Speech and Language
by Kay Zollner and Kim Stewart
SPEECH and LANGUAGE
What it's all about!
Here at Eastwood School, we want every child to be able to say the sounds in our English language as best he or she can. We should be able to understand 90% of a kindergarten student's speech and 95% of a first grader's speech. If we can't, we identify the sound a child struggles with and decide whether or not the struggle is to be expected, given the child's age. If a child has reached a certain age at which a struggle should no longer be expected, we set out to help the child learn to say the sound correctly.
These are the sounds we work on:
At age 5: k, g, ng, f, v, b, p, m n, t, d, h, w, all vowels, y
At age 6: sh, ch, zh
At age 7: s,z , s blends, l, l blends
At age 8: r, r blends, th
We also want every child to continue to develop good oral language skills, which lay the foundation for learning to read and write. Oral language skills include listening and speaking. We want all Eastwood students to know what it means to be good listeners and to practice attentive listening as a skill. We encourage students who do not understand what they are hearing to ask questions to get the help or information they need. Good listening looks a certain way. We remind students to listen with their whole bodies. Listening ears tune in to what is being taught. Listening eyes look at the speaker. Listening brains think about what is being said. Listening mouths stay quiet when another mouth "has the floor." Listening hands and feet stay quiet too, and keep to themselves. Listening seats stay where they belong. Most importantly, listening hearts show respect for the person who "has the floor." Please reinforce good listening skills at home.
We want all students to be able to communicate thoughts and ideas well.
Kindergarten students should:
Speak in 6-8 word sentences
Know around 2500 words
Use pronouns correctly
Define objects by use
Know full name/address/date of birth
Recite Pledge of Allegiance/School Pledge/days of week/months of year
Ask questions for information
Older students should:
Speak and write in more and more complex sentences
Use language for specific academic purposes such as:
- Describing
- Retelling
- Comparing
- Explaining
You can continue to work on your child's oral language skills at home by:
- Reading to and with your child
- Asking your child questions about what is read
- Talking with your child about new words encountered while reading
- Talking with your child about a day's events
- Defining words and explaining common processes to your child
- Singing songs and rhymes with your child
- Encouraging your child to talk about feelings/thoughts/hopes/fears
- Listening and responding attentively when your child talks to you
