Volume 11, Issue 6 March 2012
Pre-K Teaching Times
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Assessment Transitions with Language and Literacy Time Flies in Pre-K Reading in Small Groups Science Social Studies CLASS Productivity Phonological Awareness Onsets, Rimes, Blending, and Segmenting
Call the DECAL office and Pre-K Consultant on duty at
404-656-5957. Pre-K Consultant contact
information can be found on the website at
www.decal.ga.gov
Assessment
Teachers should be
tear tape off a roll; used
save a copy of the Class
cal Awareness: Segmenting observing, gathering, and
the paper punch or
Rating Report or the Class
recording data on each
stapler; used play dough;
Profile to your computer
student at least once a
or scissors and art
desktop.
week. Notes should record materials. She then used
factual information on what the notes and/or the
Check your IQ Guide to
the specific child did or said. matrices to help her plan
ensure it is complete
Matrices are used for skills small group instruction.
through weeks five or six
or behaviors that can be
(depending on the number
easily observed without
Remember: depending
of instructional days), sign
asking the child a question. on the number of
off on it, and provide a
Photos should show what a instructional days for the
copy to your director. At the
child can do, and work samples are unique
school year, in weeks five or six you should be
end of this first rating period for the 2nd semester,
expressions created by an rating your checklists for
continue to gather
individual child.
children based on
assessment documentation
documentation you have
on your children following
One teacher purposefully
gathered and entered into your IQ Guide.
collects one type of
the portfolios, whether
assessment daily. She
online or hard copies kept Your director should continue
recently introduced the term on site. If you have no
to implement the site
technology to the class and documentation to support developed monitoring plan
turned it into a shared
a rating, do not rate the following the timeline for the
writing activity by recording child on that indicator at Assessment IQ Guide and
the types of technology the this time.
providing feedback to you.
children said they had at
home. She then developed
If you are a WSS
One director sends an e-mail
the activity into individual
teacher and are using to his teacher with feedback
notes for childrens port-
the spreadsheet, copy and suggestions, e.g.,
folios.
and date the
"Observation entries look
spreadsheet for this 1st GREAT! You have really
Another teacher developed
rating period and place made an effort to enter a
matrices that she placed in
the copy in your
balanced amount of
the art and math centers to
teacher file.
information every week."
capture Children will
If you are using the
participate in activities that
WSS Development
Another director provides
foster fine motor
Checklist, rate in
feedback during weekly team
development PDH. The
pencil the indicators for meetings that is documented
math center matrix captured which you have
on the agenda.
children who voluntarily
evidence.
chose puzzles to work on as well as children who strung beads and placed pegs in pegboards. The art center matrix captured children
If you are a WSO site, finalize the rating on the checklist, print the Class Rating or Class Profile Report, and file
during one week who could
in the teacher file or
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Pre-K Teaching Times
Transitions with Language and Literacy
Pre-K classes spend a lot of time in transition... longer transitions such as those around lunch, snack, and naptime and many shorter transitions between activities such as singing, an opening activity, or reading a book into a follow up activity. These transitions are wonderful opportunities for learning.
It is easy to fall into a transition rut where you use the same fingerplays and songs time after time. It is good to have predictable songs and activities that the children are familiar with but adding in a few new ones makes for fun and excitement!
Post a list of transitions in key places around your classroom to help you find the perfect transition. Refresh the list often with new theme related chants or fingerplays but also rotate the ones your students like. You will keep your children on their toes while avoiding the transition rut.
Here are some fresh ideas that reinforce language and literacy skills:
Follow Our Feet Activity Words: Four year olds love to pretend. Walk with different "feet" to transition to various places and activities. Focus on recent books and let children choose the types of feet.
tiptoe feet kitty cat feet skipping feet skating feet baby step feet little mouse feet
Let's Pretend Activity Words: While we walk in the hallway, let's pretend... ... that we have to move through a plate of spaghetti ... that we are walking on the moon ... that we are teeny-tiny ants ... that we are humongous dinosaurs Tips: Choose imaginary actions based on the children's interests, recent literature, or topic of study.
The Finger Band Sung to the tune: Here we go round the Mulberry Bush Words: The finger band has come to town Come to town, come to town, The finger band has come to town, So early in the morning.
The finger band can play the drums, play the drums... (Substitute the flute; the clarinet; the trumpet; the violin; the trombone; the piano; the guitar) End with The Finger band has gone away... Tips: This song reinforces vocabulary; add new instruments as you explore them.
What Can You And Your Friend Do? Activity Words: Allow children to choose partners for this transition; then ask questions, "Can you and your friend...
...walk like a cat to the door? ...hold hands on the way to the door? ...touch pinky fingers on the way to the door? ...make bubbles with your mouth? ...walk with your hands on your hips?
