Prior Knowledge

It makes sense that one of the essential components for being a “good reader” is to have access to background knowledge.  What troubles me is that in my classroom I have about 30% of my students who are ESOL, most of whom were born in another country.  I have always known that not all of my students will have the same background knowledge but have never really stopped to consider what I can do about it.

This was bothering me so I started looking around online.  I found an article, http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9219/prior.htm that sites teaching vocabulary and providing experiences as ways to increase background knowledge.  I know that ESOL teachers do a lot of work with flash cards and words in their classes.  For some reason it never occurred to me that I could bring those strategies into my classroom as well.  I’ve done picture splashes a few times but not with any consistency.  It would be nice to have a wall in the room where I could post pictures related to our big book for the week.  For example, next week’s book is Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  I could put up pictures of bears, cabins, woods, porridge.  We could use these pictures as a phonics activity each week as well and label them with the beginning sound that they make!    

Ok so teaching vocabulary seems doable, what about providing experiences?  There are probably several students in my class whose parents don’t have the means or the interest in taking them to places like the zoo or the beach.  Ideally I’d love to pack up my kids everyday and go experience different places but I know that is not realistic.  However, I could easily bring in a bag of sand and let my students touch it and play with it to introduce a book about a beach.

Last week we read Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom in my class.  Now that I am thinking about strategies for prior knowledge, it’s making me think that it would have been AWESOME to bring in a coconut to pass around.  Then we could have looked at pictures of coconut trees online.  I know the story has nothing to do with coconuts, but some of the kids may have no idea what I even mean when I read the words “coconut tree” in the story.  Next week in science we will be talking about the 5 senses, so I think I will bring in a coconut and relate it back to Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom!