This paper describes the methods used at the Helen Gordon Child Development Center in Portland, Oregon, where a wide range of techniques are used with preschoolers to engage them in reading, writing, storytelling, and playacting through which they learn the meaning of words and relate the written word to the spoken word (Novick, 1999/2000, 70). The teacher-child ratio is very high, and the children are encouraged to make up or tell stories to relieve tensions and fears, solve disputes with other children, express themselves and make up stories which they dictate to staff members, who write them down verbatim as spoken by the children (70). These writings are kept in books that the children can look at and read, and they see how the written word related to the spoken word. They learn letter recognition, and word recognition, and the fact that words are made up of different sounds.
Play-acting is encouraged, and the staff read to the children a lot and encourage writing and storytelling - real or made up - by the children. The whole place has a casual, homey look, with rocking chairs, sofas, and mats strewn around to imitate the home environment so the children can relax and behave as they would at home (Novick, 1999/2000, 71). The staff use any opportunity to read to the children, and a child can ask at any time to have a story read. The big rooms have a plentiful supply of books to choose from, which relate to the types of issues the children are likely to encounter - a new sibling, separation from parents, disputes with other children (72). Singing, poetry, nursery rhymes and other forms of wordplay are used frequently. The children from this program enter school with an average vocabulary of more than 5000 words, familiarity with stories and books, and a love for pretend play and poetic images (75). They are well-prepared to become confident readers and writers.
The childcare environment offered at the Helen Gordon ...