Better Start Literacy Approach: The Newest Approach to Teaching Reading and Writing
As a parent, you want to give your child the best possible start in their education, especially when it comes to literacy skills.
In recent years, Kadimah has implemented the Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA). Initially developed by a team of researchers at the University of Canterbury, this new approach to literacy learning has been tried and tested and shown to significantly impact how children learn.
For us at Kadimah, we've seen these results up close.
What is the Better Start Literacy Approach?
BSLA is a teaching method for Year 0 to Year 2 students and has been designed specifically for New Zealand's educational and cultural context.
This approach helps young children learn to read, write and speak more effectively by systematically teaching them important phonological awareness and letter sound knowledge skills through fun, game-based activities. It also includes reading sessions in small groups using new, specially designed readers and focuses on building vocabulary skills and enhancing children's narrative and listening comprehension abilities.
This approach follows a structured phonics scope and sequence, which is used during class and small group reading sessions. Research has shown that this method is effective in improving early literacy skills.
How does it work?
At the core of BSLA is the systematic teaching of critical phonological awareness skills and letter sound knowledge skills.
It has become an important tool for us at Kadimah, with our teachers using engaging lessons to teach children the sounds of the letters and how to blend them together to form words.
Once children have a solid understanding of the basic letter sounds, they are encouraged to sound out words and read the text themselves, empowering them to become independent readers. This is a significant goal of this method – to empower children to read on their own rather than relying on adults to read to them.
To ensure that the text is both meaningful and engaging for our students, we incorporate a mix of words that can be sounded out and a few that cannot. For example, children may come across words like "said" that are not spelled as they sound (i.e., not spelled as 'sed'), but are commonly used and essential for fluent reading. By introducing this variety of words, children have the opportunity to practice their new skills and build confidence in their reading abilities.
The BSLA also explicitly teaches vocabulary skills and builds children's oral narrative and listening comprehension skills through children's story books. The approach introduces children to a range of modern themes that are relevant to their lives and their experiences in New Zealand.
For example, one of the books we had incorporated into our lessons might feature a story about going to the beach and exploring the sea life. This story might include specific Maori words that are relevant to the topic. By incorporating Maori words and modern themes into the reading material, children can learn about Maori culture and language in a way that is integrated into their everyday lives.
Benefits to students
Confidence is the key to a child's learning. As we learned with our garden project, when a child can achieve a task using what they have in their toolbox, they realise, 'Hey, I can do this'
For many children, COVID created confidence blockades as learning became more challenging. Many children came out of the pandemic, having fallen behind in their reading and writing capabilities. While our teachers followed a very structured programme during lockdowns, some children still struggled to learn online.
However, once we implemented BSLA into our teachings, we saw tremendous improvements in these children, with the programme helping to fill in the gaps and boost children over learning hurdles.
We also saw significant learning achievements for children who typically struggled with things like reading and writing. I've even had a child whose confidence in writing was so low they struggled to even pick up a pencil. With the help of BSLA, they are now writing in complete sentences, participating in class, and having a wonderful new sense of confidence in their abilities.
As a teacher, it is our job to understand how individual children learn best. Some children are on different reading levels. However, because we group teach at Kadimah, each group works according to the students' capabilities. There are students who might not need to spend as much time on work, but they are still able to continue building their skills in their own groups.
Who is doing BSLA?
While the adoption of BSLA is growing in New Zealand, many schools are only just now realising its benefits.
At Kadimah, our teachers have been studying BSLA and have implemented it in our classrooms. Through our experience, we have learned how to adapt the approach to best meet the needs of our students. We have seen firsthand the positive impact that our efforts and BSLA have had on our students' reading, writing, and oral language skills.
Conclusion
By the end of our first year using BSLA, we had classrooms of children reading above the expected level.
Feedback from parents has been much the same, with many exclaiming, 'Oh my Gosh, I can't believe my child's reading. It's just amazing.'
As a result of the way Kadimah has adopted BSLA, we have structured it in a way that we are catering for all and not strictly focusing on particular levels of learning.
The students have all developed amazingly well, and I think this system definitely played an important role in that.
If you're looking for a school that prioritises hands-on learning and empowerment, get in touch with us about starting your child their learning journey.