Emergent Literacy

Emergent literacy is everything that a child learns about reading and writing, such as the concept that printed or written letters represent words, before they can actually read. Another example is that they may grasp the idea that in English we read from left to right. Being in a 5th grade classroom, I do not directly see emergent literacy, but I can see traces of it. For example, when a student struggles over a word, it is evident that they realize that a word is made up of different parts, something they may have discovered before they could actually read. At this point, however, the reason behind their struggle is often that it is a new word that they have not seen or used before, not because they lack the ability to read.

At the 5th grade level, we are more concerned about promoting literacy learning through book club activities. Last semester I saw evidence of this when the class was reading a book about a town that experienced multiple destructive tornadoes over the course of a few hours. The CT really promoted literacy learning by igniting discussions that allowed the students to relate the story to their own life. Coincidentally, the tornadoes that swept through Williamston during October (when they were finishing up the book) gave some students a chance to see this type of disaster a little bit closer to home, and allowed them to relate to the story a little bit more. Even before this happened,though, students were able to make great connections that made the story more personal. Some discussed about when they have been in a scary situation, others talked about taking care of siblings (the boy in the story has a younger sibling). Unfortunately I've yet to see a good discussion like this so far this semester.