Title:  Play and Art to Support Early Literacy

Established & edited by:  Cecilia Parra, Monica Vasquez, & Maria Ocampo-Galvan

Extended by:  Stephanie Lopez, Christina Bautista, & Brian Jones

Embellished by:  Caitlin McClure, Monica Martinez, & Merecedes Garcia

Dramatic Play & Art to Support Early Literacy

     In showing that play is always purposeful for the child, author Sandra Smidt (2011) offers the following working definition for play: Play can be defined as the way in which children within a context, a culture, a family, and a community, set about doing any or all of the following:

• Trying to solve a problem they have set themselves.
• Exploring and experiencing something that interests or concerns or scares or excites them.
• Expressing and communicating their feelings related to their experiences.

     Credible evidence supports the claim that play can serve literacy by providing settings that promote literacy activity, skills and strategies.  Therefore, we recommend that ample opportunities to engage in dramatic play and literacy-enriched play settings should be standard features in early childhood programs.  We also recommend that teachers make direct connections between literacy-enriched play centers and the academic parts of the curriculum, rather than having by play experiences as a "stand alone" activity. This play/curriculum integration will increase the likelihood that play experiences offer opportunities for children to practice and perfect important literacy skills and concepts.  (Roskos, 2009).

     When children make personal connections on their drawings, they grasp more fully the realities of their life. This is fundamental for students because art making is more than self- expression, it became a natural way to process the events on one's life, a thinking tool in the direction of the building of self perception. (Pellish, J. 2012)

It is important for educators to develop teaching strategies that address cultural identity to help student construct their own multi-layered identity and their own life narrative.  Using a student-centered approach would help students making art with enthusiasm.  We can successfully transform our teaching art into a time of personal connections, learning and growth. (Pellish, J. 2012).

     Quality of reading instruction can be improved by using arts.  The use of drama can improve visualization of the story and prosodic reading, which increase reading comprehension.  Integrating other arts such as music and poetry may also significantly improve reading fluency, phonemic awareness, systematic phonics and phoneme segmentation fluency. (Rose, D., & Magnotta, M. 2012).  Rose and Magnotta found in their four year longitudinal research study based on data that "arts-based curricula hold great promise for engaging students in a way that can generate significant gains in academic achievement." 

     Philips et. al. studied a program that integrates visual and performing arts throughout the preschool curriculum.  Preliminary results revealed improvement in young children's emergent literacy on a number of targeted and standardized measures after participation in the program.

*Teacher's note:  I use Readers Theatre as a way to celebrate and assess my leveled reading groups.  Students know their expectation of fluency and intonation.  It is a great motivator and way to showcase to their peers.

 What is Dramatic Play?

     Dramatic play can be defined as a type of play where children accept and assign roles, and then act them out.   It is a time when they break through the walls of reality, pretend to be someone or something different from themselves, and dramatize situations and actions to go along with the roles they have chosen to play. And while this type of play may be viewed as frivolous by some, it remains an integral part of the developmental learning process by allowing children to develop skills in such areas as abstract thinking, literacy, math, and social studies, in a timely, natural manner.  (Cecchini, 2007)

     The dramatic-play center in a preschool classroom is an important component to social development. There should be a variety of role-playing activities available, and children should have access to traditional and non-traditional roles in the dramatic-play, or representational-play, area.

 Kids have great imaginations and they learn about the world through imitation.

What is Art? 

According to Thompson, a comprehensive definition of art, encompassing both art as a discipline body of knowledge and a set of traditions and practices-and art as a mode of expression that every child should learn to use and to interpret would allow both art specialists and classroom teachers to contribute substantially to the process of art education.

**Art can also include expressive arts where children can draw to music which explores visual arts in conjunction with movement.  This could also tie in with rhythm and poetry. **

Art scribbles will eventually turn into words.

Books that explore art through literacy. 

Exploring primary colors with literacy and illustrations. 

Exploring art through the use of animals and the alphabet. 

 Stages of Early Literacy:

A. Alphabet Knowledge- letter recognition, lowercase letters are associated with corresponding capital letters and knowing sounds are associated with specific letters.

B. Oral language

C. Vocabulary skills

D. Understanding text, writing and spelling to make words or phrases

E. Concepts (Conventions) about Print- front/back/top/bottom of book, reading is done from left to right, and knowing who is the author/illustrator.

