Community Literacy Dig

Introduction
For our community literacy dig our group chose to go to a park with a playground on a holiday weekend.  My assignment was to gather and record evidence of literacy.  Most of the reading required had to do with following instructions or finding specific parts of the playground, such as the bathroom.  The signs fell into several categories: information (for adults and children), decoration, for children to use in their play, and incidental signs that didn't seem to have much connection to how the park is used.  No writing is required in the playground other than what someone might scratch into the mulch.  I saw no one writing while at the park except for other group members.

Information for Adults

Sign at Park Entrance

Right away you can see information for adults as you walk in the park (the top of the sign is cut off so you don't know what park it was).  This sign is at both ends of the park so you're sure not to miss it.

Just in case an adult missed the first sign or didn't read what was prohibited, he or she could read either the words or the picture on this sign.  Several signs like this are posted in areas where adults are likely to light up without thinking.  One of those areas is directly under where the large play structure has a bridge, meaning any smoke would float up to the children playing there.

  

The three signs above tell adults which children are supposed to use the equipment, based on age (sorry for that third one, the cell phone isn't the greatest camera!).

Got a Dirty Diaper?

If you've got young kids, the koala to the right is a welcome sight.  Most parents (and many children) know that the koala means there's a place to change diapers handy.  This sticker was very high up on a bathroom door, indicating that it's for adults to read rather than children.

 

The above signs are for adults because they deal with driving and parking.  Both indicate places for special types of vehicles.

Also, see Matt's blog for a sign with instructions for a special swing.

Information for Children

Information for children (as well as the items for children's play) was often graphic in nature rather than words or letters.

Here we've got the sign by the bathroom.  Though this sign is readable by very young children because it uses pictures, it was placed fairly high up on the wall by the bathroom door.  One of these signs was by each of the two bathrooms.

Though technically a street sign and therefore most likely placed there for adults, children can read this sign, which indicates where the crosswalks are.  There were four of these signs next to two painted crosswalks at either end of the playground area so that pedestrians could cross to other parts of the park.

Decoration

This park is beautiful.  It's surrounded by trees.  Native rock is used in marking off the playground area.  There is also a gorgeous mosaic with a quote on it.  The full quote is: "We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing. G.B.Shaw"

Children's Play

The signs and toys in the areas for younger children used pictures rather than words.  Here is a spinning toy that lets children create a sentence-like picture sequence:

For slightly older children there is a giant tic tac toe board.  While it's not important to be able to read the Xs and Os, it IS important to know that they are different and that they are markers in a game.

 

The above two photos show a musical instrument built into the play equipment.  By reading the letters, children can produce recognizable songs.  Below, note the numbers and the path of the ball toy, located high up in the play structure.  While the toy can still be used by children who can't yet read numbers, it adds an extra layer of challenge to follow the path and/or the numbers.

Incidental Signs

There were lots of signs that had nothing to do with the park.  Mostly they were labels on equipment denoting the manufacturer.  Utility poles had stickers on them.  My favorite sign that had nothing to do with the park was on a dog being trained to work with blind people.  That sign encouraged me to ask about him and chat with the trainers a bit, who had come to the park to practice socializing with him in a public place.

 

The fuzzy one above is the name of a manufacturer on the side of a bench.  It says: "Victor Stanley Inc. Dunkirk MD USA."  The yellow numbers and letters are from a utility pole.  The other two are manufacturer's tags (don't you just want to CALL that number in Sweden?).

But Wait, There's More!
These are images of the park.  To see more images and read more about the group's observations, you'll want to check out the work of my group-mates:

Matt and Courtney: Specialized Language
Arthur: Kinds of Language Used
Jen: The People at the Park
Diana: The Physical Environment