of their year completed, the results (percents) are stunning. According to the teachers and our observation, building words and sounding out words – the application of letter-sound knowledge –  are regular activities in the classroom. When the school year ends in December, the learners will be well on their way to a successful school year in Grade 1.

While each classroom is demonstrating notable success, there is a distinct difference between the class which is teaching children in their home language (above) and the class where children are being taught English (below), a second language for the learners. It will be interesting to see the results as the children in the two classrooms continue through the Souns program.

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Based on the joy we witnessed in the classrooms, these children are learning the fundamental skills of writing and reading – letter-sound associations – with fun and exploration. The teachers are engaged with the program and excited about the results. Souns® works!

This is a Rotary literacy project initiated by Rotary Districts 6900 and 9400. Thank you, Rotary Club of Pretoria East in RD9400 and Rotary Club of Peachtree City in RD6900. Children have a better path ahead because of you and the The Rotary Foundation.

*Mamelodi is a township of over a million population: http://www.mameloditrust.org.uk/photos/photo_about1.jpg

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Voices!

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“Today ends our federal review. We came out excellent. We talk to federal about SOUNS and [they] were delighted.” A note from Head Start in San Juan about our project in Puerto Rico with 4000 children.

“Our club is giving Souns to a large center near us!”  from the President Elect of Rotary Club of Bainbridge in southwest Georgia. That is the largest center in the SWGACAC program and they have been using only two sets of Souns for 13 classrooms. Now, thanks to Rotary D6900, they will be fully supplied with Souns.

A note from South Africa:

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Pave Road To Literacy With Play!

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Children are our teachers! Observing how they learn teaches us how learning happens best…for any age. To build literacy, play is the way for children to learn the fundamentals of print. We can shelve all the manuals, the quick fixes, the how-to’s, and the flash cards, and follow the child to what is needed. Intentional activities that are play-based, meandering by design with the exploring mind of the child, teach us how specifically the hand defines the brain. Every detail is measured and absorbed. Be still, watch, and you will see.

A playful day with one of the families:

We had such great weather last weekend, we were able to get outside a bit. My daughter loves to play with chalk, so my husband and I drew out her souns on the driveway. We asked her (and each other) to go stand, sit, hop, whatever we could think of on her souns. We all had a blast!

We will be exploring with the child as we get our hands into some play dough. The recipe link:  http://www.mommypotamus.com/homemade-play-dough-recipe-with-natural-dyes-and-a-gluten-free-option/

One parent’s approach to this recipe:

I used the regular recipe with 1/2 cup of cranberry juice and 1/2 cup of water (and no essential oils) and it came out a very pretty pink. I keep it in an airtight container; I made it over a month ago and it’s still fine. Like I mentioned in class, my husband and I have fun with it but my daughter really won’t touch it (yet).

Till next time:photo-196

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Building Words – A Bridge to Reading

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photo-191One way or another we learn letter-sounds and apply that knowledge directly to learning to read. For the most part it works, but not without notable levels of difficulty and frustration.

One additional step can make a commanding difference in that journey to reading – building words. Consider a 1000 piece puzzle. Putting it together can be challenging for anyone. Taking the completed puzzle apart into its individual pieces to be returned to the box is quite simple by comparison.

Learning to read is like negotiating the loose puzzle pieces of our alphabet, turning a chain of sounds into a word. It is quite challenging and can lead to many failures and much guessing before success is enjoyed.

Consider the ease of taking the puzzle apart. A spoken word is like a puzzle already put together. All the sounds are there in a nice little package called a word. If the child knows letter-sound associations well, listening to the sounds and building the word – one sound at a time – (not as it is spelled) is quite confirming and informative for the child.

This step – building words – bridges code based knowledge and decoding. Children 4 and 5 years old and those challenged as readers need to develop a deep understanding of how words are built. A child who knows letter-sound associations well and who focuses on building words – one phonetic sound at a time – for several weeks to a month often transitions into reading words seamlessly.

Reading becomes the next natural step for the child who has built words by listening to sounds in words first. This has been the magic of the Montessori-minded Souns program. IT is a direct link between sound and symbol, bypassing letter formation, which is another skill altogether.

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Memories – the STUFF of our stories!

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khwattu13The door of the little museum shop at Khwa ttu was closed. The rippled glass pane in the antique double doors confirmed there were people inside. I turned the handle and the door opened to quiet conversations inside.

As if scripted, the lady behind the counter and I exchanged glances and time melted.…the look on her face mirrored mine. Oh, how good is that warm feeling of seeing someone you have so enjoyed in times past. Memories are real! They breathe life into those moments when we touch the past, paging through history to the sentence, the paragraph, the story.

