Words From the Wise #12 -- Pamela Courtney

Today we welcome to The Write Stuff, Pamela Courtney who specializes in Early Literacy. She is also the creator of the blog, MyLMNOP REads to Kids.   Thank you so much for joining us today Pam, we are glad to read your wise words!

MyLMNOP__the building blocks of literacy

Sandi Hershenson, the author of Annie and Me, is having MyLMNOP Reads to Kids,  as a guest on her amazing blog,The Write Stuff!  This site is filled with resourceful information that is so beneficial to writers of all levels.  She recently interviewed author/illustrator Frank Asch.  He is the author of the Moobear picture book series. Please visit and read this great interview!   I am excited to be a guest on Sandi's blog!  I get a chance to discuss two of my favorite subjects__children's books and my literacy program.  I began MyLMNOP in the fall of 2005 after being in the field of Early Childhood Education for over twenty-five years.   MyLMNOP is a language based music program designed to enhance literacy and expressive language through music.  This program targets early learners in areas where access to quality literacy engagement is limited.
 
I love children's books!  More specifically, I love children's books that are rich with descriptive language and compelling illustrations.  These illustrations can be as simple as Shel Silverstein's work or very detailed and complex as in the work of Christopher Canyon.  Either way, illustrations are excellent provisions in connecting young listeners to visual, context clues.  That is why I chose to join the writing community, 12 x 12 in 2012  hosted by Julie Hedlund, I knew that I would connect with writers producing the kind of books that would lend perfectly to my literacy program.  You see, I choose books that take my early learners on journeys of wonderment and exploration.   Add to this the backdrop of music, and a myriad of fantastical creatures come alive!  I love providing an environment with this kind of stimulation and spontaneity!


Each month in MyLMNOP literacy program, a thematic lesson plan is created.  A minimum of two stories with similar themes are chosen.    From the stories, vocabulary words that encourage descriptive narration from our early learners are employed during each weekly session.  The  low frequency vocabulary words are accompanied by theme related songs, and dramatic play exercises.  Enhancing expressive language through music and literature allows for emergent reading comprehension development, and the expansion of descriptive vocabulary.  These activities are excellent aids for students and their retention of abstract concepts.  Additionally, phonemic awareness lessons are used to help children as they connect letters to sounds that make up the words to their favorite poem, story, or song.  Here's an abbreviated example of a  session with MyLMNOP.  The few activities extracted from the lesson was for the Older Three's and Younger Four's program.  The theme:  Time Keeps Passing... Life's Cycles.

In a recent session, Dinosaurs Go to School by Linda Martin, was introduced to visually illustrate the concept of the passage of time from morning to evening.  Additionally clocks were used as tools to measure how time passes in the course of a day.  Accompanying song, When I Wake Up in the Morning."
Vocabulary Word:  Schedule, Routine, and Cycle.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, helped to show how time is measured in the course of a week.  The calendar was used as an additional prop for a measuring tool for time.  Accompanying song, Greg and Steve, Days of the Week, and McMillan's Sing & Learn, Butterfly Fly
Vocabulary:  Larvae, Cocoon, Flutter, Infant, Adult.  Reviewed:  Schedule, Routine, and Cycle.







The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein, showed a broader range of our theme.  The accompanying songs were, Greg & Steve's Months of the Year,  McMillan's Sing & Learn,  Sing a Song About the Seasons,  and The Circle Game,  by Joni Mitchell (which was originally introduced to students as a poem).  The children absolutely loved this song!  I was pleased to see that some of the Fours understood the verse, "Then the boy moved ten time 'round the seasons."  One of the children responded, "He had a birthday ten times!"  Reviewing the vocabulary each week helped the students to understand that as time passes, how we measure repeats itself over and over again.  Learning the songs:   The Days of the Week, The Months of the Year, and Sing a Song About the Seasons, were useful tools in instructing this topic.  Presenting this abstract concept of time measured in days, hours, and seasons, allowed this subject to become more concrete to these brilliant early learners.


These books have been used in various other themes, along with many other vocabulary words (especially with our older students).  Their application in this topic was so engaging and so much fun.  I hope to begin showing videos of my literacy engagements. As soon as I figure out the technical spokes of blogging, uploading music & video files.  I am having fun learning.  I enjoyed sharing a small part of my literacy program with you.  

Pamela Courtney currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia.  She is the creator/owner of My_LMNOP