Improving Preschool Literacy in Urban Children

Janice Hill, MS, has been instrumental in improving the effectiveness of urban Christian education through involvement in Philadelphia Area Christian Schools (PACS) and ACSI.

Many urban children arrive at kindergarten unprepared to learn kindergarten-level material. This learning deficit places them behind other children, causing a gap that often continues (Allington and McGill-Franzen 2003, 68). When children do not learn to read, they are learning to fail. Unfortunately, many of these students drop out of school and end up in the justice system. In a democratic society, literacy is absolutely necessary if students are to function in a community that is at every level a global society. Many scientific studies support the finding that urban schools have failed children. If Christian schools are to make a difference in the lives of urban children, what must be done?

Preliteracy Activities at Home

Literacy is a lifelong process beginning at birth and continuing throughout the life of an individual. Research tells us that the first four years of life are so important to literacy and that the children whose families are economically and socially disadvantaged have fewer books in the home, are not read to as often, are not told stories or interacted with in conversation, and have parents with low literacy who are often not engaged in the literacy process (West, Denton, and Germino-Hausken 2000). The absence of these activities places children at a disadvantage in developing the cognitive processes that will be important in learning to read.

This disadvantage does not even address the problems that may exist regarding the children’s health, well-being, family structure, and discipline at home. Christian schools must become Jesus to these children. When they are hungry, we must feed them, and when they are illiterate, we much teach them. As we minister to them at the level of their needs, we have the greatest opportunity of a lifetime: to teach them about their Savior, Jesus Christ. In order to minister to them effectively, Christian schools and early education centers must first be institutions of excellence able to serve all children at the point of their need. This ability requires Christian teachers who are equipped to teach not only reading and math but also the saving grace of God and who are committed to the children and the children’s families in love.

Preliteracy Activities in Christian Education

Only with this commitment to ministry can Christian schools provide to urban children the preschool programs that will give them the experiences they have missed at home. Many children come to school knowing the alphabet and having phonemic awareness, and some are able to read words according to the ECLS-K, but most urban children are not able to perform at that level because of the deficits in their home (West, Denton, and Germino-Hausken 2000). Christian preschool programs must provide urban children with the literacy activities lacking in their homes, such as reading books, developing language, going on field trips, having learning play time, and practicing elements of critical thinking.

According to the Report of the National Reading Panel (U.S. Department of Education 2000), reading is a complex process that requires instruction in phonemic awareness, fluency, phonics, comprehension, and vocabulary. These findings, based on scientific research, indicated the following:

• Instruction in phonemic awareness is highly effective in teaching reading to children who have a variety of learning styles.
• Systematic phonics instruction produces the most significant benefits for students. Not only is it highly effective, but it is also lasting in improving “low SES [socioeconomic status] children’s alphabetic knowledge and word reading skills” (p. 9).
• The impact of instruction is especially important for urban preschool children who do not always speak standard English and must be given instruction in phonemic awareness and systematic phonics to bridge the gap between reading and speaking the language. Specific language development activities can be made from field trips and classroom experiences in order to build the language.
• Fluency is important to vocabulary and comprehension. It is often assumed that when students know how to read, they will then become fluent. This assumption is false because students must build their vocabulary and practice reading in order to become fluent. Urban children often do not practice reading on their own. Even good students report they read only when their schoolwork requires it. There are several silent reading programs that may increase fluency, but repeated guided oral reading is recommended.
• Comprehension means understanding what is read. Various strategies for comprehension are vocabulary development, active interaction of the reader with the text, and better preparation of teachers for helping students with this process. It is critical that students understand what they read. If they do not, reading has not actually taken place.

In an early education program, children get prepared to become fluent readers by teachers who read often and with expression. Pulling out words unfamiliar to children, defining these words, and practicing pronunciation all model reading as discovery. Lists of new words in the classroom build the children’s vocabularies. Fluent reading to children also models inflection and engages interest in reading.

To help children with comprehending what has been read to them, their teachers in the early childhood program begin to ask them questions about the stories they read to the children. The teachers ask them what came first, in the middle, and last in the stories. Most important of all, teachers try to bridge the gap between what the children already understand and what the story is about.