Fun in the Rain Fingerplay Words: When the rain comes down Drip, drop, drip, drop (move fingers back and forth); Windshield wipers Flip, flop, flip, flop (move arms back and forth); And boots in puddles Plip, plop, plip, plop (stomp feet); I wish the rain would never stop Drip, drop, drip, drop (move fingers) Plip, plop, plip, plop, plop! (Stomp feet and pretend to splash).
Mirror Mirror Activity Words: This could also be called Follow the Leader While Standing Still. The leader moves very slowly and the participants respond as if they were the mirror image. You might have the children imitate the main character in your story or act out their favorite part. Tips: Use with large group, small group, or with pairs of children.
Hook-A-Leah Echo Chant Words: Hook-a leah (hook a leah) A-pera-ticky-tomba (apera-ticky-tomba) A-maza-maza-maza (a-maza-maza-maza) Ohh-a-la-wee-a-la-wah-a-la-wee (ohh-a-la-wee-a-lawah-a-la-wee)
Pre-K Teaching Times
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Time flies when you are having fun; however, when you are trying to help a four year old understand that her birthday is still two weeks away, you realize that the concept of time does not come easily to a Pre-K child. Children learn best when they can see, touch, feel, and interact with things. Since time isnt tangible, teachers have to make time meaningful and relevant to their young learners. Use some of the following ideas to help your Pre-K children begin learning the basics about time.
Introduce time as a sequence of events. Use your daily schedule to visually illustrate the order of the day. Have actual pictures of your students to illustrate each activity. Highlight the passage of time during the day by having children move a "marker" on the schedule as the day progresses. Learning the sequence of events is a first and important step in learning to tell time. As much as possible, provide a consistent daily schedule. For example, have center time and small group time at the same approximate time each day. Knowing the order of how they will do things during the day helps make four year olds feel more secure and gives you the opportunity to help them learn the time concepts of before and after as you discuss the days progress. Whenever possible, use the "language of time" to describe activities in the classroom. Emphasize words such as early, late, soon, yesterday, today, tomorrow, next week, morning, afternoon, evening, before and after. Use a concrete experience to illustrate the word. To help children learn about the passage of time, use a "countdown chain" as a holiday or anticipated event is approaching on the calendar. Create a paper chain with
Time Flies in Pre-K
the number of links equal to the number of days until the event. Cut as many strips of paper as there are days to the event. Let your children help you construct the paper chain. Hang the chain where everyone can see it and have a child remove a link every morning until the day of event. You can also use a manipulative like Unifix cubes and have children add a cube each day to keep track of how many days they have been in Pre-K. Create a daily weather calendar for graphing the number of sunny, cloudy, rainy, windy, etc. days each month. Children can observe the passage of seasons by comparing the weather in August to January. Use your digital camera and take frequent photos of classroom events, field trips, special guests, etc. and have children help choose the photos for a classroom journal. Attach the photos with a simple statement describing what is happening to a dated page and place in a binder or on a designated bulletin board in the order they have occurred during the year. As the class adds new pictures, discuss past events and events they might be looking forward to happening. Looking at shared class events can help your class have discussions that involve time-linked vocabulary. Use a timer when you do an activity like cleaning up after center time. Set the timer for the designated time and tell the students the amount of time they have (five minutes, ten minutes, etc.). Challenge the students to a game of Beat the Clock. They will get to know what a few minutes really feel like and...you get a cleaned up classroom! Remember, when you tell children, "Five minutes till clean up time," actually keep it to five minutes.
Saying it will be five minutes and giving them 15 minutes can create confusion about the actual units of time measurement. Use "games" as a way to help children get a "feel" for various units of time. For example, have children guess how many seconds it will take to walk from one place in the classroom to another, and use a clock or timer to keep up with the time. Have children guess how many hours it will be till dismissal and tally the hours as they pass, then compare the result with their estimate. Ask the children to guess how any minutes it will take for an ice cube to melt and compare the result with their estimate. Books are always a great way to introduce new ideas and concepts to young children. Use books that discuss the days of the week, the passing of the seasons, clocks, and more. Below are a few favorite books about time to share with your class.
Clocks and More Clocks by Pat Hutchins
The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle
Tell the Time with Winniethe-Pooh by A. A. Milne
A Second is a Hiccup by Hazel Hutchins
What Time Is It, Mr. Crocodile by Judy Sierra
It's About Time by Stuart Murphy
Game Time! by Stuart Murphy
Today is Monday by Eric Carle
A Circle of Seasons by Myra Cohen Livingston
All in a Day by Mitsumasa Anno
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Pre-K Teaching Times
Reading in Small Groups
One of the requirements for Small Groups is having a small group reading and supporting activity documented in your lesson plans at least once a week. The content standard for this planned small group reading and activity may be related to any of the content standard domains, so the sky is the limit for helping you reach more content standards and for planning purposeful activities to address areas on which children need to work. Although not every child has to participate in this weekly activity, having more than one small group reading is an effective way to work on skills and to enrich children based on your assessment.
