Pre-K teaching times, Vol. 11, Issue 3 (Nov. 2011)

Pre-K Teaching Times

VOLUME 11, ISSUE 3

NOVEMBER 2011

In This Issue
Phonological Awareness
Singing = Learning
Exploring Gourds and Pumpkins
Good Citizens Help
Small Group
Math
CLASS
Assessment
Congratulations
In Memory
Call the BFTS office and Pre-K Consultant on duty at 404-6565957. Pre-K consultant contact information also can be found on the website at www.decal.ga.gov

Phonological Awareness
Phonological awareness is defined as the auditory ability to understand the relationship between sounds and spoken words and is directly correlated with learning to read. To enhance phonological awareness, teachers should engage children in activities that direct their attention to the sounds in words, such as listening, rhyming, alliteration, and sound matching.
Teachers should make learning about words playful and fun, avoiding drill and rote memorization. Spending a few minutes every day engaging children in oral activities that emphasize the sounds of language will help them become successful readers and learners.
Activities to develop phonological awareness should vary daily and include reading rhyming stories aloud, rhymes, chants, songs, finger plays, games that play with sounds (rhyming, sound-to-word matching games, letter-sound association, sound deletion, etc.), listening activities, counting numbers of words in sentences or syllables in a word, etc.
Additional activities include: Using clapping and rhythm chants such as "Miss Mary Mack;" movement and rhythm games such as "Hokey, Pokey;" reading books with patterned, predictable, and repetitive text such as Brown Bear; reading books with alliteration such as Each Peach, Pear, Plum; and reading books or text that asks questions such as From Head To Toe.
Some activities for lesson plans:
Have the children find an item in the classroom and bring it to the group. Let them name their item and then see how many words the group can think of that rhyme with the item. Encourage children to choose an item that they enjoy playing with during centers.
In a small group provide each student with 5-6 bean bags. Say a sentence and have the children toss a bean bag for each word in the sentence.
Try this with the names of children in your class. Have children stand when their names are chanted. "It begins with /Sh/ and it ends with /erry/ Put them together and they say ________ (Sherry)

PAGE 2
Singing = Learning
Singing is one of the most effective ways to develop the sound awareness skills critical in learning to read successfully.
Most Pre-K teachers are familiar with the skills called "phonics." Phonics instruction involves teaching children that letters have specific sounds, such as the sound of "b" as in "bat". Teachers often feel pressure to launch into phonics instruction with four year olds. But, the English language contains many sounds to learn, and children must learn that most letters can make more than one sound, such as the letter "c." The sound of "c" as in "cat" is called "hard," while the sound of "c" as in circle is called "soft." The letter "c" is also involved in the sound of "ch" as in "cheese". Imagine that! At least three sounds are associated with the letter "c" alone. No wonder "letter of the week" is not considered appropriate for four year olds in Georgia's Pre-K Program! Which letter sound for "c" would be taught?
However, phonics skills are absolutely necessary in kindergarten or first grade and can become nearly impossible tasks if children have not had previous exposure to loads and loads of sounds. Children must have many opportunities to experiment and play with sounds just for the sake of hearing them without any connection to letters or written words at all. It is no wonder phonological awareness is a required essential in Georgia's Pre-K teachers' lesson plans.
Children must be able to make up nonsense words, make all kinds of animal sounds, tell you what words have rhyming sounds, tell you which words begin with the same sound, and more. Pre-K children should be able to do these things on a purely auditory level; true phonological awareness can be demonstrated with your eyes shut using only your ears and your voice. For example, if a child can listen to a set of words such as "bike, hat, and like" and not only tell you which of them rhyme but also add a rhyme of his own (such as "Mike" or even a nonsense word), then we would say that this child has a degree of "phonological awareness," the ability to hear sounds in spoken words.
But, how does all of this relate to singing? Think about it....songs are both spoken and heard. Children do not have to be able to read in order to learn a song. Songs are filled with rhymes, alliteration, and different sound patterns. They actually celebrate the sounds of language! Singing favorite songs over and over again helps children become consciously aware of sounds and the way we can manipulate them -- break them apart, blend them together, highlight certain sounds and minimize others.
So the bottom line is: Sing away! Sing traditional children's songs, teach children your own favorite rock or pop songs, and make up songs together. You will be instilling a life-long love of language as well as providing the foundation necessary for learning to read.
PRE-K TEACHING TIMES