F. Ability to make inferences/predictions based on pictures or texts

G. Decoding

H. Environmental print- recognition of everyday text such as signs, numbers, shapes, logos, products, businesses, etc.

Why is Dramatic Play and Art Important and what are its benefits in Early Literacy?

 
Dramatic play enhances child development in four major areas.

Social/Emotional – Lev Vygotsky, the early-20^th century Russian psychologist who introduced new ideas about how a child makes sense of the world by way of self and through others, theorized that learning concepts—beyond just those brought on by formal instruction—are encountered through interaction and activity with others in everyday functions of community (Smidt, 2011).

Such encounters, what he called everyday concepts, arise through direct experiences and are important in how we come to understand the role of social behavior in a child’s early development.  Making sense of Vygotsky’s work, Smidt (2011) maintains:

• Children need considerable experience of everyday concepts—of having first-hand experiences of things which make sense to them and whose purpose is clear to them before they are expected to deal with the more abstract things involving signs and symbols—things like reading and writing 

• Children need interactions with others, both adults and other children, where both partners are focused on the same thing

         (p. 35) 

     When children come together in a dramatic play experience, they have to agree on a topic (basically what “show” they will perform), negotiate roles, and cooperate to bring it all together. And by recreating some of the life experiences they actually face, they learn how to cope with any fears and worries that may accompany these experiences. Children who participate in dramatic play experiences are better able to show empathy for others because they have “tried out” being that someone else for a while. They also develop the skills they need to cooperate with their peers, learn to control their impulses, and tend to be less aggressive than children who do not engage in this type of play.

Physical – Dramatic play helps children develop both gross and fine motor skills – fire fighters climb and parents dress their babies. And when children put their materials away, they practice eye-hand coordination and visual discrimination.

     As advocates of physical play, researchers Tilde Bekker, Janienke Sturm, and Berry Eggentech (2010) have worked to develop new, engaging, and sometimes technology-rich physical play activities in the attempt to combat recent alternative forms of play (e.g. computer games, television, etc.) that can contribute to a number of social consequences. 

Adversely, physical play proves to be very social in nature, and therefore embraces social learning concepts while also reducing health risks in children. 

Cognitive –  Arts develop cognition and improve student performance.  When children are involved in make-believe play, they make use of pictures they have created in their minds to recreate past experiences, which is a form of abstract thinking.

     Setting a table for a meal, counting out change as a cashier, dialing a telephone, and setting the clock promote the use of math skills. By adding such things as magazines, road signs, food boxes and cans, paper and pencils to the materials included in the area, we help children develop literacy skills. When children come together in this form of play, they also learn how to share ideas, and solve problems together.Children also improve reading fluency, phonemic awareness, systematic phonics and phoneme segmentation fluency.

     As well as developing literacy and math skills, play also acts to sustain attention and motivate children.   For example, children tend to reveal what they know when tasks are ingrained into games, however, when no specific purpose is offered, competency levels—disguised or otherwise—appear to diminish (Hirsh-Paske, Golinkoff, Berk, & Singer, 2009). 

Language – In order to work together in a dramatic play situation, children learn to use language to explain what they are doing. They learn to ask and answer questions and the words they use fit whatever role they are playing. Personal vocabularies grow as they begin to use new words appropriately, and the importance of reading and writing skills in everyday life becomes apparent by their use of literacy materials that fill the area.  (Cecchini, 2007)

Strategies for Teachers: 

Here is a comprehensive teacher created list of classroom ideas on how to incorporate art and play in daily activities. 

For a proper play setting, children need adequate time and space in order to explore their respective interests and engage in various forms of play (Smidt, 2011).

Four Components of Literacy and Activities

Please click on the links for a description and example of each component outlined.

*Teacher's note:  My favorite reading strategy is mental images.  They serve as an artistic way of visual comprehension in my classroom.  My students can easily seek their answers by reading their mental images rather than rereading 3 or 4 times and tiring their reading stamina.  Mental images can be taught as early as kindergarten and used in STAAR assessment grade levels as well.

Helpful Videos:

 Play materials to incorporate in your class library to support literacy skills: Very cute ideas.

