When you walk into the Ladybug room you may think what you see is children playing. You would be right, playing is a very important part of a young child's education. If you look a little closer you will notice the environment is set up for maximum exposure to literacy. The books in the library corner and basket change on a regular basis, the children have dictated comments about their drawing or art work and they are posted with the art. There are lots of opportunities to practice writing and tracing. Reading is modeled-holding the book the right side up, reading from top to bottom and left to right, and children write their own books. We read child with an adult, older child with Ladybug, in small groups and even read to the reading dog, Odin. We have children who are beginning readers who rely on repetitive phrases and pictures, some who are ready for easy readers and use phonics to figure out new words and finally, we have readers that are reading independently and are working on reading with grammar and expression. We want every child to think of themselves as a "reader" and to be excited about reading. Whether the children are reading to Mrs. Wollum, a parent or myself or an older child from another class or even Odin, the dog, we want the joy and excitement of reading to be there for each child.
