At La Canada Preschool, we teach our students the alphabet through Zoo Phonics, a nationally recognized program that offers children the opportunity to learn their letters through creativity, song, and fun. Within the Zoo Phonics program, the development of early childhood education comes alive when the children have the unique opportunity to learn the alphabet phonetically, with movement, and with all their senses.
Zoo Phonics Is A Nationally Recognized Program, Taught Locally In La Cañada Flintridge, California
The alphabet, when taught too bluntly, can prove a somewhat abstract concept for very young, preschool-aged children. Zoo Phonics, a multi-sensory language arts program, was created to negate this difficulty. Studies have shown that preschool aged children actually respond far better (and more quickly) to the alphabet when it is communicated to them in a way that is more literal than abstract. To a child who has had little interaction with the alphabet before, a letter in itself is abstract. It’s only a strange new shape in their personal development of early childhood education. In Zoo Phonics, the preschool teacher utilizes an understandable example to make the letter concrete. However, it’s not just a matter of flashcards and worksheets which can be boring and uninteresting to anyone let alone preschool students.
Preschool Children respond to Zoo Phonics because they find it fun, engaging and interesting, like a friend from the animal kingdom—or their local zoo. For example, the letter b could be introduced as a bear sitting upright with a big belly, the straight stem of the b being his back, and the curve of the b being his belly.
Zoo Phonics utilizes every part of the brain to get those gears turning. It’s the essence of “multi-sensory”—children use hearing, speaking, moving, and tactile learning to grasp the letters. It suits the early childhood education environment well because children are naturally designed to learn this way; that’s why they have so many capabilities and senses in the first place! In fact, it’s a far more natural way for a young child to learn rather than a desk-bound method that would have them learn only with their eyes, or only by hearing the alphabet’s sounds repeated. There’s no need to shy away from kinesthetic learning. In our decades of teaching preschool, we have experienced quite often, that children respond best to it.
Is Zoo Phonics Fun AND Effective For Preschool?
This method is used throughout many preschools in the United States, Southern California, and across the world. It goes without saying, La Canada Preschool teaches Zoo Phonics in the greater La Cañada Flintridge area! Independent research widely supports the assertion that Zoo Phonics is effective in teaching children the alphabet. Its multi-sensory approach is specifically designed for early childhood, making it a perfect fit for preschool.
The Value of Fun Within the Development of Early Childhood Education
Any preschool parent knows that forcing a child to do an activity they find uninteresting is the surest way to make them dislike it even more—or even avoid it. The best way to foster a child’s development is to encourage them to genuinely like activity and get them to want to try it themselves. Once this is accomplished, any child can flourish. In fact, the first hurdle, the act of starting out, is the highest one. Zoo Phonics is a great way to ease your child over that hurdle and on down the race. By incorporating fun, zoo animal examples, movement, kinesthetic learning, and sound into the alphabet, that hallmark of the start of their educational journey, we start them off right, rather than starting them off intimidated. We know how their brains work, and Zoo Phonics is just the trick to get the gears turning.
If our preschool, which utilizes Zoo Phonics, sounds like the learning environment you believe that your child would thrive in why not call us at 818-790-2764 or email and arrange for a tour.