The creativity of teachers knows few bounds. The process of helping children read is multifaceted. One of the more unique items is shown below. We find them in kindergarten, second and third, too.
While they may look like construction materials at first glance, to a teacher working on decoding and fluency, they are reading phones. The phones provide sound conduction between articulation the ear, helping provide a multi-sensory reading experience. The kids here are showing how they work (without a book which normally is part of the process).
Children use them when they are beginning to read as well as a little later when they are working on fluency (getting the text to flow well). Have you ever been in a first grade room when children are “reading silently”? It isn’t silent at all, typically they are all whispering what they are reading. It makes so much sense, as their primary communication prior to reading certainly isn’t silent. The word is spoken or it has no meaning to young ones. Helping children hear the words they are decoding helps them with the process of reading. The “phones” enable that to happen in the classroom along with adding a little fun to the process. The phones are simple, but you can hardly believe how well they work. No batteries, no electricity, yet they work so well. Thank you Lord, for the creativity of teachers, and the joy of learning.
In Christ’s Love,
http://www.stpeterschool.homestead.com/
