Pre-K teaching times, Vol. 12, Issue 2 (Sept. 2012)

Pre-K Teaching Times

Welcoming All Children!

All four-year-old students enter Georgia's Pre-K Program at different developmental levels, and we welcome them all. When children enter your classroom, we do not expect them to possess a certain proficiency in literacy or math or to be at a particular level of social development. Because each of your students has had unique experiences in life, you should expect age, developmental, and social differences in your class. You should consider these differences as you create lesson plans and activities throughout the year.
As a teacher, you will need to plan instruction to help your students acquire the social skills, habits, and discipline to succeed in school. Commit to providing the guidance, instruction, resources, and support that all of your students need to become kindergarteners.
If you need help, the following resources are available:
Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (R&Rs): Georgia has six regional resource and referral agencies that support early childhood educators and child care providers through a variety of services including training, technical assistance, access to materials, educational newsletters, and advocacy. If you are interested in the services provided by the R&Rs, contact the R&R that serves your county. You can find this information on the Bright from the Start website at: http://www.decal.ga.gov/ ChildCareServices/CCRRSystem.aspx.
Pre-K Consultant: Each Georgia's Pre-K Program is assigned a Pre-K consultant who will work closely with programs throughout the year and is available to provide onsite technical assistance, to answer questions about the program, to refer to appropriate training, etc.

Volume 12, Issue 2 September 2012
Inside this issue:

Welcome!

1

Building A Classroom Community

2

Pre-K Literacy

2

Math

3

What is Phonological Awareness and 3 Why is it Important?

Science and Off to a Good Start Lesson 4 Plans

The Importance of

Having CLASS in

4

Pre-K

WSO

5

20-Year Celebration 5

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: www.decal.ga.gov

Building A Classroom Community
Some children will be filled with anxiety the first week of school: Will my teacher like me? Will I be able to make friends? Start off the new school year by helping children feel special and make friends in the classroom. By doing this, you are establishing the foundation for a caring classroom where children feel secure and can become confident learners. Research supports that children learn best when they feel part of a community. Help children find out how special they are! Everyone is special in different ways and can contribute to the classroom community. Encourage them to participate in the activities that focus on individual strengths and that emphasize how each person is unique. Ask the children to think of qualities about themselves. Here are some questions to get you started:
Who wears glasses? Who likes to dance? Who likes to laugh? Who is kind? How can you show kindness?
Chart and discuss these and similar questions. List your students' responses and post them in the classroom. Then, refer to the chart throughout the year to remind them how special each person is to the classroom community.
Pre-K Literacy
What does Pre-K literacy look like? In Pre-K, many children learn to name and write alphabet letters, hear rhymes and sounds in words, recognize and write their names, use new vocabulary words, and listen to stories to gain meaning. Did you know that children begin their path to reading as babies when they hear and respond to the sound of a human voice? Literacy, the ability to comprehend and communicate through reading and writing, begins with understanding the sounds in language. Listening, talking, reading, and writing are all parts of early literacy learning - and they're all connected. It's important for young children to hear and understand spoken language, become aware of the different language sounds, and start learning about print - letters and words. Preschoolers need writing to help them learn about reading and reading to help them learn about writing, but they need to talk and listen before learning about either!
So, how can you support the development of literacy? Every day model writing by creating chart stories or by modeling dictation on children's individual work. Name letters and read words as you write. Acknowledge and praise children in all stages of writing: from scribbling to forming letters. While reading books, pause often, and ask children questions about the pictures and the story. Introduce new vocabulary words used in the story. As you read big books, sweep your hand from left to right to model the reading process. Point out the difference between letters and words. Read children's favorite books often as repetition supports children in hearing the rhythm and rhymes of stories and reinforces new words and their meaning. Early literacy is about the sounds of language, so plan activities supporting phonological awareness many times throughout the day especially during transitions. Place a variety of writing materials throughout your classroom and model how to use them as you interact with children. Finally, engage in meaningful and thought-provoking conversation with your children often. Take time to listen and respond to what children say. By providing ample opportunities for children to use and hear language, modeling the methods and purpose of printed language, and allowing children to practice using tools that produce print, you will help your students acquire strong language and literacy skills.