Small group reading can occur during the scheduled daily small group time or at another time that you think appropriate. To ensure this activity is included every week, most teachers plan small group reading on the same day each week. Establishing this regular habit will meet the documentation required on the IQ Guide for Planning Instruction. Remember to list on your lesson plans the names, initials, or symbol for the children who will be doing this activity.
Here are a few examples of a small group reading and supporting activity:
Read The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins. Give children straws for testing what objects they can blow like the wind. Ask them to predict if they can move the object by blowing through the straw or not. Examples of objects: tissue paper, blocks, magnets, feathers, etc. Graph which objects moved and which didnt. SD 1 d, MD 3 f
Read Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins. Give each child a plastic farm animal and a small box or container. Practice position words from the story with the animal. Let children choose the position word to practice and think of other position words. MD 4 c
children try to find out who has the rhyming object. LD 2 b Read We Are All Alike...We Are All Different by the Cheltenham Elementary Kindergartners. Brainstorm ways the group is alike and different (hair color, favorite foods, homes, etc.) in the book and in the small group. SS 2 a
Remember, you can work on any Content Standard during small group reading. Be sure to document the content standard that reflects why you are reading the book. "What do I want my children to learn from this story?" is the question you should ask.
Be sure to check out the Georgias Pre-K Book List at http://decal.ga.gov/Prek/BookList.aspx for high quality, age-appropriate childrens literature. The related concepts, type of book, and language/literacy elements are also noted.
Enjoy your reading time, and your children will too!
Read The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss. Discuss rhyming words on each page. Collect pairs of objects that rhyme (e.g., shoe/glue, pencil/stencil, etc.) and give an object to each child. As you call out the objects name, children try to find out who has the rhyming object. LD 2 b Read We Are All Alike...We Are All Different by
Pre-K Teaching Times
Page 5
Science: With March Arrives Spring
Did you know that the first day of Spring arrives on March 20. This is the Spring Equinox which comes from the Latin term meaning "equal night." This event occurs only twice a year, in the Fall and the Spring, when day and night are equal as the sun crosses over the equator.
Changes to the Texture Table: Purchase bulk dry green split peas and pour them on the texture table. The peas are green, which highlights Spring and St. Patricks Day. The peas are easy to scoop and pour, and sweep up when/if spilled on the floor! Remember, children learn independence when cleaning up the area around texture tables with brooms or whisk brooms and dustpans.
To celebrate the arrival of Spring, focus children on changes in nature. Explore www.natureexplore.org. The website, supported by the Arbor Day Foundation, highlights ways to connect children to nature through Sourcebook and Family Activities.
The Sourcebook focuses on ideas for areas of the classroom, such as the Building Area, Music and Movement Area, Climbing and Nature Art. Family Activities explains how you as an educator can create a Families Club for Science!
The science focus for March is Pre-K Content Standard:
SD 2 Children will acquire scientific knowledge related to life science
SD 2a: Observes, explores, and describes a wide variety of animals & plants
SD2c: Observes, explores, and describes a variety of living and nonliving objects
SD2d: Understands that plants and animals have varying life cycles
SD2e: Participates in activities related to preserving the environment
Have you considered gardening with children? You can excite children about healthy fruits and vegetables and help in the national effort to decrease childhood obesity by encouraging healthy eating options. For ideas and resources about gardening, review the following websites:
eartheasy.com/grow_backyard_veget able_garden.html The site covers the top ten ,,crops to plant with children. www.kidsgardening.org The site, supported by the National Gardening Association, highlights topics such as: "Why School Gardening?" mastergardener.osu.edu/youth.pdf Review tips for gardening for children and read this great article: "Lilliputs & Polliwogs: Children in the Garden" by Catherine Eberbach.
Activity #1: Sunflower Sprouts
Materials: Sunflower House by Eve Bunting and/or From Seed to Sunflower (Life Cycles) by Gerald Leggs; package of sunflower seeds (try smaller height variety); clear plastic cups; potting soil.
SD 2a, b, c, or d can be the focus of this activity. Focus on what you need to observe for the children and what data you need to collect for Work Sampling Assessment.
SD2b: Recognizes there are basic requirements for all common life forms
Procedure: In a small group setting, explain to children they will examine the sunflower seeds and
plant them to observe them grow. After reading the book(s), label parts of the flower if children are able. List new vocabulary words for display. Allow children to follow your lead in placing soil, and seeds in a cup. Discuss what needs to happen next; what do the seeds need to sprout?
Discuss the sunlight and water that is needed. As time proceeds, allow children to measure the growth of their sprouts, and check periodically to ensure the seedling has enough water, but not too much. Watch carefully to see the developing root system.