PAGE 3
Singing = Learning (continued)
Say no to wait time and hello to phonological awareness by using these generic singing games. Sing with the students instead of just waiting...they could be learning something!
"It's A Really Big Show" (Tune: "London Bridge") Mary, show us what to do, what to do, what to do Mary show us what to do. Tell us when to stop. Mary then demonstrates an action such as jumping. When she says, "stop", all the children are to stop, and Mary chooses the next person to take a turn.
"I Like to Come to School" (Tune: "The Farmer in the Dell") I like to come to school. I like to come to school. I like to learn and play each day. I like to come to school. (Ask the children what they like to do, then sing it in the song.) I like to play with blocks. I like to play with blocks. I like to learn and play each day. I like to play with blocks.
"Nursery Rhyme Bop" (Tune: "100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall") Jack and Jill went up the hill To fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown, And Jill came tumbling after. (Every nursery rhyme can be inserted in this tune and sung. Give it a try!)
"Clap Your Hands" (Tune: "Row Your Boat") Clap, clap, clap your hands. Clap your hands with me. Clap, clap, clap your hands, Oh, so merrily. (Sing other variations, such as "roll your hands," "dance around," "jump up and down," or ask children to suggest different movements.)
"If You're Wearing Red Today" (Tune: "Muffin Man") If you're wearing red today, Red today, red today, If you're wearing red today, Give a little wave (substitute wiggle, grin, spin, hop, twist, etc. Also, repeat for other colors.)
PRE-K TEACHING TIMES

PAGE 4

Exploring Gourds and Pumpkins

Good Citizens Help

Create a gourd farm in your science area to encourage scientific exploration. Cover the wall with orange bulletin board paper and draw a background setting reflecting a fall farm scene, e.g., a fence with jack-o-lanterns children create with art materials. Post printed photos (from Google images) of various types of pumpkins and gourds. Place books about pumpkins and gourds in the area: Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington, From Seed to Pumpkin by Wendy Pfeffer, Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons, Pumpkin by Ken Robins, and How Many Seeds In a Pumpkin by Margaret McNamara. Children enjoy the flannel board story of Five Little Pumpkins.
Conduct the following activities:
(1) sequence cards showing the growth of pumpkins; (2) concentration game using various photos of gourds/pumpkins; (3) balancing scales/ bathroom scales to weigh small gourds; (4) paint sample cards to match with various colors of real gourds and pumpkins; (5) flip book with photos of gourds and pumpkins; (6) paper, stencils, crayons, markers to encourage children to draw their own gourds for posting on wall; (7) magnifying glasses to explore the exterior of gourds and pumpkins; (8) fill sensory table with water for sink float experimentation with small gourds; (9) make pumpkin pie spice play dough for children to create small pumpkins. Recipe for non-cooking play dough: Mix one cup flour, cup salt, 2 teaspoons cream tarter, 1 cup water, 1 teaspoon oil, pumpkin pie spice; (10) cut open a small pumpkin and allow children to explore the inside with magnifying glasses; (11) place a small gourd or pumpkin inside a tightly sealed container and watch the rotting process over time.

