To be successful in today’s world, children not only need to know how to read and write, but also to critically analyze information and present their own thoughts clearly. At The Sunshine House, we take very seriously our responsibility to provide your child with a strong foundation in literacy. We have a multitude of programs to support your child in developing the tools s/he will need to be a strong reader, writer, and consumer of literacy.
Oral Language: Oral language is the foundation for reading and writing. Children with robust vocabularies do much better in Kindergarten, and are more successful in literacy learning. In all of our classrooms, we read with children, have conversations with them and encourage them to talk through open ended questions and discussions.
Real Language in Use: Children learn to read and write as they connect sounds and spoken words with those squiggles that we call letters. We support your child in building this understanding by showing them this connection at every opportunity. Teachers create charts and graphs, take children’s dictation, model writing, and lead children in writing stores.
Brain-based Language Experiences: Each classrooms weekly lesson plan includes language experiences designed to build all aspects of language development.
Seeds of Literacy: Every month, your child’s classroom explores a new piece of high-quality children’s literature through our Seeds of Literacy program. After reading the story, the teacher leads group experiences that concentrate on letters, sounds, and words. These wonderful stories are also used to lead activities that support children’s character development.
Morning Message: Every morning, your child’s teachers write the date and a special message for the children. Together, the class reads the message together, again connecting written and oral language. This practice not only supports decoding and a beginning of phonemic and phonetic awareness, children build oral language by discussing and responding to the message.
Writing Centers: Each classroom has a space enriched with paper, writing tools, and other supports to inspire children’s writing. These spaces encourage children to develop the fine muscles and letter formation understanding they will need to be strong writers.
Word of the Day Word Wall: Children are more likely to interact and use words that are meaningful to them. Because of this, we build our Word Walls around words that children love and want to learn. Each day, a different child proposes a new Word of the Day. The teacher leads children in sounding out that word and models writing it. The child is invited to draw a picture of the word before posting it on the Word Wall. As the wall grows, old words are removed and placed in a container in the writing center so children can continue to reference them.
Creative Curriculum: Creative Curriculum contains regular opportunities for guided reading and for children to participate in research-based literacy building experiences.