Enrichment: Provide packaged sunflower seeds for feeding birds. Allow children to use the seeds to feed birds, or mix with other seeds to create flower seed mosaic designs. Fun!
Assessment: Use observational notes to indicate comments children make. Take photographs to indicate how children explored plants and
seeds.
Activity # 2: Alive or Not?
Materials: Gather pictures cut from magazines or on flashcards to examine. Ensure you have pictures of living and non-living items. Examples: Plants, tools, books, any type of animal, toys, birds, trees, fish, etc.
SD 2: Recognizes there are basic requirements for all common life forms
Pre-K Teaching Times
Science (continued)
Procedure: Explain to children that they will be examining and discussing pictures to determine which items are living or which are not. Compare the resources people need to live (water/food/sunlight/ shelter) to what animals and plants need. Ask children to sort photographs into two piles based on which items are alive and which are not, based upon these needs. Move around the table to help children sort the pictures.
Assessment: Use a matrix to indicate the number of correctly identified items for each child.
Enrichment:
Art: Collect a variety of leaves or petals from different flowers in your local area. Discuss the food source for the plants and have children complete crayon rubbings to discover the veins in the leaves. Can they count them?
Snack: Create a healthy food kabob using fruit and bamboo skewers. Allow children to create patterns with strawberries, banana slices, pineapple, apples, etc...
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Sensory Leaves: Purchase a plant called "Lambs Ears," which has petals that are silver and soft, much like a lambs ear. Read a book about rabbits. What other flowers/plants are interesting to touch? How about rose petals, or even a small barrel cactus? How do these plants feel? Encourage children to use descriptive language as they describe the various textures.
Social Studies
Welcome to the Extreme Makeover of your Pre-K Dramatic Play Area! Our goal is to turn the dramatic play area into a Pre-K's Dentist Office to transform a place of fears and tears into a place that can be seen as fun. Cover the refrigerator, stove, and other kitchen appliances with butcher paper. Set up a desk in the area on which patients can sign-in upon arrival. Remember that the "receptionist" will need a computer, a phone, message pads, and appointment cards to process their awaiting patients. Place environmental print (magazines) and
books related to dentistry on a mini table in the "waiting room" for patients to read while they wait. Be sure the dentist and his/her assistant have the required garments and materials: a lab coat, a face mask, glasses, a bib to place on patients, a tray for dentistry tools, etc. (Dont be afraid to ask a local dentist for donations the dentist will be thrilled to hear you are working to make their patients feel more at ease during dental visits.) A childs miniature lazy boy chair could be fashioned into a patient chair...one that even lays back just like at the dentist office! Dont forget to send patients home with tooth brushes at the end of each visit. Individually
wrapped toothbrushes can be purchased at little cost at a dollar store or your local dentist may donate toothbrushes and other dental care products.
Pre-K Teaching Times
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CLASS
This month the focus of this section on CLASS is on the Productivity Dimension. The Productivity Dimension refers to how well a teacher manages instructional time and routines and provides opportunities for students to be involved in learning activities.
Indicators that fall under the Productivity Dimension are:
1) Maximizing Learning Time includes providing appropriate learning activities, providing choices when students complete an activity, ensuring few disruptions in the daily routine, and the pacing of activities.
2) Routines includes students knowing what to do and having clear instructions with minimal wandering "off task" by the children.
3) Transitions includes ensuring that transitions are brief, have explicit follow through, and have learning opportunities embedded within the transition.
4) Being prepared for the day having materials ready and accessible and knowing the lesson being taught.
Georgia Pre-K teachers can be more productive in their classrooms by:
Providing consistent and clear learning activities. Being organized and efficient and planning ahead. Minimizing disruptions to learning. Minimizing the amount of time spent on managerial tasks. Making the most of transitions.
Phonological Awareness: Onsets, Rimes, Blending, and Segmenting
As children progress in their literacy development, they move from the broader areas of phonological awareness to the narrower ones. First, they learn to recognize rhyme and alliteration and to hear words in sentences and syllables in words.
Once children have achieved word and syllable awareness, they can focus their attention on the smaller parts within the syllable. At first, this means dividing one-syllable words into onsets and rimes.
The onset is the initial consonant or consonant cluster of the word, and the rime is the vowel and consonants that follow it. For example, in the word bat, b- is the onset, and -at is
the rime. In swim, sw- is the onset, and -im is the rime.
One way to help children distinguish among sounds is by sorting objects or pictures by initial sounds. The goal of sorting is to emphasize similarities and differences among target features to help students conceptualize the categories.
Pictures may be sorted by sound and position (e.g., the /m/ sound at the beginning of mouse versus the /s/ sound at the beginning of sun). Picture sorts are cued by headers placed at the top of each category.