Pre-K children love to help out! When children are given opportunities to share their knowledge and skills to help others, it enhances their self-confidence. It also helps them feel that they are a valuable member of their community. Helping others means doing good things for others without thought of reward.
Ask children what they are concerned about and record their responses on chart paper to hang in the classroom. Help children understand that if they are concerned about something they can do something to help make it better.
Good Citizens Protect the Environment!
Point out that one activity in which the entire class can participate is protecting the environment. Talk to the children about helping to keep it in good condition for future generations. Ask the children what makes up the environment? (The environment is everything that makes up our surroundings and affects our ability to live on the earth--the air we breathe, the water that covers most of the earth's surface, the plants and animals around us, and much more.)
Talk with the children about the ways people affect the environment when we don't take care of it and pollute in many different ways.
Have children pick up trash around the school and playground. Separate the items they pick up into three piles: plastic, aluminum, and paper. Talk about how these items can be recycled and used in other ways. Be sure to commend the class for doing their part in protecting the environment.

PRE-K TEACHING TIMES

PAGE 5
Small Group
Daily small-group instruction provides multiple opportunities for children to be actively involved in learning, developing skills with teacher modeling, guidance, immediate feedback, and support. This instruction should be intentional based on what you know, or need to know, about the child. Small group activities should be engaging, open-ended, and developmentally appropriate. They allow teachers to meet children at their own individual level to facilitate growth and development. Teachers should be facilitators during small group time, rather than spending the majority of time on direct instruction, thus allowing students to take responsibility for their own learning.
Here's a Social Studies activity that can help you understand more about the students' homes and families:
Brothers and Sisters Count
Create a group of 2-8 children and set a bin of Unifix cubes in the middle of the group. Ask, "Who has a brother?" Model by counting out one Unifix cube of a particular color to represent each brother in the child's family. Then ask, "Who has a sister?" Count out one cube of a different color for each sister in the child's family. Have students connect their cubes of each color. Compare and contrast the length of the cube sticks for each child to help children understand who has the most brothers, the most sisters, or connect both colors together for children to determine who has the most siblings. You could adapt the activity to include a cube for each person living in a child's home or for other topics, such as "Pets Count."
Math
"One two, three, four"... A four year old counts the number of cubes in the group. Probably he/she "gets" that the final number is the actual number of cubes. What the child probably does not understand, however, is that if you rearrange the cubes, the number stays the same. Move the cubes farther apart from each other and ask how many. Children may answer that there are five cubes, instead of four, as they now take up more space. Preschoolers make judgments about the "number" based on "how they look." If one pile of blocks is higher, the child more than likely may think it has more blocks than a smaller pile. Sometimes children cannot logically grasp the idea that "the higher pile has the same number of blocks; the blocks are just bigger." That is because they focus on how things look rather than the concept of an amount, which is a more complex mental task.
Don't push students to count beyond what they understand. Many children can recite numbers to 20 and beyond, but do they understand what the numbers represent? What's most important is to check for understanding by practicing with the smaller numbers the child knows. "Would you rather have six pieces of candy or four pieces? What happens if we mix both together? Do we get more?" A measuring tape is another visual way to show a child ten is bigger than four. Give children lots of practice estimating, measuring, and counting with numbers to ensure they understand what they are saying and not just reciting numbers they have memorized. Once children understand numbers, the poten-
tials in math are endless for them.
PRE-K TEACHING TIMES

PAGE 6

CLASS

Georgia's Pre-K Program continues to implement the CLASS instrument in a third of the classrooms across the state. This month's focus is on the dimension of Quality of Feedback, under the domain of Instructional Support. According to state and national averages, Quality of Feedback is an area of needed growth for most teachers.
Quality of Feedback assesses the degree to which the teacher provides feedback that may expand learning and encourage active participation. The indicators included under Quality of Feedback are Scaffolding, Feedback Loops, Prompting Thought Processes, Providing Information, and Encouragement and Affirmation. Students learn more when feedback is given that expands their knowledge or builds upon a performance of a task. Effective feedback helps students come to a deeper understanding of concepts and keeps them motivated and engaged in lessons and activities.

their classrooms.
Teachers should focus on the process of learning rather than on obtaining the correct answer. When a student answers correctly, the teacher should ask follow up questions like, "How did you get that answer?" Teachers should give students specific information about why answers are correct or incorrect, rather than telling them "good job" or "great work." Some of the best feedback occurs when teachers continue to ask follow up questions and engage students in conversation.
Look for more exciting news about the CLASS each month. To learn more about CLASS, visit www.classobservation.com.

