Lake Wales Pre-School Teacher Helps Literacy Skills Soar With Poetry

Lake Wales preschool director and owner of Blessed Child Daycare Vivian Lewter Loydd understands the literacy dilemma in the United States, and resolved to do something about it.

Florida has the third highest percentage of adults lacking basic prose literacy skills and its population has a literacy rate of just 80.3 percent.

With over 22 years of experience, the poet Loydd had a great idea to foster that love with her 4 and 5-year-old students recently. She realized that the solution lies in capturing the interest of students in literacy during their preschool years, and so created a program that has received special recognition from the Early Learning Coalition of Polk County.

Marc Hutek, Ed. D, CEO of the Early Learning Coalition of Polk County, a non-profit organization that provides educational support for childcare owners and subsidized childcare, understands the value of such memorable learning experiences.

"When children at this age experience such quality activities, they continually add the building blocks to their developing personalities," said Hutek. "Vivian's experience in the early learning field is a blessing to the captivated minds she hosts in her center each day. With activities like this, every child believes they can be anything they want to be, and inspiring children as Vivian does is certainly her gift to them."

Loydd agrees that knowledge is power and that children can be empowered to succeed.

"We must be able to reach a child to teach a child. It is vital for young children to have a positive learning start," said Loydd. "Many children may experience trauma before they experience positive learning, so quality early learning can make a difference in the outcome in adolescence and adulthood."

She believes creating special memories at school can have a lasting impact on students.

Loydd takes great care in teaching her classroom full of enthusiastic children, so to celebrate National Poetry Month she wrote a poem especially for them called "Soaring Into Seasons."

Soaring Into Seasons

Now that Winter has come and gone,

Birds in springtime sing sweet songs.

Playing outside where the sun shines bright,

Running, jumping, and flying my kite.

As it soars toward the sky,

My dreams and goals are just as high.

Watching the trees as the winds blow through,

What a beautiful day, with so much to do.

Spring is now,

Summer is near.

Soon will be fall, what a great year.

Loydd took great care in writing each stanza of the poem out on a large poster board with an image of what the line was describing. On a large easel in front of the class she carefully read each line and the children repeated each one as well. She made special emphasis of each rhyming word. Literacy experts have noted that poetry helps build early literacy with its characteristic rhythm and rhyme. Even kites can serve as powerful metaphors of children soaring higher and higher in learning.

"As it soars toward the sky,

My dreams and goals are just as high."

She then asked high level questions such as 'Who knows what soaring means?' 'Who knows how many seasons there are?' and 'Who can name them'? The children excitedly called out all the answers.

After the reading and discussion each child sat down to assemble and decorate their own kites. Afterward they went outside to see their kites soar.

Nancy Moses, Vice President of Programs at the Early Learning Coalition of Polk County summed up the event with another important note.

"Without a doubt, the interactions between teachers and children are the key to building learning opportunities just like these."