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Wilbur Increases Literacy Before U Read!

Wilbur's educational mission is to nurture a love of books and reading, and to enhance children's language and early literacy skills. By presenting the educational strategies of storybook reading and language exploration through unique and engaging formats, children will have opportunities to increase their language development, vocabulary, sense of story structure, sequencing, listening comprehension and phonological awareness. By displaying printed storybook text on the screen with Wilbur tracking the words with his hoof as he reads, children will be exposed to the symbolic nature of print, an important foundational literacy skill. Children will learn that print differs from the picture and that the oral language they hear being read is connected to the print they see. They will learn that print is functional and a way to obtain information and knowledge, communicate ideas, and to solve problems.

Through literacy-rich experiences, Wilbur will instill the joy of reading in children while incorporating a developmentally appropriate curriculum to increase language development and to enhance early literacy skills, specifically concepts about books and print. Because children will associate reading with pleasure, a powerful motivating factor in learning to read, Wilbur will increase the likelihood that children will learn to love to read.

Foundational Premises

Wilbur's educational mission rests on four foundational premises grounded in early childhood developmental perspectives and the latest early literacy research.
- An initial and foundational premise is that all children are eager to learn. Babies enter the world in a state of preparedness - ready to achieve developmental goals and milestones that advance their bodies and minds toward physical and intellectual maturity (National Research Council, 2001[Eager to Learn: Educating our Preschoolers]).
- The second premise is relationships motivate learning. Parents, siblings, caregivers, adults, and peers activate young children's learning by engaging them in conversation, stimulating their curiosities, and encouraging them to do and explore. These groups also provide children emotional impetus and support (Howes, 1999). As a friend who interacts directly with the viewer, Wilbur will motivate and encourage children to become active participants, providing a warm, responsive environment where all children feel welcome and included.
- A third premise is early exposure to language and literacy activities that are stable, frequent, active, and challenging builds the foundation for reading success (National Research Council, 1997 [Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children]. The entire Wilbur series is designed to provide age-appropriate experiences and opportunities to help children acquire the foundational skills for literacy achievement.
- A final and equally fundamental premise is that communication is the goal of learning (and teaching). Language and literacy skills help children connect with others, understand the world, and express themselves within it - compelling urges for all children (Rogoff, 1990 [Apprenticeship in Thinking]). Seeing the Wilbur characters using communication in natural and functional ways, children will learn that effective communication occurs when participants attend to each other, taking turns talking and listening.

Educational Goals

The Wilbur curriculum is based on the foundational premises stated above and also includes three educational goals:
- To foster a love of books and reading, a powerful motivator in the development of children's literacy skills.
- To offer enjoyable language and literacy learning opportunities that help young children develop language and early literacy skills, specifically concepts about books and print, effective communication, and phonological awareness;
- To demonstrate a warm, responsive, and positive approach in learning situations to support constructive behavior and active participation by children (e.g., listening to one another).

Children experience the curriculum primarily through the character of Wilbur the Calf who engages them, along with his barnyard friends, in storybook reading adventures in every episode. Live action segments link Wilbur's world with our world and help children make connections between content of the episodes and their own lives.

Educational Strategies and Wilbur

Several key research-based educational strategies are repeated in each episode to engage children with essential language and literacy components (Bryant, McClean, Bradley & Crossland, 1990; Early Literacy Advisor, 2000; Holdaway, 1979; Tabors, 1997; Whitehurst, et al, 1994).

Storybook reading

Storybook reading is the cornerstone educational strategy for building foundational language and early literacy skills. Decades of research have demonstrated that there are dramatic positive benefits of reading storybooks to children. These benefits include teaching young children the functions and uses of literacy, exposing children to new vocabulary, demonstrating reading processes (e.g. making predictions, drawing conclusions, etc.), and developing a positive attitude toward books and reading. Storybook reading also familiarizes children with the language of books and aids in enhancing story structure, sequencing, and comprehension. Finally, storybook reading enhances children's knowledge of concepts about books and print, giving children an understanding of how to handle a book, the functions of print, how print is used, and basic print conventions.

In each episode, the barnyard buddies gather to hear Wilbur read an original storybook pulled from his personal library. Though a unique, engaging format, the storybook springs to life when the book opens and the characters become animated, taking part in the action. Each storybook is written with simple rhyming phrases that highlight the concept goal of the episode. Wilbur intentionally encourages children's participation by asking questions that help them to anticipate the story line, use their imaginations, and think about concepts.

As Wilbur reads aloud, Wilbur and his barnmates demonstrate the practicalities of reading books, including how to hold a book, identify the front and back, how to look from left to right and from top to bottom, how to turn pages, know where one begins to read on a page, and what a title is. Demonstrating that print symbolizes language, Wilbur's hoof follows the text on the screen of each book as he reads aloud. Children will learn the difference between print and pictures, how pictures help to figure out the meaning of the print, and the relationship between printed words, their sounds, and the concepts they convey. This increases oral and reading vocabulary, listening comprehension, and phonological awareness and helps the child develop the patterns, flow, and nature of written language. Through Wilbur, children will learn that print is functional and that reading is a meaningful activity and part of everyday activities.

Retelling

Through the strategy of retelling, children are provided the opportunity to process what they have heard being read by organizing and explaining it to others. After Wilbur reads the storybook, live action kids retell the story in their own words using the illustrations of Wilbur's book to help them remember key events and details. Retelling develops the early literacy skills of sequencing, listening comprehension, story structure, identifying concepts, and making inferences. Retelling also provides children with the opportunity to share what has been read and to further develop listening and oral language skills.

Songs, Rhymes and Character Themes

Songs are very important tools in enhancing language and literacy development through phonological awareness. They help develop the child's memory skills, listening awareness, social interaction skills, attention span, and the flow of language. In Wilbur's songs, children are also encouraged to connect story events and concepts to their own lives. Children will have fun while learning new words to familiar tunes.

All of Wilbur's songs are written in rhyming couplets. These rhymes are a fun way to enhance language development and increase phonological awareness. As reinforcement, a verse or rhyme may be repeated several times in each song to help build familiarity, confidence, and literacy skills.

Each character also has a signature musical instrument, which enhances sound differentiation, a component of language development.

Language exploration

By exposing children to participatory conversation, foundational skills underlying language (taking turns when speaking, sounds of words refer to things and actions, printed words have names, etc.) oral language comprehension and production will increase. Further, through conversation, vocabulary is presented and enhanced directly through naming and labeling as well as through context in conversations, book reading, and songs. Word play, rhyming, songs, and chants are also language exploration strategies used to involve children in hearing the syllables and sounds of oral language.

Language explorations in Wilbur use the interactions among characters, participatory interaction between Wilbur and the viewers at home, storybook reading, and singing to make comprehension and vocabulary expansion entertaining, a very necessary part of any program for young children, whose attention spans are very short. Children will see the Wilbur characters using oral language in natural and functional ways, for example by talking about shared events and reading to each other. All of this increases oral language comprehension and production, and at the same time teaches basic skills underlying language (taking turns when speaking, sounds of words refer to things and actions, printed words have names, etc.).

Together, these educational strategies bring the educational learning goals of the curriculum to life for young children and afford them rich, multi-layered opportunities for enhancing language and early literacy skills and to develop a life-long love of books and reading.

Conclusion

The multifaceted phenomena involved in learning to read and write dramatize the importance of the first years of life and the critical role of literacy rich experiences for the 2-5 year old. Wilbur truly provides the building blocks for early literacy development during the early years of a child's life and exposes children to the joys of books and reading.