Feedback comes from intentionally responding to students and expanding on their thoughts. We know that daily interactions between teachers and students promote children's social and cognitive development. Teachers at the high end of Quality of Feedback intentionally look for opportunities to provide meaningful feedback to children creating multiple learning opportunities throughout the day. The teachers give hints to children or expand on
answers they give to children to ensure the highest level of understanding in

PRE-K TEACHING TIMES

PAGE 7
Assessment
November is already here, which means that the first assessment period ends in about six weeks. Teachers should be planning activities to fill in the gaps on the developmental checklist/spreadsheet/ or online developmental checklist for WSO users. Planning small and large group activities will help teachers gather documentation for all 55 indicators. When developing lessons, teachers must plan activities/lessons around assessment. Here are a few examples of activities to fill in the gaps.
Using a doll house and furniture, have children place common household items in their proper rooms. This activity will fall under Social Studies, People and where they live.
Using environmental print from stores/businesses (Target, McDonalds, Kroger, etc.), talk about the stores the children visit and what is in them.
Make a simple treasure map for the playground and have children follow the map.
When gathering the last indicators, teachers must create a plan for how they are going to assess. Should they focus on one domain this week, and then focus on certain children next week? Either way will work as long as they have a plan. If the students are lacking Social Studies indicators, the teacher might want her/his next topic of study to revolve around a social studies topic such as family, community helpers, or my community. Happy Assessing!
Congratulations...Trainer of the Year
Suzanne Turner has received the GAYC Trainer of the Year award! Pre-K teachers around the state know and respect her for her work with the Best Practices Training Project, funded for 20 years by Bright from the Start. Suzanne presents content that is well researched in a format that is meaningful to teachers. As the demand for online and tech-supported training has grown in recent years, she has collaborated with technical experts to learn how to develop podcasts, online courses, and webinars. She was also responsible for rolling out the Georgia Pre-K Work Sampling System and, along with a co-trainer, has trained every Pre-K teacher in the state on how to appropriately assess young children. She developed a tool for tracking assessment data that is used statewide. This year's focus is training Georgia Pre-K teachers on lesson planning and how to set up the classroom. Suzanne conducts private workshops in all areas of Pre-K curriculum for counties throughout the state. She also conducts training for DECAL consultants and has presented at Georgia Preschool and NAEYC conferences. She holds a bachelor's degree in education from Georgia State University and is trained in HighScope, Creative Curriculum, and Conscious Discipline. She also serves on the advisory board for Birth-Five Pro-
gram at Georgia State University.
PRE-K TEACHING TIMES

PAGE 8
In Memory
We at Bright from the Start express our deepest sympathy to the family, friends, and Pre-K colleagues of Verlonna Lowe. Thank you, Mrs. Lowe, for your dedication to Georgia's Pre-K children. Verlonna Lowe, an eight year veteran teacher at Liberty County Pre-K in Hinesville died on August 28, 2011. Her story is unique because during her entire time at LCPK Verlonna was fighting cancer. Verlonna was diagnosed with melanoma in 2004 but continued to teach and even went on and graduated with a Master's Degree in Education in 2010. She earned her master's while having numerous invasive surgeries and experimental treatments, teaching, and going to school at night. Verlonna returned for the 2011 school year and worked diligently to prepare her classroom and meet her new students. She was an excellent young teacher and found much solace and happiness in her work. She was only 31 when her battle ended, but she touched the lives of many students, parents, co-workers, and all who were fortunate to call her a friend. Verlonna is survived by her protector and loving husband, Shane, her parents, and two brothers. Liberty County Pre-K is a better place because of Verlonna's gift for teaching.
PRE-K TEACHING TIMES