Transcript

Along with teaching them how to read and write, they must be able to relate with any printed text that is read. They need to be able to interpret it, to understand it, to be able to communicate with it, and then be able to create it, once they have read a piece of printed text. I like to bring in objects that make the experience authentic for the students. For example, Looking for Crabs is a book about a family that goes to the beach, and they are looking for crabs. As they look for crabs, the crabs are also looking for them. Many of my students have not seen, or been to a beach. Therefore I create the beach for them. I bring in a teacher-base sandbox. In that sandbox I have sand, and then things that you would see on the beach, such as sand pails, and sand shovels. All of those things are placed inside of the sandbox. I also have an example of a crab, and I hide that crab underneath the sand. 

Once we have read the book in its entirety, each child gets to go to the sandbox. They take the shovel, and they scoop up some sand, put it in the sand shaker, and shake it to see what kind of beach treasure they have found. And they love it when they dig a little deeper, and they find hidden under that sand: the crab. This makes the beach experience relative for the child as they read the print.  

Another example of authentic literacy would be Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash. Mrs. McNosh hangs up everything from the kitchen sink, to herself at the end of the story. Before we read this book I bring in objects that we used to use to wash our clothing items. Children know the washing machine, and the dryer. Theyve never heard of a washtub, so I bring in a washtub. Theyve never heard of a washing board, so we bring in the washing board. We take a piece of cloth, wet it with some water and some soap, and they practice washing the clothing on the washboard to get the clothing items clean. We have a clothesline that Mrs. McNosh hangs her wash on in the story. 

Once we have washed our fabrics on the washboard, we use the clothespins just as Mrs. McNosh has in the story, and we hang those items that we just washed on the clothesline. We also talk about different ways to iron clothes. Back then they didnt necessarily have the irons that you plug in, so you had to take these irons, put them on the stove, let them heat up, and then you would press your clothes on the ironing boards that you had available. This just opens up a whole new world. Its the how to wash and hang up your clothing items.                       

We were studying careers at this time, and the students had to talk about what it was that they wanted to be when they grew up. Weve read the story, and now were going to do some writing to incorporate with the story. I cut out the shape of a T-shirt, and then the students, on the lines prepared, would write what they wanted to be when they grew up. Some examples are here: "I would like to be a teacher. I want to be a firefighter." And then we take this wonderful wash, and we hang it on the clothesline for the world to see.

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