Teachers in America
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Teachers in America
Partnering with Families to Build Early Literacy Skills with Melissa Hawkins
It takes a community to support early readers in building foundational literacy skills.
In this episode, kindergarten teacher Melissa Hawkins joins us from Hawai'i to discuss how she communicates with families to ensure students are practicing skills rooted in the Science of Reading, even when they aren’t in school. Plus, she shares strategies to make foundational literacy skills fun for students in person and online.
Teachers in America profiles K–12 teachers across the country. Hear firsthand from the people who are shaping young lives in the classroom every day. If you or someone you know would be a good candidate for Teachers in America, please email us at shaped@hmhco.com.
Hey Melissa, I'm Noel and welcome to Teachers in America. So excited to have you. Let our listeners know where are you coming from. Like, take us to the 50th state. Is it the 50th state or the?
Speaker 2:It is OK. Yeah, yeah, it's the 50th state. So, hi, thank you for having me. I'm Melissa Hawkins. I teach on Oahu in the state of Hawaii and I am on the west side of the island, the Ewa side, so near the ocean I can't see it, but we have a nice breeze outside.
Speaker 1:Nice, and are you from Hawaii? Have you always lived in Hawaii?
Speaker 2:I'm originally from California, so I spent some time in Hawaii in elementary school, so partly grew up here, partly in California, and then I moved my own family back here to enjoy everything that's here and enjoy family time, and we stuck around. So I've been here about 15 years now.
Speaker 1:Nice 50. And so in those 15 years, tell us what grade level you teach, and have you always been a teacher? Sure.
Speaker 2:So I actually started out as a writer. So I did freelance writing and I was interested in teaching. Once I volunteered in my own child's classroom. He was in a Montessori school and I really enjoyed being in the classroom helping out and I switched gears and I got my master's in elementary education and then went on for an MS in curriculum and instruction. So I taught elementary kindergarten for about six years, first grade, third grade and then enrichment for K through 5.
Speaker 1:Nice. That's a wealth of experience. And now you're teaching kindergarten, right. So let's talk about kindergarten and how you build foundational skills with your kindergartners. Let's just jump right into some strategies, ok.
Speaker 2:You want me to tell you what my go-to is. What's your go-to?
Speaker 1:Let's think about very beginning. We're in the beginning of kindergarten. How are students coming into your classroom and you're knowing that they're school ready, and then how you begin to build that foundation for literacy skills.
Speaker 2:Sure. So we start off every school year the same with our screeners, universal screeners, with getting to know the children sitting and talking with them, understanding their background, whether they had pre-K or not, and getting to know the families and what their involvement level will be. So from there, I would always use a consistent and systematic curriculum, and we start at the same place each year, but that changes as we go along and we get to know the students and see where they're at. So start with our screeners and our data and go from there.
Speaker 1:And how are you meeting your families and assessing what the communication level and engagement level is going to be with families? Do you have a communication rubric? Do you have a process?
Speaker 2:Well, we actually start off the school year with conferences, so one to one with each family and get to know them there, assess students. Usually on the first day I meet the families, just quick assessments and from there we have sessions, virtual sessions. Our school is a little different, so I have sessions to get the learning touches, the parents, on board with our process at our school. So there's a lot of communication where I work.
Speaker 1:Well, we're going to talk about your school and everything, but real quickly did I just hear you call you, refer to your families as learning coaches, literacy coaches? I know you and I have had a conversation before and I'm intrigued, but I don't think I've had the term stick yet. So talk to us about that a little bit.
Speaker 2:Sure. So yes, at our school, the parents or guardians are considered learning coaches, and they actually sign up for it. It's a charter school, so they enroll with the understanding that they are partnering with us, the educators, and they're very involved with the children from day to day, and they're all of their instruction. So, yes, learning coaches. I like how you said. Literacy coaches, though, too, and I want to start using that.
Speaker 1:Thank you for that. I think I've called them learning coaches, learning partners and literacy coaches, but I think it's what strong partnership to start in kindergarten and begin to have that connection with their child, with their family and families. Understanding the learning and the expectations of those milestones are you following when you think about your foundational skills? Have you transitioned to structured literacy and more of the science of reading in the last three years?
Speaker 2:Yes, definitely. So I would say that I've always followed the science of reading. I'm trained in, I would say, structured literacy models and I won't name any in particular. But our school is new to HMH. We started using into reading last school year and I use the foundational pathway, and then this school year I was really excited to start the structured literacy pathway and it's been wonderful to follow. It's very familiar to me and we're seeing really good results with it. So yes, we do follow a structured literacy path.
Speaker 1:With your kindergartners. What do you, within the scope and sequence of teaching them the letters and the sounds, what trend do you notice year to year? Or does it depend on the kindergartner? Where, within that scope and sequence, do you see where you know there's going to be more of, not challenges, that they're not going to get it, but that you know it's going to require more cycles and trials through the instruction to get that skill, that specific skill?
Speaker 2:So where in that process or where in the school year, I see that, yeah, I mean, yeah, it differs from year to year in student to student, but I feel like the process of identifying that you know where the students' strengths and stretches might be is always similar. Right? You're observing and you're looking at your data and every class I feel like there's a group of students who pick up those irregular words really quickly and they turn into sight words, and then there's some who need extra time with those and there's some that pick up the letter sounds. So there's always. I guess we can kind of group the kids where we need them to be and I feel like I see the same each year.
Speaker 1:The numbers might vary, that was, how many are in each group and I'm curious, like when you as a teacher, as a kindergarten teacher, regardless of what curriculum you're teaching or what program, you get to something and you're like I don't know if my students are going to be ready for this or they're going to be able to do it, how do you, as a teacher, talk yourself through not inhibiting, moving forward for fear of what they can't do? How do you work yourself through that?
Speaker 2:Well, it's always tricky, just try it. You just have to try it. And I think we're usually surprised by what little kids can do. And if they have a strong foundation, if they have the phonemic awareness, the phonological awareness, usually they are able to pick up the skills. We know they can't always pick it up the first time or the first five times, sometimes it takes many, many repetitions, but we keep it fun and even today I was just surprised at all the children knowing the S is plural and it has two sounds and it's pretty awesome to see that I'm going. I didn't realize you knew that, but you're all writing it and you're adding S. So yeah, you have to just try and see where you end up.
Speaker 1:That's awesome and I love you. I loved having my own aha moments. And then just what was I worried about? Or, I'm so glad that you showed me you know this, because I think I was overthinking it and too concerned, but I didn't necessarily have the right thing for you to show me that you know it. So I love those moments and your reaction. How do you make teaching the foundational skills fun? Because it's very systematic, it's very explicit. But your kindergarten how do you make it fun?
Speaker 2:Thank you. Just have to read the kindergarten room and if they're looking the other way I'll have to bring you back. So lots of music and movement, things that keep their hands busy and their brains busy at the same time. So my students have these big cookie sheets and their letter tiles on their magnetic letter tiles and elkone and boxes and they can write on those cookie sheets and so that makes them really motivated to do word building and chaining and to write sentences. Some days they're not too into that and we just have to find a different way.
Speaker 1:You know, write it in the air write it on your hand.
Speaker 2:So just lots of different ways, I guess, to do the same thing. They don't know that they're doing the same thing all the time, it's just fun for them. So yeah, keep it different.
Speaker 1:Does each child have their own cookie sheet, or do you have to? No, right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they pair up, or if they're in groups, then they get their own, and then they all have their own dry raceboards plenty of those. But yeah, it's new for me this year having these really awesome cookie sheets, so I guess we'll have to double the number next year. So everybody gets their own.
Speaker 1:It's like because they do make a really great space, Like it's bigger than sometimes some things that come with different programs. But you have that space. And how do you teach them to use the magnetic letters and use the space correctly?
