Literacy Philosophy

Literacy at our Preschool

Literacy involves listening, observation, speaking, writing, research, projects, conversations, discussions, & technology.

We Believe:

• Literacy should be thoroughly embedded into our curriculum; it should be fun, enjoyable & appropriate.
• In ensuring that there are authentic learning opportunities for children by allowing them ‘agency’ or control & influence over their  literacy projects;  literacy should definitely include chances to “capture children’s voices on paper, in books and digitally”(p11, Literacy in Early Childhood services, Good Practice – ERO publication November 2011).
• In flowing from the children’s interests as much as possible.
• That a mix of teacher directed and child initiated activities are effective.  We love working from the children’s interests and allowing them to lead their projects.  We also believe that at times some gentle teacher direction is a powerful & useful learning tool when used carefully & thoughtfully.
• In supporting chances for guided participation with teacher and child; we wish to see active involvement of children in writing their own books regularly and for our 4 year olds to be able to have a writing diary.
• In aiming to have more participation with our parents and to develop a deeper partnership with them, especially involving our writing diaries; we wish to hold regular meetings with parents of children going onto the scheme.
• That there should be active teaching of print concepts – e.g. front & back of book, titles, etc., where print begins and ends on a page & that it contains a message, left to right concepts, punctuation & alphabet.
• There should be careful attention to construction of letters – top to bottom – we model writing & pay attention to teaching pencil grip.
• In allowing children time to develop some perseverance and persistence when working on literacy projects; we love to praise children for their efforts.
• It’s important to understand the very clear links from Te Whāriki to the key competencies in the national school curriculum – thinking, self-management, relating to others, using language symbols & texts, participating and contributing.
• A smooth transition to school is important. May 2019