next »

[devoralea]

In preschool we teach the children the Alef Bais. What proof do we have that the children know the letters? Many children recognize the letters, but did they internalize them? Do they really know them intimately? A child writing a block letter that looks proportionally correct (a nun that looks like a nun and not like a chof) expresses his inner knowledge of the letter. But if we don't encourage the children to write what they learn, how do we know that they know it.... so well that they will not have Kria problems later.
Please share your opinion....
Thanks
Devora Amram

[yaichenbaum]

How do we know if they even recognize the letters?  Is our assessment because they can point to the letters as the sing the alef/bais song or they can say the letters in order?

The only accurate assessment is if they can identify the names and sounds of the letters when they are shown the letters in RANDOM order.  Writing can help in the learning process as can other tactile/kinesthetic activities, but the main we we learn to read is THROUGH READING.  If they review and review again until the point of automaticity, then we know they have internalized the lesson.  Many kriah programs have minimal success because they do not overlearn the alef/bais.    I discuss the above issues at length in my kriah workshop.  You can view my kriah workshop in the audio/visual section of chinuch.org.

Rabbi Yaakov Aichenbaum
Kriah Specialist
Scranton Hebrew Day School
yaakov@ybm.edu