Speaker 2:Well, we start without any letters on there and as we go through our lessons we add a letter or two each week, depending on where we are from the lessons, and I show them, I model for them and I tell them keep them organized. At the top it's easier to find your letters, and so they're very particular about organizing their trays because they want them to look nice and be able to build and find those letters. So we just practice and model and take good care of them. And then we have helpers who stack them, so it's their responsibility to take care of them and keep them organized.
Speaker 1:What do you notice about their confidence from the beginning of the year to the end of the year? Can you talk to us about, or will you talk to us about, what you've seen and what you anticipate, and how your students celebrate their own growth?
Speaker 2:Sure. So let's see what I see. Well, I see their progress and their ability to be able to read and to write and they get so excited over it. And we know that we have to practice at home. We could talk about that schedule, I guess, later. So they're just really proud of even if they make mistakes they're still learning. And I hear that. I heard it today. Yeah, we celebrate those wins and lots of encouragement.
Speaker 1:Do you mind sharing what you heard today?
Speaker 2:I mean, did you hear a student like work through their frustration or yeah, I think it was a student that was talking to another student who was frustrated and they said something to the effect of making mistakes as part of learning and it's okay. It was just something like that. It was the sweetest moment. Okay, we're going to make mistakes and they might happen over and over again. It was nice to see another little person up with another kindergartner so nice.
Speaker 1:Now I know I met you and saw you giving giving advice in the community to another teacher specifically about how you, how you use a component, a decodable text and, if you will, to build that confidence. Can you talk about for any of our listeners who are using into reading, how you're using the start right readers to build that confidence?
Speaker 2:Sure. So my students love the start right readers. I love them too. They're very colorful and the stories are fun and the kids can actually read them.
Speaker 2:I know that starting out they're heavier on the irregular words, which is okay, because for some students, once they have a few of those irregular words down, it really builds their confidence. It takes off that kind of cognitive demand and then they can work on the blending piece. So having a good foundation with some of those irregular words is helpful. And just understanding the text features, you know tracking what to write. So we we work on those with the start right readers and they're so excited about these books that, you know it, they'll read the whole thing. I'll tell them just one story, but they want to go through the entire thing. They can find pictures that begin with certain letters. We do site word searches. So I feel like it's an important piece. It's an important component to the whole program and there's something about, you know, turning the pages in a book that is really calming, and so that's our most fun part of the day, I think, is the start rate reader reading time.
Speaker 1:Oh nice. Are you using the alpha friends or you know what's their connection to the alphabet and the alpha friends and even the key, key images, and using those in a strategic way and very explicit and intentional way with your learners?
Speaker 2:Yes, with my students, alpha friends, we start off the beginning of the school year with those and then they do like the keyword cards and so we have some movements for some of the keywords. They really do help. Some of the children make that learning more sticky right, so they remember the sound and they have a keyword. I know some students don't need it, but for some they do and they definitely help Nice.
Speaker 1:Are you using things specific to monitor their progress? That then you know. As we segue to talking about your families and engagement and your student conferences and your conferences with families, do you use any specific tools and, and if so, is that a tool that you can, you only explain to families, or is it a tool that their child could talk through it or the family could talk through it?
Speaker 2:Gotcha. Okay, that's a good question. So I do use the structured literacy though weekly or the module assessments you know as needed. So I find this to be really handy and the kids understand the routine. And then we have screeners and progress monitoring for students. So I'll use the bowls if needed and my communication is pretty often with parents. So there's a lot of communication between me and the parent as far as progress and I think students often do know where they are and they do know you know where they need the extra practice, because we let them know and we work on those things. And if they're not sure, I said, oh, that's what we're going to work on. So they they're pretty clear on where they are and what they're working on and that's why they get so excited once they've got it down, because they know what they've accomplished and the work behind it.
Speaker 1:I find that just kind of fascinating, because at four and five, they they're starting to have, like I was able to do this, I can do this, I want to do more of this, and you're just like well, I appreciate that, but I also want you to do some of this. You know that negotiation skills Now let's talk about, because I, Melissa, have been fascinated by your school, your charter, your charter school and how it works. So talk to our listeners about your chart, the charter school, the mission of it and how it's set up, Because I don't want to give anything away, but I just want everybody to know that this is happening before the pandemic and that, I think, is what I'm the most intrigued by.
