Early+Years+Learners+and+Funds+of+Knowledge

== =**Funds Of Knowledge**=

**What we learnt about our early years learners and their funds of knowledge through engagement with the early years learners **


 * //Renee: Through conducting a 'Funds of Knowledge' survey on my early years learner, it was evident that 'Child A'  is a seven year old girl who lives with her mother, father, younger brother and pet cat. She enjoys reading fantasy novels by Rhol Dahl quietly by herself or watching 'funny television shows' on the ABC channel with her brother. Child A enjoys cooking at school and is interested about world events such as the tsunami in Japan.  //**

//Emma:// After conducting a 'Funds of Knowledge' survey on my early years learner it was evident how much she enjoyed both reading and drawing, and was able to identify why it is important for people to read. Whenever the chance, Kiah* would watch her favourite TV shows/movies in the play room and games & 'mums and dads' with her younger sister, and enjoys being active outside; riding her bike and scooter around the back yard.

//Sarah:// Through an interview that was conducted to investigate the Funds of Knowledge of a six year old girl, Martha and questions that were asked to her mother. The responses show that she likes to play the Wii (when she can on the weekends) she also likes playing with her brothers and she likes to play with ‘girl’ Lego. Martha likes her sport she enjoys ballet and swimming and one of her favourite things to do is art and craft activities. When asked what movies she likes watching Martha answered ‘funny ones’ like Despicable me. Her favourite book is The Magic Far away Tree collection. Martha’s answers were confirmed with the responses from her mother, who stated that she loved animation movies (Despicable Me in particular); she also said Martha enjoyed going to ballet and participating in swimming with her friends. Martha’s mother also stated that her favourite book was the Magic Faraway Tree and which supports Martha’s response about her favourite book.

//Sam:// Through conducting a 'Funds of Knowledge' survey on my early years learner, responses show that Grace* is the youngest in her family (by quite a lot) and that she spends a lot of time with her sister, mum and dad. Both Table’s A + B, confirm that Grace enjoys reading a lot (especially chapter books and animal related texts), and that she enjoys watching certain TV with her mum. Table B also shows that Grace’s* funds of knowledge are built around a lot of literature and text, and that her family have a big influence on the types of activities she is involved with (e.g. Visiting siblings sports and loving to read and write at home).

//Erin:// After conducting a 'Funds of Knowledge' survey on my early years learner, I learnt that he enjoys reading and writing quite a lot, and that he has a good knowledge of why it is important to be able to read and write. My early years learner also enjoys using technology, playing games and participating in sport.

//Sheridan:// Through learning engagements with my early years learner and his active answers to reading and writing surveys illustrates how comfortable Sam* is with understanding primary school literature. Sam is able to identify why it is we read and write and understands the key learning skills to building our Funds of Knowledge. Sam is the eldest brother and spends a few days a week at his dad’s. Being the eldest, Sam likes to take responsibility and teach his brother what he does at school; this shows Sam likes the extra learning and is able to understand what his teacher is teaching. Sam’s interest and hobbies show he is an outside type that likes the action and animals, he will often use his mum’s iPhone to read interactive books and play different educational games. These Funds of Knowledge are validated in Sam’s Interest Survey and facilitate Sam’s responses within the Reading and Writing Surveys conducted.

**Define Funds of Knowledge** Different families and communities have different funds of knowledge. It is important to get to know the children in your classroom so that you can make the curriculum more meaningful to them (Hill, S 2009, p.57). Teachers do this to create universality between home and school life and to gain the knowledge on how to adapt their lessons to suit the individual (Moll, L.C 1992).

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**Data Collected from Early Learner Interviews**

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**Data Collected from Reading Interest Surveys**

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**Data Collected from Writing Interest Surveys**

**Collected Data Summarised**

//Renee's early years learner:// //-// enjoys watching t.v - enjoys reading independantly - favourite t.v channel is ABC - doesnt get read to at home - likes to paint and draw - enjoys fantasy

//Emma's early years learner:// //-// enjoys watching t.v -enjoys drawing - enjoys writing -likes funny t.v shows - likes playing games

//Sarah's early years learner:// //-// enjoys playing computer games - plays with siblings - enjoys ballet -enjoys swimming - enjoys arts and crafts - likes watching funny movies - enjoys reading fantasy novels

//Sam's early years learner:// - family reads to them - enjoys watching GO and ABC channels - enjoys watching t.v - enjoys reading, especially chapter books

//Erin's early years learner:// //-// likes batman and superman - enjoys playing computer games - enjoys playing with siblings

//Sheridan's early years learner:// - enjoys playing with toys - enjoys playing with brother - enjoys watching tv - enjoys drawing - likes to read

The above information indicates that out 'mini class' all have similar interests at the particular age group that they are at particularly in reading and writing. However when interests are compared to ability later on in the wiki, it is noted that although the children in our 'mini class' may have similar interests, they do not have similar ability.

**Findings and Implications for Teaching**

When analysing the information obtained from each early years learner it can be noted that interest plays a big part in teaching. When comparing the information collected from our 'mini class', it is noticable that all of the children have similar interests even though they do not have similar ability, which is looked at in closer detail later on in the wiki. It is important, particularly for the students who show lower reading and writing VELS levels than other members of their class, that early years learners have an interest in reading and writing. It is important for a teacher to keep early years students motivated to keep an interest in reading and writing as they are both a big part of education.

<span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: 1562px; width: 1px;">Ask mum if I’m at home or the teacher if I’m at school