Sabrina D.

Hobday-Minten
Professor Cataldo
ECE 3603
Flannel Board Project

A crucial component in developing our students linguistically is to present them with literature

every chance we get. In order to avoid falling into a monotonous routine, it is important to be

innovative and creative. A prime example is reading or story-time. As much as anyone enjoys a good

book, it can be simple to grow tired of or become disengaged with if the same thing is repeated daily.

During one of my weekly visits at the PreK for SA education center, I performed a read aloud with a

flannel board story. The idea behind the flannel board project is to create enjoyment behind reading.

Visual props tend to bring a sense of excitement into the classroom. The flannel board story project

can be so intriguing that even those students that are usually uninterested in story time, become

inquisitive. It also creates suspense, as the children await what object will be placed on the board

next. Once they see the new item, they can more easily interpret its meaning, as if it is brought to life.

By incorporating a flannel board with felt pieces to tell the story, we are able to broaden the minds of

the student. It provides them with a visual representation which can aide a meaningful connection to

the story. In order to facilitate these connections and additional understand of the story, there are five

components that work together, phonetics, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. There is

a lot of information that makes up these five aspects of language, I will provide a general reflection of

how they were each incorporated into my flannel board project.

Phonetics relates to a system of sounds and these sounds represent patterns and eventually

words. In preschooler, students are beginning to match sounds to pictures. Although phonetics is not

directly impacted by including a flannel story board, the role is played out through the story telling

itself. As I read the story the words and sounds of words are registering in the young students minds.

Morphology is characterized by the meaning behind the words. When children make

connections between the sound of the word and the meaning of the word, they are practicing
 Sabrina D. Hobday-Minten
Professor Cataldo
ECE 3603
morphology. When a child hears the word scissors, they relate the word to cutting something because

that is what scissors are used for. The flannel story board plays a significant part in morphology. The

pieces of felt used to represent characters or objects are a visual representation of the word. This

supplements a connection to the word. In my story, there was a mop. Not all preschool children may

know what a mop is, but when we say the word, show the felt object and described that it is used for

cleaning. The students are now able to associate the two. Morphology also observes how words can

change. For example when you add an s to the end of the word cookie. We now have more than one

cookie. In our story, the word crayons was present. I created a felt box of crayons to show the

students that there were more than just one crayon.

Syntax describes how words and sentences are arranged. Preschool students can work on

their syntax skills simply by listening and talking. When a student is talking to me and they use a work

in an incorrect tense or has just formed their sentence in an improper way, I would simply repeat to

the student what they say, in the correct tense, as a sort of confirmation that I am listening, Im

interested, and with hopes that if they hear me say it correctly, they will model that in the future. It is

paramount that we promote the use of full sentences in the preschool classrooms, even better if we

can have them using these sentences in a grammatically correct way. Our story, If You Give a Mouse

a Cookie, contained a variety of sentences and we were able to stimulate conversation in regards to

what the mouse was doing or what was to come. Conversation is a great resource when developing

syntactic skills.

Semantics have to do with interpretation of a word. There are many words that have more than

one definition. Also, semantics, can relate to more than just one single word and its definition. Some

people may hear a sentence or even a story and interpret it in a way that another may agree with. We

see this in regards to cultural differences and even between different generations. There are literal
 Sabrina D. Hobday-Minten
Professor Cataldo
ECE 3603
meanings and subtle meanings, by reading a wide variety of books, children will hear words used in

different ways and be able to decipher their meanings according to each book.

Pragmatics demonstrate how to use language. The use of language includes many

components from having a conversation to the use of body language. An example of proper and

improper use of pragmatics can be illustrated when reading a story. If the character in the story is

having a bad day, and his mother asks, How was your day dear? They boy would respond with a

dull tone and a slouched posture. If the boy in the story were to respond with a happy smile on his

face and say the words, my day has been absolutely horrible, it was the worst day of my life, this

would reveal an improper demonstration on pragmatics.

The flannel board story project incorporates all five of these components. This practice

encompassed hands on learning, creativity as it can encouraged imagination, speaking and listening

skills and helps to develop the brain. Truly, any form of conversation or story telling can do the trick. It

is a matter of consistency, practice, and reinforcement. We are the examples for these students, and

it is important that when we speak that they are interested in listening. The flannel board project

definitely sparked some flames in the students that tend to get bored with story time.