Speaker 2:Sure, I'll do my best to explain it. So I'll go kind of big picture and then we can narrow it down to what kindergarten looks like. So yes, it's a public charter school in Hawaii. We're on four islands now, so Oahu, hawaii, maui on the big island of Hawaii, and we're K through 12. And we have, I think, about 1700 students now, so the largest charter in the state and we have multiple programs within this school. So I think it's been around 16 years.
Speaker 2:I've been here. This is my 13th year so I've seen it grow and change and lots of different iterations of the school and the programs. So now we have we have a fully virtual distance learning program for the upper elementary through high school. We have career based learning. We have a design based learning for high school. For elementary we have place based which the children come in twice a week. I'm teaching in the blended learning program. We call it the three day blend, which traditional blend, which is kind of funny, there's nothing traditional about it, and so that's three days on campus and two days which are virtual or asynchronous. And so, yeah, we've been teaching virtually and putting out asynchronous work for many years.
Speaker 1:Now, how do you? Well, First, how does a family decide? This is the approach that they want, and how do y'all manage the two days asynchronous experiences.
Speaker 2:So we have a website that explains a lot, and families are often you know, it's a word of mouth they come to us or they see us in magazines or whatever.
Speaker 2:They come to the school and tour the campus and we talk to them and tell them about the program and they can decide if this is for them, if they are available, you know daily school hours and they can be a dedicated learning coach. Then they sign up for it and we're often running with elementary. The learning coaches know that there may be work after school on a Monday, wednesday, friday because it is a shorter day that they are on campus four and a half hours, and then Tuesday, thursday, it's a full learning day. So they have their work posted in Canvas and they follow those modules and anything the teacher puts out they follow it and yeah, so it's all laid out very clearly for them and we try to make it available. So parents or learning coaches have time ahead to prep, because they need a little time too, and if they have questions they can ask questions. So it's teacher driven in that sense, even though there is a lot of student agency within the classrooms themselves.
Speaker 1:How did you, melissa, prepare yourself for this level of family engagement, Because it is on a completely different level. It's not just send a note home each week or call in and check in or the you know family night, family conferences. This is a true partnership. How did you need to adjust and how have you seen yourself improve? What are ways that you've improved or things that you've put into place to ensure your success with this amount of communication and your families have just as much success with communicating back to you?
Speaker 2:Sure. So I think just understanding that different families may want different things from a program, they may have different schedules and obligations, so really looking at it from what the families want to get out of the school and also what we need to provide to students and kind of finding that balance, you know, really helps and I always assume the best of intentions with people. You know we have great families. They are all about communicating, which I appreciate, and people may not be used to that, but for me I feel like the more communication there is, the better. It's always professional and polite and we generally form really good relationships. You know, like still keep in touch with people who have moved on different parts of the world and kids that have grown up. So it's a very interesting community it's. It's a community where people are definitely dedicated to their students. The learning coaches and the teachers, the administration Everybody has an eye on what's going on with the students.
Speaker 1:Now you've taught there 13 years, so your first kindergarten class like is now in college, right or post grad, post graduate. You still keep in touch with some of them and you know what do you see in them now that you give yourself credit for being a part of who they've become.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a few families that have moved on and I get to see pictures of the whole crew. You know I'd be the younger siblings and I just I see these wonderful humans and they're wonderful families and I'm really lucky to, you know, get to work with them and you know it's it really neat to see students graduating high school too. So I taught first, so for a couple of years six years actually and so, yeah, a lot of those kids have graduated and gone on. It's pretty, pretty amazing. I've even seen some students come back as high school seniors and work with students and enrichment. So they're teaching and it's the coolest thing to see. You know this child that was seven years old, suddenly you know 18 and teaching other younger children, so pretty awesome.
