UC San Diego

For most children, literacy begins at home with early and consistent language exposure provided through modeling and reading aloud. Eventually, the basis of maintaining literacy development will be reinforced at school. However, many Deaf children do not get exposure to American Sign Language (ASL) at home starting from birth, acquiring full access to language only until entry at school. These children face challenges making a meaningful connection between ASL and English, and this further affects their overall language development. My curriculum fosters the connection between a book the students read at school and sharing it with their families. The thesis provides a cumulative description of the implementation of activities starting with an ASL reading of a favorite children's book, examining and comparing stories, studying few ASL features, then leading up to a production of an ASL storysigning DVD as a tool to bring ASL from the classroom to the home. By using several forms of curriculum assessments such as student performance rubrics and student produced artifacts, three out of four curriculum learning goals were attained. The findings included students making connections between ASL and English through multiple reading activities and utilizing main ASL features in telling stories. Crucially, both ASL and English are used for instruction throughout the curriculum