Wrapping each other in hugs and smiles, we revisited the little class of preschoolers at Khwa ttu, of which her child was one. Four years earlier I wandered into the facility intrigued by the call of the billboard on the highway – San Cultural and Educational Center.  The story of man, specifically the bushman of South Africa, was compelling.

Khwa ttu was the beginning! A little class of children two to three years old and their hopeful moms was such a treat. The tiny facility, the little shaded play area, the magnificent view of the Atlantic, the willing minds and eager hearts imprinted my world forever. Visit after visit I came to train or teach, as they wanted. Then, the government closed the bit of heaven. Reasons are of little importance. I had lost my heart.

Nonetheless, each trip to South Africa I made my way up the long entry road to Khwa ttu in hopes of seeing the children, hearing the laughter behind the two neatly aligned stick windbreaks. I would ask for the families I had gotten to know. Fewer and fewer of them were at the center.  Finally there were none left that I knew.

But still I returned, hoping for an encounter with the past. This time the past was there to meet me, confirming that the time given in that little class had made a difference for a family and their child. The child is 7 now and loves to read. That is the gift.

Memories are powerful, especially when they meet head on with the present. They are the stuff of our stories…our lives!

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It Is Through The Hands That We See

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Another beautiful morning observing, discussing, and exploring “child” at Counterpane’s Free Early Literacy Workshops. Follow the hands and find learning. Information about “the hand and the brain” can be found in Lillard and Jessen’s Montessori from the Start: The Child at Home, from Birth to Age Three.

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The Magic Is In The Play!

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Slowly! Step By Gentle Step, It Happens!

By arrangement with the teacher, this was the first time this child had sounded out words. Clearly he was ripe with readiness and was SO happy with himself. “Look at you! You are reading!”

He had Souns since he began school. This was mid-year.  He was almost 5 years old. The happiness you see is the result of a very good teacher implementing Souns in just the right way – slowly and playfully.

First the child learned 12-15 specific letter-sound associations, then he began building words (as you see) by listening to the word to find the sounds. He has been building words for a while, long enough to be ready for the next step….. listening to the sounds to find the word. Encoding – writing – comes before decoding – reading – in Souns.

The magic is in  p l a y !

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Early Literacy? YES! I Smile!

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Take the time to see what four minutes of building early literacy looks like.

Do we have the patience to watch learning happen in child time? Probably not…but this is a happy 4-year-old doing what she wants to do…no “school” and no one telling her to do the work of learning. Play / real learning looks just like this. Souns is so different than other early literacy programs. Souns is designed for how children learn best – through exploration, manipulation, PLAY!

 

Mexico has never been analyzed so closely –  so much fun!

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This same child was already sounding out phonetic words. Deep learning keeps on going as long as exploration and manipulation are involved. Child time is SO important. She demonstrates years of accumulated hands-on fun with Souns. NO “SCHOOL!’

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GET SET With Souns in Colorado Springs

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The graph shows progress in the GET SET preschool in First Presbyterian Church of Colorado Springs, CO. There are 31 children in the preschool and they began implementing the Souns program at the beginning of this school year – 2012/2013. The preschool serves children 4-5 years of age from economically challenged environments.  GET SET’s goal is to ready their students for success when they go to public kindergarten. The teachers are exceptional and the environment is a model for others to follow. In September as the children entered GET SET’s classrooms they were evaluated for letter-sound knowledge. That demonstrated knowledge is on the graph in green. The lavender is demonstrated letter-sound knowledge from a mid-year evaluation. The teachers should be proud of their progress, particularly since they are in a learning curve for the program as well. Imagine the possibilities at end of year and in future years as Souns becomes a natural part of their environment. What a grand step forward for the children they serve. Ready, GET SET, Go!

Looking at the results of the Souns program is SO much fun. The video is of a Rotarian volunteering at GET SET and a young student building a word by saying the word, listening for the individual sounds in the word, and identifying the letters that make each of the sounds. Building words or encoding is stage two in Souns. The first stage is the learning of at least 12 to 15 letter-sound associations. The third stage is decoding, or sounding out words, which happens after much experience building words. You can see the enthusiasm that comes from suddenly realizing, “I know that sound!”

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SounsAfrica – Hands-on Makes a Difference

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Thank you, Rotary Districts 6900 and  9400, and The Rotary Foundation! Another confirming detail from recipients of your gift of literacy through the Souns program. The following communication says this project is making a difference!

Working with remedial students using the Souns program:

The students got through the program already today after starting about January 15th, probably because they are older, but they did not know all the letter sounds before now. They just loved manipulating the Souns and making words. I think they could have played with them for weeks. I will probably let them work with the Souns letters off and on all year. I just love the picture with the kid who figured out how to write “scool.” 

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