Speaker 1:That is. I mean, you're very lucky and they're very, they're very lucky as well. What is when? I too like we've had in our podcast episodes before other teachers using place-based learning, which is another fascination of mine, and I wish that would have been a pedagogical concept when I was in the classroom, so now I'm sort of living vicariously through those of you who are exploring it or have brought it in. Do you use any of those place-based strategies or within your program, even though you're blended but there might be another place-based part of the program at your school?
Speaker 2:Yes, there's definitely a big emphasis on the space-based and project-based learning and that is a major component of the school. So, on top of our structured literacy and our math, so our foundational skills, we are weaving in the project-based or the place-based learning. So not sleep.
Speaker 1:Is there a lesson or a set and activity you do every year, or do do these cross-curricular ideas come to you and then you plan them out? Tell us a little, maybe, about a special project or something that you do each year.
Speaker 2:Sure. So I use the curriculum we have with. You know, inter-reading is really great, with kind of a knowledge piece and all the background information and these great big books and read alouds. So that's a really nice piece that we have. And then we do weave it into what we have going on around us.
Speaker 2:And so outside these walls that are around me, we have migratory birds right now. Those are the golden plovers. I just know them by Kalea, the Hawaiian name for these birds that fly from Alaska, and we're new on this campus, it's our second year. So last school year we noticed these birds migrating and they're very solitary and so one bird has its own space and the kids were just fascinated. So we did a whole project about the birds because why not? And it's it, lets us know that it's winter when the birds migrate and then the whales, the humpback whales, come to migrate out here. So you know, we with the little ones I don't make it to the ocean. When I taught third grade you would go on a whale watching cruises and it was really awesome, or watch the whales from the coast, but with the little ones I didn't really want them on a boat. We have Kalea here. So, yes, we use what's around us and it really does all tie into all of our subjects at some point.
Speaker 1:That is, I mean, just fascinating, Like so what's the name of the bird? Because I'm going to, I'm going to Google and follow.
Speaker 2:OK, I should know it's by now. It's a plover PLOVER I think it's the golden Pacific plover and in Hawaii it's called the Kalea. So we just they see it and they go Kalea and the bird flies away because it's scared of them. But it really fun. We have the Audubon Society volunteers come out and talk with us so we have our experts from the field teach us even more and then my students will turn around and be the experts and teach the fifth graders or another class on campus about the Kalea and how we can care for them and keep cats inside so they don't disturb the population of birds.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's awesome. So they, so they migrate as a group of birds, but then once they get on land, they have their own space and just kind of.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, you don't really see two plovers or Kalea together at one time if you do. What's going on so there? And then when it's time to go back to Alaska, they gather on certain parts of the island and they, they fly back. It's really amazing, that is.
Speaker 1:I, I would love to be a five year old there, just be like watching and observing, and it's possible for them to see this from the classroom, from the school Campus or all over the part, the part of the island where they live.
Speaker 2:So we see the solitary birds. It's really all over the island and they tend to be territorial and they'll often return to the same place. I mean, some families will tell me they've had the same bird returning. Some of them are tagged, so you know that it's the same bird that we do. Last year, I think we have three and there's definitely one this year and so they are returning and they hide up on the rooftops and the children play and then, when the field is clear, they'll be down in the field looking for food. So they're pretty predictable and it's kind of neat. And then, once they're gone, it's kind of like, oh, end of school year, it's, we're wrapping up, so it kind of helps. In Hawaii we don't have snow, you know, here in Oahu and for me it's fall, and winter is when the birds and the kulea show up.
Speaker 1:Now, what is? What are other subjects or disciplines your students are interested about and thinking about? You know, being living in Hawaii and on Oahu. What are they curious about? About the mainland and just globally? At age five, what are your kindergartners talking about? What are they curious about?
