Signing in the classrooms and ASL Clubs

[ST! LeeAnn]

Share your classroom and ASL club success stories with other Educators

[taylorcamel]

I started a signing club where I work (a children's hospital for kids with developmental disabilities). Most of our patients stay for month at a time while recovering from surgery and/or to attend therapy.

The hospital units are set up to be as close as possible to a home setting. We get very attached to the kids during their stay and we love doing fun activities with them.

Many of our kids come in knowing some sign but I feel they can all benefit from signing. I started a sign language club so that we can practice signing with the kids and teach them lots of new signs. The kids love it and we have several talented little signers.

The funny thing is that the adults are just as addicted to signing time as the kids. They all want to learn more. We have had several people come through our house and stop so they can watch signing time with us. It is raising a lot of interest.

I purchased a set of the ABC posters and put them up in the house. So now people come in and practice signing the alphabet. When parents visit they are interested too. That is the best part because then they continue working with the kids when they do go home.

I purchased an additional set of the posters and sent them with my kindergarten child so he could share them with his teacher. It really helped with learning about the alphabet.

[Jnettie321]

I am a teacher in a Daycare center and Signing with them has been such a wonderful experience! I visit each classroom once a week using flash cards, stories and songs. The older children find it so fascinating to watch me sign stories or songs that they are just in awe and are learning the signs so fast!

The children in my full-time class are between the ages of 9 months and 2 years old. These children will sit and watch me sign longer than they would for a circle time without signing. A few children caught on right away. I had one child who knew all of his colors in sign, can say the color as he's signing it and can distinguish between colors properly by the age of 19 months! Another child within a month of being exposed to sign language knew his colors, more, eat, all done, sit, Daddy, Mommy, wash hands, thank you (I think I got them all) he can say those words too and he is only 15 months! Everyday they learn even more signs! Once they get the hang of it, it is so easy for them to learn new signs! It is so rewarding watching their progress!

I love ST and tell parents about it all the time!! From what I hear, the parents love it too :)

[janinek]

I am a teacher in a Daycare center and Signing with them has been such a wonderful experience! I visit each classroom once a week using flash cards, stories and songs. The older children find it so fascinating to watch me sign stories or songs that they are just in awe and are learning the signs so fast!

The children in my full-time class are between the ages of 9 months and 2 years old. These children will sit and watch me sign longer than they would for a circle time without signing. A few children caught on right away. I had one child who knew all of his colors in sign, can say the color as he's signing it and can distinguish between colors properly by the age of 19 months! Another child within a month of being exposed to sign language knew his colors, more, eat, all done, sit, Daddy, Mommy, wash hands, thank you (I think I got them all) he can say those words too and he is only 15 months! Everyday they learn even more signs! Once they get the hang of it, it is so easy for them to learn new signs! It is so rewarding watching their progress!

I love ST and tell parents about it all the time!! From what I hear, the parents love it too :)

Jeanette,
Great Job! That's so great that you've used this in your school. We've recently introduced my daughter's class (she's 3) to Signing Time and the they are using it frequently too. They use the Reggio Emilia curriculum so they really let the children take the lead in what they learn and explore and the children love it! As just one example, they did a whole study of colors using the ST and the 'Colors of the Rainbow' song, and made a big poster board that they hung in the classroom with pictures of each child signing different colors.

I think some signs like 'share' and 'my turn' 'your turn' are particularly useful with pre-schoolers to help them to better understand these concepts! It's fun to watch them interact and use those signs to each other!

Keep up the good work in your classroom!

Janine

[Jnettie321]

Thanks so much! Yeah I love incorporating sign language in the classroom! I love this story and you reminded me of it so here it is...

There were two children at the age of 2 that came over from 2 different places in the world, China and Jerusalem. Neither of them knew English. They only knew Chinese and Hebrew. They came over to the US to this particular daycare center for a year. (I think their parents were stationed in the US for the military) So anyway, this particular Daycare center incorporated sign language in their curriculum and one day noticed the two little girls sitting next to each other with a picture book. One girl would point to something on the page and the other would sign it and they flipped the book taking turns. It was the most amazing thing to see! Not only does Sign Language help children who can't speak yet but it bridges the language barrier between children who know different languages! It's wonderful! :) Just thought I would share!!

[c01dunlap]

What a lovely experience to share, Jeanette! What an amazing gift sign language is for our children for many, MANY reasons! I think it belongs in EVERY daycare and classroom!! We're taking ST! to Sophie's Kindergarten now. :D