The Language Bus: Bringing Early Literacy Skills to the Community

Kayla Haynes, Monett Early Childhood Center, Monett, MO 

Intro 

In our community we recently had an increase in students who speak Burmese or Karen. As an Early Childhood Special Education teacher watching the referrals come through, I began to notice that home language literacy needed to be strengthened to develop age-appropriate communication skills. Many of our 3–4-year-old students did not have the language skills to say a complete sentence in their home language.  

Our main objective was to build language skills in the homes of our Burmese and Karen populations with the use of wordless picture books, math activities, and realia. Language is needed for all aspects of a child’s education in the classroom, as they connect with peers and teachers, and throughout their lives as they grow into adulthood. The Language Bus was able to provide free literacy activities, books, and math manipulatives to each family.  

Step-by-Step Plan 

• Set a date for the Language Bus to visit and contact the Transportation Department to reserve a school bus.  

• Meet with team to discuss theme that would be most beneficial to students and families this time of year (different kinds of balls), math activity ideas, and materials and books needed. 

• Purchase and gather books and materials.  

• Contact Burmese/Karen liaison to help promote event. 

• Drive bus to common area where most families live. 

• Divide the families into two groups: 

• ELA Group: Model to families how to use wordless picture books with the use of an interpreter and use realia to support learning. We played a parachute game and bounced different balls on our parachute which we had seen in our wordless picture book, and played catch. We also modeled language skills while doing these activities. We discussed which balls were large or small, which would bounce high, which would be heavy or light to catch, etc.  

• Math Group: Demonstrate counting and writing numerals to 10 with the use of dice, counting bears, flashcards, and white boards. 

• Encourage students to participate in activities as they are being modeled.  

• Send families home with wordless picture books about balls, different types of balls that students could play with, and a packet of math activities. 

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Timeline 

November- Meet with team to develop plan and ideas. 

December- Check in with team and purchase materials and books. 

January- Introduce the Language Bus to the staff at our building through PD opportunities and generate enthusiasm about the event to recruit volunteers. 

February – March- Continue preparation for event, and make sure liaison has touched base with Burmese and Karen families. 

April - Language Bus Event. 

April – May- Meet with the team to discuss what went well, any changes needed for the next event, feedback from families from liaison, etc. 

Materials 

Amazon 

• Balls: Wordless Picture Books with Real Pictures (50 copies) 

• Ball: Board Book (50 copies) 

• A Ball for Daisy (50 copies) 

• 50 Mini footballs 

• 50 Beach balls 

• Bus Expense 

• Sandwich Bags for Bears 

• 50 My First Book of Patterns: Numbers 1-20 

• 5 sets of Counting Bears 

• 50 Number Flash Cards 

• 50 Lined Dry Erase Boards which included a marker/eraser 

• Banner for the Bus 

Sustainability 

We plan to continue the Language Bus to provide support to all families over the years! Each school year, we will target a different area of the community. There are a variety of different cultures in our community. The Monett District has over 20 different languages spoken. Through the Language Bus we hope to target our Hispanic, Caucasian, African American, and Asian families. 

Reflections  

Wordless picture books are a powerful tool that can be used in any home, to build literacy skills. Many of our non-English speaking families are not able to read books to their children as they do not have access to books in their home language and the parents are unable to read English. Wordless picture books allow children and parents to use images to tell their own story, increasing confidence and independence. Wordless picture books develop comprehension skills, introduce new vocabulary, promote verbal skills and discussion, encourage story structure and sequencing, and build a foundation for reading and writing. Our Burmese and Karen parents were excited to have books in their home that  they could read with their children.  

Our district has promoted Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. We have also handed out free books at our family events that happen throughout the year. All of the free books we have handed out are great resources, however the families cannot read them to their children as they are in English. Wordless picture books for these families have been a gift which they appreciate very much. 

As noted by Reading Rockets (2024), “Wordless picture books are told entirely through their illustrations — they are books without words, or sometimes just a few words. Sharing wordless books with a child provides an opportunity for literacy-rich conversations.” 

Math is just as important as reading. Everyone uses some sort of basic math skills throughout their day. People use math skills to cook, measure, tell the time of day, order quantities of objects, and pay for items at a store. Basic math skills are a necessity, but abstract math skills are also important. Some of our Karen and Burmese families do not have basic math skills themselves, and are unable to help their children develop these skills. Foundational math skills include counting, measurement, telling time, the value of money, and operations (addition, subtraction, etc.) The Learning Bus allowed us to model these basic foundational math skills for families and provide them with math learning games they could keep at home. 

According to the Kennedy Krieger Institute, “Math learning starts with counting physical objects with caretakers, understanding concepts of less and more or full and empty by playing with food or toys, and general ideas of mass with bigger and smaller. None of these math skills require numerals. They do, however, require language” Carey & Jacobson (2020). 

After hosting the event, the staff sent out surveys to the families in their home language and met to discuss. Overall, the feedback we received from the families was very positive. Families loved the event, felt like they learned a lot, and were given several resources and materials they could use at home to help their child learn and grow. They asked if the event could also be held at the Intermediate, Middle and High school level.  

This was something the team was taking into consideration for future years.  

Overall, the staff felt like the event went really well. We had decent attendance, felt like the students and their families enjoyed it, and felt like the purpose behind the language bus was met—modeling math and reading strategies for families to increase language skills in the home. The next event will be at a different location, will meet the needs of other minority groups in our area, and may be differentiated to meet the needs of a variety of ages of children. 

References 

Reading Rockets. (2024). Sharing wordless picture books. Reading Rockets. https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/reading-aloud/articles/sharing-wordless-picture-books  

Carey, L. B., & Jacobson, L. A. (2020). How do language skills impact math learning? Kennedy Krieger Institute. https://www.kennedykrieger.org/stories/linking-research-classrooms-blog/how-do-language-skills-impact-math-learning#:~:text=Thus%2C%20the%20beginning%20of%20math,the%20symbolic%20nature%20of%20numerals