Yvonne BlackGrowing up in the nineteen sixties Yvonne Black remembers learning to read in the lower elementary public school classroom with the look say, Dick and Jane, reading series. In middle elementary she was introduced to graphophonic cues and phonologicalawareness; in upper elementary she learned sentence construction, cohesion, writing mechanics (physically producing text, spelling correctly and producing accurate grammar) writing process (generating and organizing information, planning, and editing) along with the eight parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections. These learned skills were the gateway for Yvonne to become a proficient reader and writer. In the nineteen nineties Yvonne recognized that the instructional approach began shifting from a teacher-directed, graphophonic cues and phonological awareness method to a learner-centered, whole language, approach. Sharing much with the tenets of constructivist theory, knowledge is seen not as a consequence of absorbing information presented by the environment but rather as an invention created by the child. Whole language, invented spelling and self-directed writing were being promoted in the classroom. As awareness grows that parents are a child's best, first, teacher and successful language acquisition and literacy skills begins in the home; parents are encouraged to embrace reading aloud to their young children daily starting in infancy, and teaching them foundational reading skills. With sincere appreciation that reading and writing skills are the gate-way to future success for the individual and the nation as a whole, Yvonne invites you into this literacy foundation learning experience. Read More Read Less