Systematic, scaffolded.
Meaningful, multisensory, memorable, motivating.
Integrated (with the arts, science and children’s lives).
Literacy (literature and language with love).
Experiences. Engaging ones!

The SMILE instructional model assumes that teachers’ first concern is in creating a joyful community of learners and bonding with each child and their families. We recognize the vital role of the emotions and parent collaboration in learning. Our teaching colleagues have proved that once we create a caring community and an engaging curriculum with parents as partners, the levels of learning soar for all children. The intrinsic reward of this type of meaning-centered learning is high motivation for children — and their teachers.

Nellie Edge’s visit to Kapa'a Elementary School

I was honored when the term SMILE was first used to describe our Nellie Edge Seminars approach to language and literacy instruction by the Kapa'a Elementary School primary teachers (on Kauai). After receiving training, they used our model to create a K-2 “school within a school” in 1995, which they called SMILE (School for Meaningful Language Experiences). Our expanded acronym is still true to the heart of that original title. Remembering my visit to these engaging Kauai classrooms where children sang, signed, and performed language still brings a SMILE and warm aloha.

The SMILE Approach to Joyful and Accelerated Literacy:
Principles and Practices That Celebrate Language and Honor Childhood

How do we provide challenging yet achievable learning in kindergarten — a child’s garden?

We create beautiful, organized, language-intensive environments that are emotionally safe and noncompetitive. We have high expectations. We weave the educational arts into all areas of curriculum. Our children develop friendships. They learn to make choices and are involved in meaningful projects. As educators we are reflective, continuously learning how to provide the scaffolding needed for every child to build on success, every day. We teach systematically and intuitively. We take advantage of how the brain learns best — and we save time for serendipity.

These 14 principles, within a loving, disciplined and joyful atmosphere, provide a foundation for excellence:

• Bond with students and create a joyful community where children care and share and learn together. Our language builds trust, nurtures self-esteem and responsibility.


• Kindergarten is for language: Phonemic awareness is "language play — every day, books and songs — all day long." The biggest single kindergarten predictors of phonemic awareness and later reading success are still oral language development. We can be systematic in our teaching — and playful! We know that the body needs to move, the human heart needs to sing and the brain was created to learn through music.
  
• Engage "the heart of kindergarten": Create memorable rituals, traditions and celebrations that enhance learning. Weaving joy, personal meaning and depth into the learning community creates a love of learning.
  
• Use multisensory ABC and phonics immersion strategies: Children deserve emotionally engaging instruction that is also explicit, systematic and differentiated for their needs. Accelerate mastery of the alphabetic principal through singing, signing and reading one consistent ABC/phonics song several times a day with parent collaboration. Our action-research team demonstrated phenomenal results with these practices.


• Involve parents as partners: Multiply your teaching effectiveness. This is not an option. All parents want their children to be successful in school. Parents and teachers jointly share responsibility for educating their children. There will be intergenerational benefits.
  
• Support kindergartners as writers and artists from the first day of school: All kindergartners love to write and draw and create through the many languages of art. Daily "kid writing" teaches reading. It allows children to practice phonics in action. Art and writing are reciprocal thinking and symbol systems that honor the child's voice and vision.


• Teach concepts about print, high-frequency words, and reading — their way: Use auditory spelling strategies, name tickets, word matching, sentence building, singing, signing, "stamp and read books" and "kid writing." Create literacy play centers where children use reading and writing for real purposes. Skillfully transition from “magical memory reading” to guided reading. Use the Neurological Impress Method (NIM) to build fluent independent reading. Differentiate instruction for diverse learners.


• Develop comprehension strategies and thinking skills with quality fiction and nonfiction and meaning-centered activities throughout the curriculum. Engage children in dialog and develop metacognition (thinking about our thinking).


• Awaken children's love of nature: Connect children with the natural world outside the classroom. Create a classroom of stargazers, rock collectors, tree experts, and animal and plant enthusiasts. Use children's fascination with nature and their social connections to create a compelling reason to read and write.
  
• Honor the vital role of play in children's cognitive and social-emotional development. Put learning in the children's hands. Give children ownership, responsibility and choices in their learning. Make cooperative learning come alive through dramatic play, block building, group field trips and hands-on experiences. Challenge children to set high persoanl goals, empower them with "I can's." We are developing literacy —and life skills.


• Build voracious vocabulary learning habits explicitly, systematically, mindfully and playfully throughout the curriculum. Create a talking classroom. Reinforce basic language concepts and expand children's responses to who, what, where, when, how and why questions. Introduce powerful vocabulary through rich project learning and poetry. Watch children become collectors of wonderful new words.


• Teach in an emotionally engaging way and celebrate the educational arts as translators of meaning: Integrate music, drama, art, movement, dance and sign language (and love, joy, laughter, and enthusiasm) throughout the curriculum in everything you do. Bring your passions into the classroom. Love books, love learning, and love the children. They remember what we love. Children see a reflection of who they are and who they can become through our eyes.


• Authentic assessment empowers children to take responsibility for their learning and pride in their accomplishments. Student-led parent conferences help children set personal goals, evaluate progress and celebrate their accomplishments. We build intrinsic motivation for children to do their best.


• Create a beautiful learning environment: Involve the children in creating an environment that is warm, comfortable and home-like. Create order and harmony and give children responsibilities for maintaining the environment. Classrooms need live plants, flowers, good lighting, art prints and photos of the children engaged in meaningful studies and playful explorations. Let the walls of your classroom reflect the lives of the children. Celebrate childhood and celebrate learning.

The S.M.I.L.E. approach to literacy is developmentally appropriate and takes advantage of how the brain learns best.
(Systematic [scaffolded], Meaningful [multisensory], and Integrated Literacy Experiences)