Literacy for Little People: Literacy Connections and Making Meaning

Presented by Deborah Adero Ferguson

at the

Mississippi Arts Commission

2010 Whole Schools Summer Institute

“Bringing Heritage Home”

Mississippi State University – Riley Center

Meridian, Mississippi

July 18 – 22, 2010

©2010

The track “Literacy for Little People: Literacy Connections and Making Meaning” has been developed from the VSA arts: Early Childhood Educational Program Start with the Arts model. Literacy for Little People is an instructional resource for early childhood and special education teachers that uniquely combines literacy, family involvement and strategies for integrating the arts – visual arts, drama and creative dramatics, dance and movement, and music – into all curriculum areas. Using the language and vocabulary found within children’s stories participants will go through the process of creating a literacy collage and mural of original poetry and visual art images that will inspire the development of improvised creative movement, drama and music activities. The “All About Me” and “The World Around Me” units presented in the track will allow participants the opportunity to examine aspects of their physical and emotional selves and the surrounding world. These arts encounters will translate into curriculum lessons of language arts, reading, science, math, social studies and character development.

Although developed for young children the lessons can be easily adapted for older students. The focus is early childhood education, because these are the formative years when establishing literacy and a love for learning is crucial. There is also the underlying premise that all children can learn and, regardless of ability and age, should be treated with dignity and respect. This unit is designed to provide lessons that give children of all abilities opportunities to participate successfully in the arts and classroom learning. The lessons focus on what children can do, rather than on what children can not do and provides educators with ideas for modifying the environment, adapting materials and developing appropriate teaching strategies with a focus on literacy.

Presenter background

DEBORAH ADERO FERGUSON

THE DANCING STORY LADY

15274 Daugherty Road

FOLEY, ALABAMA 36535

(251) 970-2188

Email:

Website:

Deborah Adero Ferguson, the Dancing Story Lady, is a native of Chicago, Illinois, and a professional actress, dancer, storyteller and arts educator with over twenty five years of experience in the performing arts.

She has studied traditional dance, storytelling and music in the African countries of Kenya, Senegal, Gambia and the Ivory Coast through grants awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts. She has performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Smithsonian Museums in Washington, D.C.; the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee; the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia; the National Black Storytelling Festivals and at schools, universities, theatres and festivals nationwide. She is also a writer and playwright and the national artistic director of the Nubian Theatre Company based in Memphis, Tennessee. She has received numerous writing awards and her poetry, short stories have been published nationally. “These People Can Fly” Ferguson’s original adaptation of Virginia Hamilton’s award-winning story was produced by the University of California Theatre Arts Department in conjunction with the African American Theatre Arts Troupe with a run in Santa Cruz and Seaside during the months of February and March, 2010.

An arts educator for two decades, Deborah Ferguson has worked with students of all ages and abilities through arts in education programs with the state arts councils of Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Illinois and Kentucky. She has an impressive track record as a trainer for teachers and administrators in developing arts based and arts integrated curriculums. She is on the faculties of the Mississippi Arts Commission’s Whole Schools Summer Institute and is a teaching and touring artist for the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts

Deborah Ferguson holds a Bachelors Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies and Masters Degree in English: Creative Writing from the University of South Alabama. She is currently an English teacher at the University of South Alabama. A grandmother, she lives with her husband, Joseph, in Foley, Alabama.

Literacy for Little People: Literacy Connections and Making Meaning

UNIT: Music and Language Arts

ALL ABOUT ME

NAME CHANT POETRY

Target Grades: Pre-K, K-3, Sp. Ed

Materials needed: a few percussion instruments (optional), construction paper, pencils, crayons. Books that contain a child’s name: A, My Name is Alice by Jane Bayer, I See Rhythm by Toyomi Igus, Odd Velvet by Mary E. Whitcomb, There’s an Ant in Anthony by Bernard Most, You Can Call Me Willy: A Story for Children About Aids by Joan C. Verneiro. Books that contain children’s poems: A Kick in the Head, An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms by Paul B. Janeszko, and a Children’s Dictionary.

Mississippi Language Arts Competencies and Objectives:

1. The student will apply strategies and skills to comprehend, respond to, interpret, or

evaluate a variety of texts of increasing levels of length, difficulty, and complexity.

a. The student will understand and make simple inferences about text. (DOK 2)

b. The student will respond to narrative and informational texts in a variety of ways that

reflect understanding and interpretation. (DOK 2)

Access points for Students with Cognitive Disabilities:

  • Independent: student will identify pictures and symbols that provide information;
  • Supported: student will identify pictures or objects that provide information;
  • Participatory: student will respond to familiar persons and routines

2. The student will express, communicate, evaluate, or exchange ideas effectively.

a. The student will compose a description of a person, place, or thing.

Access points for Students with Cognitive Disabilities:

  • Independent: student will prewrite by identifying familiar persons, objects, or events to generate ideas for pictures that tell a story.
  • Supported: student will prewrite by selecting familiar persons or objects to generate ideas for a picture that tells a story.
  • Participatory: student will associate wants and needs with a familiar person or object (e.g. indicate awareness of familiar person, objects, or routines).

