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High Hat, from the original Goldman-Lynch Sounds & Symbols Development Kit

Linda Statham

Linda Statham is a Speech/Language Pathologist in Canton, Georgia. For 20 years, she has also assumed the "persona" of High Hat, from the original Goldman-Lynch Sounds & Symbols Development Kit, to help kindergarteners learn basic literacy skills. She reminisces about her experiences through the years teaching children to read.

Twenty years ago, I saw a need to work with kindergarten children in our school, Hickory Flat Elementary. My goal was to begin improving their language skills. I also wanted to increase their comfort level with me in case I might have to do speech or language testing with them. At that time, we only had two kindergarten classes, so using High Hat seemed like a great solution-it didn't take much time and gave me contact with all of the students at the school.

" Now, I perform as High Hat twice each week, and see three classes in both 45-minute sessions."

I met with the classes once a week. We sang a couple of songs from the Goldman-Lynch tape, and I read them the story that corresponded with the sound they were working on that week. Then the school grew and before we knew it, Mr. High Hat was a fixture-with a costume, additional language activities, and coloring sheets. Now, I perform as High Hat twice each week, and see three classes in both 45-minute sessions.

This is our schedule each Friday morning. Three classes are brought into one of our empty classrooms, where they sit on the floor, "criss-cross applesauce." Mr. High Hat enters with his special knock on the door. The pointy finger [from the Goldman-Lynch program] is used for the knocking and then later to tap the children on the head when we sing the Naming Game song. I read the story that corresponds to the sound they are studying. Several years ago, a parent drew a picture of each character, and I use those as we talk about the colors of each character's clothes, hair, etc. Two students get to stand up and try to remember the colors used in the pictures while I hide our book.

" The high-interest stories make the 45 minute session go quickly, and the children look forward to our Fridays..."

Next, the children all stand up and we sing a couple of songs, which gives them a chance to move around the room. We usually conclude with a story, and then one child from each class is chosen to carry their coloring pictures back to their classrooms. What an honor! All our students know that they have to behave very well to be chosen to carry the pictures. The high-interest stories make the 45 minute session go quickly, and the children look forward to our Fridays (so do the teachers-they love the break they get!)

At the beginning of some years, I think, "Oh, I'm getting too old for this…maybe I won't do it this year." It never fails that just as I have those thoughts, I run into a high school senior who sat on the floor with me as a kindergartener, and he or she will say, "Mrs. Statham, do you still do High Hat? Do you still do the Buzzy Bee story and Marty Mouse?" . . . And there go my plans for retiring High Hat that year-and so, twenty years later, I am still singing and dancing with five-year-olds!

"I love the program, and so do the children I spend time with each Friday."

I am writing this not to toot my own horn, but just to illustrate that this program has been a terrific instrument for me to use in working with five- and six-year-old children. The stories are so well written that they capture the children's attention like nothing else I have ever read to them. The pictures are wonderful. I love the program, and so do the children I spend time with each Friday.

The new edition of the Sounds & Symbols Early Reading Program will be available in August, and preorders are now being accepted! Please visit the product page on the Pearson web site for more information about this highly successful reading program. more