Skill Based, Phonemic* Approach to Literacy
How to Use Art to Enhance a Skills Based, Phonemics Approach to Literacy
- Verbalize frequently as you demonstrate materials.
- Engage children in art process by using a rich vocabulary as you describe it.
- Talk about directionality, or left to right, as you demonstrate materials.
- Talk about position, or top to bottom, as you demonstrate materials.
- Demonstrate specific skills in using art materials and art tools – teach technique.
- Show steps and progression in use of tools to create more complex art effects.
- Decode art as you decode language – show whole to part elements (negative/positive space, figure/ground).
- Teach Visual Literacy: Discuss shape, color and composition as elements of a visual language.
*Phonemic awareness, or the ability to hear and manipulate the separate sounds in words, is a prerequisite for phonics knowledge (understanding that letters stand for the sounds in spoken words).
Read more: Early Childhood News