Speaker 2:snow. They're so interested in what snow is and what it's like to really be cold, because if it hits 70 degrees they're going. It's cold here. So you know, getting on an airplane is a really big deal because that's how we travel, even between islands. So I think airplanes I don't know if you could hear it, but we have, we're near, kind of near, honolulu International, and so we have airplanes and military airplanes that fly over all day and just watching those and just hearing these stories about the places that kids travel, so it's kind of it's this really interesting perspective of you know, some children have not left the islands yet and so they're so excited to watch the airplanes, think about what's new and what's out there, but they're also very, very happy to not be cold. They don't. They're very upset. We had some days that were, I think, in the high 60s and they said I'm not built for this, I like the beach. They were upset, so I don't know how that actually deal with it. I'm with them.
Speaker 1:You can tell you can tell them I'm that, I'm from Florida and we have we have had the coldest season that I've experienced in years, like a month of 50 degrees, 40 degrees, and I'm just like what is happening? I want it back to 80. So every morning I'm like is it cold? Because if it's below 70 here, we also think it's cold. So that's a nice. And I too, I'm like I'm not built for this, I'm too cold.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about the virtual asynchronous. Do y'all refer to it as virtual learning Asynchronous? What terminology were you already using that the rest of the world started using in 2020?
Speaker 2:Sure. So yes, virtual classes, virtual class, maybe we call it zoom. Now we've gone through different platforms. I think when the pandemic and all that showed up, everybody switched to zoom. We might have already been using it, but it yeah virtual and then asynchronous. We mostly refer to as independent days. I think our learning coaches know what asynchronous work is. So, yeah, pretty similar terms.
Speaker 1:Now, does asynchronous have to be? Are they watching any lessons or are they doing more interactivity at home? Are they using any digital platforms?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so with asynchronous, it's so the way I set it up and it might vary class to class, but for kindergarten I like everything systematic. That's me. So I have those same modules set up in Canvas every week and the learning coaches can just click through and some activities might be movement and hands-on and it's offline and some might be a video that they watch. I do try and get them away from a screen as much as I can, but a lot of our learning now is in front of a screen and small chunks, you know, within reason, and we build on a lot of movement time.
Speaker 1:Can you tell us about the movement time, or do you have some fun, like something fun and quick that you could talk us through, that we could all visualize?
Speaker 2:Sure, sure, I'll give it a try. I mean, if we're let's say it's a phonics lesson and I'm teaching virtually, so I have the kids for about an hour and we're moving every couple of minutes, so it might be if it's a letter, sound or name warmup, they're also making the letter with their body, making it small, making it a big letter. If we're I don't know counting words in a sentence, they can do jumping jacks to count the words in a sentence. So every little thing I can think of to get them moving, to keep them engaged, helps, because I think children, all of us, really are pretty used to being passive in front of devices and just scrolling, and so I can see it when they start to get that look and I'm thinking I'm not a YouTube video, you know I'm not a video, so I need to keep you engaged.
Speaker 2:I'm the teacher on the other side and they I'm always amazed by what a kindergartner is capable of doing. You know they're, they're writing, they're drawing, they're labeling and they're holding up their work. So, yeah, sometimes Sundays it takes more encouragement, but you know, sometimes it's on the fly, you just like we're gonna do this because we've been sitting for more than five minutes. So something about being in front of a camera makes them more wiggly. You know they have to move more. That's interesting.
Speaker 1:But I wonder if it's because they're also not getting that immediate reaction like don't feel like they're getting that immediate physical reaction from you like they do in the classroom, where they're like oh, I know she just saw my work, but they can't tell. Is she looking at my, my little whiteboard? That that?
Speaker 2:is an end that's so.
Speaker 1:I would love to watch that in action, like watch how they're, how they're interacting in class and then how they and talk to them about. What are you noticing about Ms Hopkins? How are you interacting with Ms Hawkins differently in class versus virtually?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that would be an interesting conversation, because sometimes when I share my screen, they're not able to see me, and then all the mics come on and I say I can't see you. It's okay, can you see the screen? Give me a thumbs up. So yeah, it's a whole different dynamic. It's pretty tiring sometimes, I think, for them to, so that's why you keep it super fun.
