Invented Spelling

Children are writing.

Spelling as we know in school is a formal memorising of words and applying them during a written test. I do this weekly every Thursday. But the actual definition of spelling is very different.

Nine stages of writing

There are 9 stages of writing, namely drawing, scribbling, wavy scribbles or mock handwriting, letter-like forms or mock letters, letter strings, transitional writing, invented or phonetic spelling, beginning word and phrase writing, and lastly conventional spelling and sentence writing (Byington & Kim, 2017). Each child progresses individually through these stages, and at first, their writing may not make much sense, I did have children at K2 who are still drawing. But that is a writing development stage, albeit the first one. I will focus mainly on invented spelling for this article.

What is invented spelling?

What is invented spelling? It is defined as children using the skills and knowledge they have to show the sounds in words, so they may omit certain letters but focus on the first or last letters (Byington & Kim, 2017). They may write “juice” as “joose” because phonetically the letters do form that word, but as they reach the last stage, “Conventional spelling and sentence writing”, they will understand the difference. What we can do as educators or parents is to be nurturing and guide them along their writing development.

Use environmental print

Environmental print is a useful tool to have to teach children writing, as it is the first writing they encounter in their environment, to learn about the use of written language in various contexts, they can even be food items especially unfamiliar ones so they can learn as this focuses on children’s interests and teach them about sight words (Xu & Rutledge, 2003). This is not that complicated, you already have these things in your house, so you can just be intentional and expose your child to these words. I like to have labels of artworks they have done pasted on the walls, to encourage them to read. It is also amusing to me that whatever I write on the whiteboard interests them.

We must never forget they are visual learners, no amount of shushing can match a reward chart, or no amount of “Can you please eat your food faster?” can match a timer counting down 5 minutes.

References

Byington, T. A., & Kim, Y. (2017). Promoting Preschoolers’ Emergent Writing. Young Children, 72(5). Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/nov2017/emergent-writing

Xu, S. H., & Rutledge, A. L. (2003, March). Kindergartners Learn through Environmental Print. Young Children, 58(2), 44-51. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/42729931

Do follow me on my various social media platforms and check out my Etsy shop!

Etsy | TikTok | Facebook | Pinterest | YouTube | Linktree | Itch.io

Abuse

An adult verbally abusing a child.

Abuse. This is a difficult topic that every early childhood educator must reckon with. We are all humans, and inevitably, because of pressure from parents/colleagues/principals/children, we can end up doing the wrong things.

The types of abuse

There are many different types of abuse, and a few of them are domestic abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse (NSPCC, 2024). It is quite self-explanatory what each constitutes.

In 2023, there were 147 cases of abuse, and there are many more unreported cases and a strategy to curb this is to ensure parents and teachers can have ways to report such incidents and closed-circuit television cameras are now implemented in all preschools and government-funded early intervention centres (Chan, 2024).

Children are vulnerable, and we as adults should never hurt them, even if we are feeling overwhelmed. It is up to the management of schools to ensure that the school morale is kept at a positive level.

References

Chan, G. (2024, July 3). 147 child abuse cases investigated by ECDA in 2023 as confirmed cases also rise. The Straits Times. Retrieved from https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/147-child-abuse-cases-investigated-in-2023-as-confirmed-cases-also-rise-ecda

NSPCC. (2024). Types of abuse. Retrieved from NSPCC: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-is-child-abuse/types-of-abuse/

Do follow me on my various social media platforms and check out my Etsy shop!

Etsy | TikTok | Facebook | Pinterest | YouTube | Linktree | Itch.io

Arts and Crafts

Children enjoying doing arts and crafts together.

How constructivism relates to art-making

Constructivism is when a child learns through an active process at every stage, as they construct knowledge internally, and teachers observe children as they learn (Gray & MacBlain, 2015). I wrote this in my first post for this year. This month’s topic is about arts and crafts. I enjoy planning and executing art activities for the little ones. I especially enjoy it when the activities are more constructivist, whereby the children can be free to make mistakes and not stick to my way of doing things.

There has to be a boundary but sometimes a cookie-cutter approach to doing arts is not good. I have seen many teachers doing the same art for every single child based on the same theme. I doubt the children did most of the work themselves. Let’s learn to let go and let children be children, so they can construct knowledge on their own.

Let me share with you some ideas I have for art activities in August:

Aug: Animal Kingdom insects creepy crawlies sea creatures

6/8-Spray Painting (need artpaper, insect cutouts, real plants. spray on insects then glue on artpaper, put plants on paper and spray over then remove)

13/8-Jellyfish in a Bottle (ask parents bring clear plastic bag, clean plastic bottle)

20/8-Fork Painted Puffer Fish Craft

27/8-Paper Plate Spider Web

References

Gray, C., & MacBlain, S. (2015). Learning Theories in Childhood (2nd ed.). London: Sage.

Do follow me on my various social media platforms and check out my Etsy shop!

Etsy | TikTok | Facebook | Pinterest | YouTube | Linktree | Itch.io

Psychosocial theory (Erikson)

The distinct 8 stages of a person’s psychosocial development (Fenske, 2020).

I realised I wanted to do an article last month on parents but ended up rushing the article on writing. Oh well, thought I could keep the streak of p words. This is about psychosocial theory by Erikson. These articles are helping me remember my school APA citation stuff.