Mississippi Music Benchmarks

Goal 5: Students should make valid connections among the arts, other subject areas, and

everyday life.

Content Strand: Connections (C)

Benchmark: Recognize connections between music, the other arts, and other subject areas

Learning Objectives:

  • Recognize one’s name as being unique and special.
  • Identify name in writing.
  • Build vocabulary related to rhythm and pattern in music.
  • Demonstrate tapping to a strong rhythmic beat.
  • Create a rhythmic pattern using one’s name.
  • Create a poem using syllables/beats of one’s name

Preparation: Display children’s names throughout the classroom on desks, tables, the chalkboard, storage bins, coat racks, etc.

Including all Children: Teach children the American Sign language for “name”, and use it throughout activity.

For children who are deaf or have auditory challenges: Face children and tap the rhythm on a drum in their view so they can follow along. Invite them to feel the drum. Allow yourself and the students to stomp the beat on the floor (so they can feel it). Remember that they can still enjoy and learn from music. Write out words or phrases of songs on the board or easel. Use pictures to illustrate the story.

For children with speech and language challenges: Be aware that they may have difficulty with this activity. Vary the speed of the tapping that accompanies the children’s names, so that the beta is slower and easier to follow.

For children with physical disabilities: Be prepared to suggest a way they can feel successful as they tap the rhythm of their name.

Prior Knowledge: Read one of the suggested books to introduce the unique quality of each child’s name. While sitting in a circle invite children to feel a rhythm. Start with a slow soft knee pat and chant. “Feel the beat on your knees, on your knees, on your knees.” Repeat with other parts of the body, like chest, head and cheeks. Repeat each line several times before moving on to a new body part. Move to “Feel the beat in the air, in the air, in the air.” Floor, chair, desk,etc.

Vocabulary: poetry, name, beat, rhythm, compose, syllable, dictionary

Essential Question: How do we create a rhythm and compose a poem with our name?

Procedure: Plan to complete this lesson over several class periods

Part A

  • Invite the children to chant the Name Chant. “Let’s feel the beat of our names on our knees.” Model the chant and beat and invite students to repeat and follow.
  • Model a name while patting out the rhythm on your knees.. “Bob-bie. Bob-bie, Bob-bie”; “Jan, Jan, Jan”, Roderick, Roderick, Roderick.”
  • Ask for volunteers to chant their names while others listen.
  • Go around the circle chanting each child’s name in turn.
  • Invite children to join in. Pause between each name.
  • Go around the circle a second time, this time not pausing between names, so that all the names form a continuous chant and the rhythm keeps going.

Interpret and expand the experience: Discuss the activity. What did you like about the Name Chant? Who has a name with a single beat? Two beats? Three or more beats? Discuss where accents fall in each name and help children compare differences. Ex. Shoń tay vs A` li `ci` a.

Part B

  • Introduce the words syllable, adjective and compose. Read a poem that uses syllables as a base (such as haiku, senryu or tanka) and tell students they are going to create a simple poem using the beats or syllables of their name and another word, an adjective, to describe themselves. Ex., Ann Fun, Tif fa ny Ter ri fic, Har ry Hap py.
  • Create a class chart of names and beats/syllables by dividing an easel pad or chalkboard into columns labeled 1 Beat, 2 Beats, 3 Beats, 4 Beats etc. As a class list each child’s name in the appropriate column. As a class brainstorm and list adjectives that have corresponding syllables for each name and add them to the chart. Introduce and use the dictionary to find adjectives.

Part C

  • Let students select a piece of construction paper, a pencil and crayons.
  • Instruct students to write their names breaking them into the appropriate beats/syllables and then write another word(s) that describe them but are made up of the same number of beats/syllables.
  • Invite children to decorate or draw a picture around their poem.
  • Let students share their creations. Explain the poem will be used in a later activity.

Extending the experience:

  • Conduct a name hunt. Place tagboard cards with children’s names randomly around the classroom or outside on playground. Have children find their names,
  • Listen to and learn songs related to names: ‘Mary Wore a Red Dress” by Ruth Seeger from American Folktales for Children. Substitute the children’s clothing. “The Name Game” by Joanie Bartels from Sillytime Magic. “Who Stole the Cookies From the Cookie Jar?”
  • Tape record children chanting their name, Have the recording available in the library or learning center.
  • Create name puzzles for each child. Cut pieces of one color of construction paper into squares. For each child write each letter of his or her name on a square, one letter per square. Place the lettered squares into an envelope labeled with the child’s name. One name = one color. Have children put their name puzzles together. Perfect activity to generate parental involvement.

My Family Learns With Me:

Dear Family,

During our music activity, we tapped out the rhythm of our names. We learned about rhythm, as well as how many beats or syllables are in our names. Please talk to your child about the experience and select one of the books listed below from the library to read with your child or other activities to continue learning at home.