The importance of teaching these concepts while children are in the preschool environment cannot be overstated. Research has shown that the literacy gap between rich and poor children increases from less than one year at the beginning of first grade to almost three years by the end of fifth grade. Some researchers have even found that children from low SES families need a summer reading program just to hold their own place with children of more affluent families (Allington and McGill-Franzen 2003, 70).

Social Class Differences

Finally, the issue of social class must be addressed. In a Christian environment, teachers know that God does not use social distinctions in His acceptance of us and that we must not use them with  our students and their families. However, it is important for teachers to understand each child in the classroom so that they can help the children who need to bridge the chasm between middle-class knowledge and the knowledge they have. Middle-class knowledge is typically taught and spoken in the classroom but only in some homes. R. K. Payne (2003) asserts that children must be taught that just as they use different rules for playing their video games than they use in everyday negotiating in order to win, so they must also use different social rules at school than they use at home. Testing materials are often in middle-class language; the teacher may speak a different style of English than the children speak at home; and the dress, music, and values in the classroom may be different from what the children experience at home.

If Christian schools are to be effective, teachers, administration, and staff must first acknowledge and understand these differences. Children learn best in a trusting atmosphere characterized by acceptance and high expectations (State Board for Educator Certification and Educational Testing Service 2002, 18). In order to provide the optimal learning environment, teachers must understand their children’s learning styles and background so that they will know how to challenge these children to do their best work without creating cultural clashes that alienate them.

Conclusion

Urban Christian schools have a formidable task before them. But it is not impossible because resident in every Christian principal, teacher, and director is the Spirit of God, and His wisdom is given for every task. Coming soon on the national scene are vouchers or other changes based on the concept of vouchers, and if our Christian schools are to be ready to take their place of ministry among those competing for our children’s souls, they must prepare now to accept the urban preschool children so that these children can be ready for school. Our schools must also become havens to those who have fewer of this world’s goods in order for our schools to become the salt of the earth and to lead these children to Jesus Christ.

Bibliography

Allington, R. L., and A. McGill-Franzen. 2003. The impact of summer setback on the reading achievement gap. Phi Delta Kappan 85, no. 1 (September): 68–75.

Lewis, A. C. 2003. Educating our youngest citizens. Phi Delta Kappan 85, no. 2 (October): 99–100.

Payne, R. K. 2003. A framework for understanding poverty. 3rd rev. ed. Highlands, TX: Aha! Process.

State Board for Educator Certification and Educational Testing Service. 2002. TxBess framework: Beginning teacher performance standards, a developmental continuum. (April). [Note: the link no longer works.]

U.S. Department of Education. 2000. National Institute of Literacy and National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

West, Jerry, Kristin Denton, and Elvie Germino-Hausken. 2000. America’s kindergartners: Findings from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–99, Fall 1998. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics.
 

Lesson Plan

The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza)

(Retold by Philemon Sturges and illustrated by Amy Walrod. New York: Puffin Books, 1999)

Anticipatory Set

The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza) is about a hen that was hungry and wanted to make pizza. She asked her playmates to help her, but they did not help until after they had some of the pizza she made.

Introduce the book in the following way:

• Ask the children to make predictions about the story on the basis of the book’s cover.
• Ask open-ended questions including, What do you think the story is about? and What do you think will happen to the hen and her friends?
• Introduce the new words, such as chickweed, rummaged, eggplant, delicatessen, mozzarella, and kneaded, and ensure the children understand their meanings.

Questioning for comprehension should address the following:

1. On the literal level, the children find the answers on the pages and in the text.
2. On the interpretive level, the children must infer something from the text; they need to read between the lines.
3. On the critical level, the children must evaluate, assess, or make a judgment.
4. When giving a creative response, the children must interpret an aspect of the story or respond in a new way as a result of the book.

The following are examples of strategic questions:

Literal Level

• What was wrong with the Little Red Hen?
• What did the Little Red Hen want to make?

Interpretive Level

• Why did the Little Red Hen keep going to the store?
• What could she have done differently to encourage her friends to help her?

Critical Level

• Do you believe that her response to her friends was correct? Why or why not?
• What should friends do when another friend is in trouble?

Creative Response Level

• If you were the Little Red Hen, what would you have done differently to encourage your friends to help you?
• How would you have avoided so many trips to the store?

The following are possible additional activities:

• The children can create a different ending to the story.
• The children can make up a different plot.
• The children can create their own very-hungry story.
• The children can dramatize the story, using puppets or stick figures.

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