Trust vs Mistrust and Autonomy vs Shame/Doubt

When a baby is just born, they are in the Trust Versus Mistrust stage, so when an adult picks up the baby when they cry, they slowly develop trust with that person. Likewise, if the adult refuses to comfort the child, the child realises that the adult cannot be trusted. The next stage is Autonomy Versus Shame/Doubt, whereby a child discovers what he or she is capable of and they continue to gain confidence unless an adult intervenes and brings them shame and doubt. For instance, if a child draws on the wall, an adult can be encouraging and guide the child’s behaviour appropriately, like teaching the child to draw on paper instead, then the child learns he or she can be a talented artist. However, if that same child is scolded repeatedly, they may feel fear and anxiety, shame and doubt in drawing pictures. Chances are, they are not so willing to draw.

Initiative vs Guilt

According to Erikson, the Initiative Versus Guilt stage is when the child has already understood they are capable by themselves, as they use their skills to navigate the world, and the main motivator for the initiative is conscience, so children build upon the previous stages to produce actions that can bring either rewards or guilt (Santrock, 2019).

The preschool stages

As a preschool educator, my main focus is on the 2^nd and 3^rd stages. It is interesting to see how adults’ actions play a crucial role in the lives of the little ones. We have to be careful in how we discipline them. Too much can stifle their development while too little can cause them to have no boundaries. We need to be both firm and encouraging, to allow children to develop on their own terms and we as adults are just guides for their journeys.

References

Fenske, C. (2020, September). Stages of Psychosocial Development. Retrieved from Orchard Valley Counselling Services: https://www.orchardvalleycounselling.ca/stages-of-psychosocial-development/

Santrock, J. W. (2019). Life-span Development (17th Edition). New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

Do follow me on my various social media platforms and check out my Etsy shop!

Etsy | TikTok | Facebook | Pinterest | YouTube | Linktree | Itch.io

Writing

Children are writing.

I do regular journal writing with my K2s. In my school, we have a word bank book, a small notebook where they can ask me to write words they don't know how to spell. I encourage them to write anything they want and get them to think of sentences on their own. I usually don't correct their sentences as I want them to not be discouraged, but I do teach them proper writing conventions like finger spacing, upper/lowercase, and punctuation. Otherwise, I basically allow inventive spelling.

Inventive spelling

Inventive spelling is actually very simple; it is just allowing a child to write the way he or she wants to. It is not copying or penmanship. It is creative writing based on the child's own terms. I do not dictate what or how they should write, though sometimes, for certain events, I ask them to write based on a topic. But usually I allow them to be free.

I am heartened that there have been improvements in the children's writing abilities since the start of the school term. Probably due to the efforts of the parents. Some have unfortunately remained stagnant, which I will need to highlight during the upcoming parent-teacher meeting.

Do follow me on my various social media platforms and check out my Etsy shop!

Etsy | TikTok | Facebook | Pinterest | YouTube | Linktree | Itch.io

Process vs Product

Process vs product.

I started this post on 21 Nov 2020. The child is the pride and joy of every family. During take-home projects, parents often submit perfectly crafted work. Teachers are not dumb; they will know the work has not been done by the child. Similarly, the reverse is also true. We teachers, like to “add on” to a child’s work, claiming that their work is not presentable. Well, do we understand a child’s development?

Should teachers help children?

For me, if I helped, I would be honest and claim it. I do know that sometimes an activity is too difficult for a child to attempt. But ultimately, we should respect a child’s unique development. My ex-principal even shared a teaching from someone that we teachers shouldn’t even write names on their artworks, as it would ruin them. Guilty as charged, I do that so I can keep track of the artwork. That’s why I moved on to using labels that resemble museum art pieces.

Do follow me on my various social media platforms and check out my Etsy shop!

Etsy | TikTok | Facebook | Pinterest | YouTube | Linktree | Itch.io

Positive Reinforcement

Positive reinforcement.

Positive or negative?

Firstly, when I say positive I mean adding on something, and negative means removing something. As part of behaviourism, behaviour is treated as the end factor when cognitive processes happen when external stimulus and internal response meet (Peel, 2005). 

Reinforcement: Positive or negative

A positive reinforcement is a reward, while a negative reinforcement is to prevent a bad consequence, while a positive punishment is to give a bad consequence and a negative punishment is to take away something good (Tan Meng Yin, 2020).

I will then give an example for each of the four concepts introduced. Positive reinforcement is like giving a child a sticker when he or she completes a task. You are giving the child something to hopefully encourage the behaviour to happen again. A negative reinforcement is like allowing a child to study fewer hours if he or she scores a certain grade. You are removing something to encourage the behaviour to happen.

Punishment: Positive or negative

Whereas a positive punishment is to scold a child for touching fire, to discourage the behaviour from happening again. You are adding something. A negative punishment is to take away a child’s time on the iPad because he or she got into a fight. You are removing something.

The best method is positive reinforcement, though a positive reinforcer needs to be slowly phased out. You shouldn’t be giving endless stickers to encourage a child to drink more water. Once the child acquires the behaviour or even before that, you should stop giving stickers.

Lastly, in my previous workplace, I used a token economy strategy and a reward chart. For every five ‘smiley faces’ a child gets, they may be redeemed for a reward. But for every three ‘sad faces’, a child’s privilege to play gets taken away. So positive reinforcement and negative punishment. I learned this strategy from a classmate who happens to have a child in Pathlight.

References

Peel, D. (2005). The significance of behavioural learning theory to the development of effective coaching practice. International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, 3(1), 18-28. Retrieved from http://ijebcm.brookes.ac.uk/documents/vol03issue1-paper-02.pdf

Tan Meng Yin, E. (2020). SPE105 Management of behaviour in special education (study guide). Singapore: Singapore University of Social Sciences.

Do follow me on my various social media platforms and check out my Etsy shop!

Etsy | TikTok | Facebook | Pinterest | YouTube | Linktree | Itch.io