With technology growing and expanding ever more rapidly, children are constantly being bombarded with images, logos, adds, and the list goes on. When thinking of a consumer driven society and children, many negative thoughts or feelings may arise for the parents of these children. One positive way to look at it, is that children are always taking in their environment; what they see, watch, hear, so literacy is practically everywhere! A Google logo, for instance, is probably recognizable to almost any child of a school age year. Granted, there is not an object that goes along with the Google print, but just hearing the word- "Google" is new just to this generation alone! One example in class was a subway logo, print, and a subway napkin. To one child who is not exposed to the internet may think that Google is just a funny sounding word. To another child, the meaning is completely different. Same with the subway napkin! Environmental print awareness is important to children, and important for us as teacher's to be aware that children are observer's of their environment.
Some may question if we are losing some authenticity with the ever growing internet right at our fingertips, especially when some children would rather prefer spending time online or on a computer game then engage in a book. So, one really cool idea brought up in class today, was a take-home literacy pack! The ideas are endless for what teachers can do with this, and it also helps bridge the gap between home and school! The pack usually comes with at least one book, and whatever other materials go along with that planned activity. We learned that children, not only would be enthused about the activity, but spending time with their family doing a small activity can really help engage the learner and become more interested in reading just by spending 5 or 10 minutes with the take-home pack. Imagination can come alive, and spark a child's interest on a subject he or she may not have even been aware of before!
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