Together you might tap out the rhythm of your name and the names of other family members and friends on your knees. Together listen to music and tap out the beat. Think of an unusual word that has four or five beats or syllables. You might want to use a dictionary. Write the word on a piece of paper, if appropriate, have your child draw a picture of it. Let your child bring the word to school to display on our “Big Word” board. An example of a “big word” is “Mississippian”.

Our book list:

Come and visit us at school anytime!

Laugh, love, learn,

Your Child’s Teacher

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Suggested Criteria for Assessment:

  • Fulfill the task
  • Cooperate and interact with partner or group
  • Perform with focus and clarity

Assessment:

  • Student work
  • Teacher Observation
  • Performance

Teachable Moments:

Literacy for Little People: Literacy Connections and Making Meaning

UNIT:

ALL ABOUT ME

DANCE: MY BODY IS ME

Target Grades: Pre-K, K-3, Sp. Ed

Materials needed: Masking tape, hand drum or small percussion instrument, CD or tape player, large (8” x10”) pictures of children’s body parts.

Books that feature different parts of the body: Angelina Ballerina by Katherine Holabird; Bones: Our Skeletal System by Seymour Simon; Face Talk, Hand Talk, Body Talk by Sue Castle; From Had to Toe by Eric Carle; Jonathan and His Mommy by Irene Smalls-Hector; Muscles, Our Muscular System by Seymour Simon, My Feet by Aliki, Nick Joins In by Joe Lasker; Now One Foot, Now the Other by Tomie dePaola; The Five Senses Series: Touch, Taste, Smell, Feel, Hear

By J.M. Parramon and J.J. Puig; The Shape of Me and Other Stuff by Dr. Seuss.

CD’s that feature songs about the body: “Bean Bag Boogie” by Greg and Steve from Kids in Motion ; Í’m Not Small” by either Bill Harley from Monsters in the Bathroom or Sharon, Lois and Bram from One Elephant, Deux Elephants ; “The One and Only Me” by Lisa Atkinson from The One and Only Me.

Mississippi Language Arts Competencies and Objectives:

1. The student will apply strategies and skills to comprehend, respond to, interpret, or

evaluate a variety of texts of increasing levels of length, difficulty, and complexity.

a. The student will understand and make simple inferences about text. (DOK 2)

b. The student will respond to narrative and informational texts in a variety of ways that

reflect understanding and interpretation. (DOK 2)

Access points for Students with Cognitive Disabilities:

  • Independent: student will identify pictures and symbols that provide information;
  • Supported: student will identify pictures or objects that provide information;
  • Participatory: student will respond to familiar persons and routines

2. The student will express, communicate, evaluate, or exchange ideas effectively.

a. The student will compose a description of a person, place, or thing.

Access Points for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities:

  • Independent: The student will listen to familiar read aloud stories and answer literal yes/no questions about persons, objects, and actions in pictures.
  • Supported: The student will communicate effectively when relating familiar experiences.
  • Participatory: The student will listen for informative purposes (e.g., following prompts, cues).

Mississippi Science Benchmark

Pre-Kindergarten Benchmarks

Scientific Investigation

Develops Awareness of the Five Senses

101/ I – Recognizes the five senses and the body parts that utilize the five (5) senses.

Mississippi Dance Benchmarks

Goal 1: Students will communicate ideas and feelings by creating and performing dance.

Content Strand: Creating/Performing (CP)

Benchmark: Respond spontaneously through movement to various stimuli.

Learning Objectives:

  • Express thoughts, feelings and preferences about creating different movements for different parts of the body,
  • Identify familiar and less familiar parts of the body.
  • Describe the functions of various parts of the body.
  • Build vocabulary about parts of the body.
  • Generate a variety of movements, including changes in direction and speed, for various parts of the body.
  • Create dances using movements found in stories for various body parts.

Preparation:

Create and define dance and personal space by taping an X for each child on the floor. The X’s should be “arms-length” apart. Put pictures of children’s body parts on the wall or bulletin board.

Including all Children: Teach children the American Sign language signs for key body parts, and use these signs throughout the lesson.

For Children with Cognitive Disabilities, those who are shy, or those who have difficulty understanding verbal directions: teacher should first model/demonstrate the movements and perform the exercises as example and inspiration. Model only one or two movements to focus on at a time. Build sequence gradually.

For children who are deaf or have auditory challenges: provide visual cues such as red or green cards to indicate when the drumbeat or music has stopped.

For children with vision challenges: use thick cord taped to the floor in either circles or squares to mark children’s personal performance space. With this, they can “feel” the edge of their dance and movement space.

For children with physical disabilities: fully include them in all dance activities. Don’t avoid words, topics or ideas because you think a child can not do the activity. For instance a child can “kick” a soccer ball using the footrest on her or his wheelchair; a child using a walker may be able to jump rope. A person in a wheelchair can climb a mountain with the proper equipment and assistance. Try not to isolate the children with disabilities by giving them “special scenarios”.