Bring a book to life by using technology: 

 English Language Arts & Reading Resource Agencies:

Region 20

International Reading Association (IRA)
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
National Reading Panel (NRP)
Southwest Education Development Laboratory (SEDL)
Texas State Reading Association (TSRA)
Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and Language Arts (VGCLRA)
VGCRLA supports the Texas Student Success Initiative while at the same time broadening its focus beyond Texas to contribute to the efforts of national researchers and educators who are working to enable all children to read on grade level by third grade and throughout their school careers. To fulfill these goals, the Center relies on five major components: Professional Development, Special Education Reading Project (SERP), Higher Education Collaborative (Texas and National), Research, and the Texas Family Literacy Center.

Tim Brown: Tales of Creativity and Play

Provides activities that you can do with your students to promote creativity and play. Also has some good points about the importance of creativity and play.

     “Any approach to language and thought that eliminates dramatic play, and its underlying themes of friendship and safety lost and found, ignores the greatest incentive to the creative process. Play and its necessary core of storytelling are the primary realities in the preschool and kindergarten, and they well be the prototypes for imaginative endeavors throughout our lives,” (Paley, pg 6).

     "Creating a visual interpretation for a literary text generates thought because there is no one-to-one correspondence between a sketch and its literary referent.  Critical thinking is involved most deeply during the process of invention, when an anomoly is raised (what metaphor can stand for a story element), and a hypothesis is generated (x could stand for y) that is then tested" (Siegel, 1995).

     "By becoming characters in stories through drama, young children are able to immerse themselves in the story world and develop literary understanding that might stretch beyond what is expected for that age group" (Adomat, 2012).

Texas Guidelines and Standards:

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts:

http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter110/ch110a.html

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Fine Arts:

http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter117/ch117a.html

Early Literacy Assessment Models:

STAR, Standardized Test for the Assessment of Reading. http://www.renlearn.com/sel/

PALS, The Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening. https://www.palsmarketplace.com/assessments/

References:

Adomat, D. (2012). Becoming Characters: Deepening Young Children's Literary Understanding through Drama. Journal Of Children's Literature, 38(1), 44-51.

Bekker, T., Sturm, J., & Eggentech, B. (2010). Designing playful interactions for social interaction and physical play. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 14(5), pp. 385-396. doi: SpringerLink

Cecchini, M.  (2008).  How Dramatic Play Can Enhance Learning.  Retrieved from

http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=751

Roskos, K. A., Christie, J. F., & Richgels, D. J. (2003). The Essentials of Early Literacy Instruction. YC: Young Children, 58(2), 52-60.

Dickinson, D., Neuman, S. (2006)  Handbook of Early Literacy Research, Volume 2. The Relationships between Sociodramatic Play and Literacy Development, 20, pp.269-280. 

Hirsh-Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R.M., Berk, L.E., & Singer, D.G. (2009).  A Mandate for Playful Learning in Preschool: Presenting the Evidence.  New York: Oxford University Press

McMahon, J. Performing Arts Journal , Vol. 17, No. 2/3, The Arts and the University (May - Sep., 1995), pp. 126-132  Performing Art Journal, Inc.

Paley, V.G. (1990). The boy who would be a helicopter. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Region 20 Website for English Language Arts & Reading Links.

Christie, J. F., & Roskos, K. A. (2009). Play’s potential in early literacy development. Encyclopedia on early childhood development, 1-6.

Siegel, M. (1995). More Than Words: The Generative Power of Transmediation for Learning. Canadian Journal Of Education, 20(4), 455-75

Smidt, S. (2011). Playing To Learn: The Role of Play in the Early Years.  New York: Routledge

PELLISH, J. (2012). PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE: Stories of Identity in an Elementary Art Room. Art Education, 65(1), 19-24.

Rose, D., & Magnotta, M. (2012). Succeeding with High-Risk K–3 Populations Using Arts-Based Reading Instruction: A Longitudinal Study

Phillips, R. D., Gorton, R. L., Pinciotti, P., & Sachdev, A. (2010). Promising Findings on Preschoolers' Emergent Literacy and School Readiness In Arts-integrated Early Childhood Settings. Early Childhood Education Journal, 38(2), 111-122.

Soundy, C. S., & Drucker, M. F. (2010). Picture Partners: A Co-creative Journey into Visual Literacy. Early Childhood Education Journal, 37(6), 447-460.

Thompson, C. (1997). Teaching art in elementary schools: Shared responsibilities and distinctive roles. Arts Education Policy Review, 99(2), 15-21