Speaker 1:I know when I, during the, during the pandemic we were, you know, once, once everybody got their sort of like equilibrium back, we were doing some classroom videos with a teacher and and the families let the students come into the lesson and be recorded and all of a sudden I'm like every but everybody's eating snacks, right, it's just natural.
Speaker 1:It's like you see a little kindergarten, or get up and go get you know cheese crackers and come back, you know, and then they're just I'm like, oh, snack time all the time. And then I'm watching over in another corner and there's a you know a kindergartener in their room and they're doing cartwheels. And I'm just like I wonder what's going through the teacher's mind. And then I would say please don't call on them, don't call them, they've been doing cartwheels. And then the teacher's like calls on them, like, oh, the story's about the. So it's like, oh, she, she was listening the whole time, she was doing cartwheels. She might have had even more comprehension because she was doing cartwheels and she was, you know, still listening to the story and we would have never allowed cartwheels in the middle of you know, circle time or or reading time. What's your favorite way to explain or or maybe not favorite, an important way that you explain Science of reading terms or the why, how you're teaching a certain certain things in a certain way for foundational skills to your you know learning coaches.
Speaker 2:That's a really important question because I think science of reading that's a big term for people and that it might sound new, even though some of the things we're doing are not new, and yeah so, and we might not have learned that way.
Speaker 2:So I do learning coach workshops. So just virtually usually, if I need to, I'll sit down with a parent face to face and we'll go over these different routines we have and we'll talk about those different foundational pieces. So the beginning of the school year, a lot of it is just 30 minute check in with me. I'll talk to you about one of these routines that we have, what it means, what it leads to, why it's important and you know kind of what to look for. And then, as the school year goes on, they start to see the routines to. So it becomes second nature, I think, for them, but it is new to a lot of people and we all kind of go. I don't remember learning that way, but once they see it, they see their children learning and I received a lot of good feedback and nobody's complained. So yeah, I think it's just we all have to be introduced to it and kind of chunk it. For all of us too, it's a big topic.
Speaker 1:It is a big topic and chunking it allowing for grace, you know, fair questions. Even I was having dialogue with teachers the other day and just like, well, is this a short, is this a short battle? I have I changed the sound? Am I over articulating? Because I, you know, was raised in the south and I know we draw out different vowel sounds and so am I hearing it right, you know? Am I, am I articulating it correctly so students can learn it? We all go through that and I, I I appreciate hearing how you connect families and keep them comfortable with learning, because if you're not an educator and trained in this, it can feel daunting and and a little bit nerve wracking. That am I am. Is my child going to learn to read? Because I didn't learn to read this way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah it's. It feels very new to people and but it's wonderful to see it coming together. So I think, yeah, we're really happy with what we've been using this school year, and sending home family letters and just kind of things that have been provided to the community of teachers I'm using to reading has been super helpful for families too.
Speaker 1:So I ask every this season. I'm starting to ask a new question at the very end, and it's because I am so passionate about the teaching profession. You know what's a teacher, always a teacher. So, knowing that we need more teachers in the space, melissa tell us why can a garden? Why now?
Speaker 2:Sure. So kindergarteners, they love to learn not the other children don't love to learn, but they just seem to love everything about learning and they come up with these really fun, creative and insightful ideas and thoughts. If you give them that opportunity. They always surprise me. I mean always and every day is new. So to see that not only the growth you know from start of school year to middle, to end that, and then also just the new about everything, so new to them. So I feel like I grow with them and I feel like they're learning coaches, we grow together. It's just a. It's a fun time, it's challenging, it doesn't come without its challenges and it can be tiring, but it's. Yeah. I don't. I don't like everything to be the same all the time. So if you don't like everything the same, you want, you want, yeah, we have consistent routines, but just you know, new stories and new learning. It's so much fun and keeps my job. It just keeps me coming back, I guess.
Speaker 1:Nice. Thank you so much. Appreciate your time. Appreciate you being here on Teachers in America and for sharing some great strategies with us and things to think about as we go through our own structured literacy journeys. Thank you for having me. Thank you.