Page 2

Pre-K Teaching Times

Math

It is a fact that if children know a variety of math skills BEFORE they begin kindergarten, they will have a better chance for success in school. Children need to learn these skills so they can understand the more complicated parts of math as their education progresses.
Ordinary and fun activities teach preschoolers about math. Begin the year with some of these activities by asking the children to:
Separate red blocks from blue blocks Put green tennis balls into a green basket and yellow ones into a yellow basket Arrange manipulatives by size and color Make shapes/patterns using materials such as play dough, crayons, markers, beads, and sticks in different colors Point to items as they count them.

Make shapes/patterns with finger paint Compare sizes of crayons short, shorter, shortest or long, longer, longest.
Do not forget that math vocabulary is essential. Teach math while in transitions. Positional words are important. Have children get in front of or behind each other, or put your hand on your head or over your shoulder. Knowing who is first, second, and last in line can be taught when lining up to go outside. Line up by who is tallest or who is shortest.
Ask questions during center time, such as, who has the most animals in their farm? How do you know? Who has the tallest building? Show me how you can make your building taller? Can you make a snake as long as my snake? Let's take the bears and make a pattern. Have

children tell about the pattern they created.
Math can be taught throughout the day, EVERYDAY! How many times can you teach math in one school day?

What is Phonological Awareness?

Why Is It Important?

Awareness of sounds in a language Awareness of rhymes Awareness that sentences can be broken down into words, syllables, and sounds Ability to talk about, reflect upon, and manipulate sounds

Understanding the relationship between written and spoken language
Phonological awareness is a prerequisite for skills that typically develop gradually and sequentially through direct training and exposure.

Leads to reading success Prevents reading deficits Leads to success in spelling Helps children become aware of sounds in their language Phonological awareness helps children associate sounds with symbols and develop word recognition and decoding skills necessary for reading.

Volume 12, Issue 2

Page 3

Science and Off to a Good Start Lesson Plans

Let's look at ways to teach science by reviewing the literature presented in the Off To A Good Start lesson plans created by Georgia State's Best Practices. These plans can be found on our website: www.decal.ga.gov. Select Pre-K/Teacher/Planning/Off To A Good Start. Even if you don't have the books listed in the plans, you can use these science activities and relate them to animals or life science ideas in your books. Three basic rules to remember when conducting a Pre-K science lesson are:

*Make it simple

*Make it hands on *Define and use the correct vocabulary

Franklin Goes to School Explore turtles by discussing why they have shells. Role play being a turtle. Explore herbivores and taste turtle food. Chart your outcomes. SD 1a,b,c,d,e,f

The Kissing Hand Explore raccoons or other nocturnal animals. Make a collage of pictures of diurnal and nocturnal animals from magazines. At snack time allow children to wash their food in the water table like raccoons. SD2a, b,d

Rainbow Fish Introduce a food for each color to explore and taste test. (Always double check for food allergies before asking children to taste test new foods.) Use eggplant for purple; butternut squash for orange; bell pepper for green; or lemons for yellow. Ask children to vote for their favorite and record the outcomes. Let parents know what new foods their children might eat by posting the results in your parent newsletter. SD 1a, SD 1c, SD 2a, SD 2d

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Explore a coconut! Poke a hole with a screwdriver into the dark spots on the top of the coconut to let air in. Pour the milk into a bowl. When the coconut is empty, wrap it in a towel and break it with a hammer. Peel away the shell and eat the white meat. SD 1a,b,c,d,e,f

The Importance of Having CLASS in Pre-K
The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) is an observation tool that focuses on the effectiveness of classroom interactions among teachers and children. The daily interactions promote children's social and cognitive development. Children thrive when teachers create nurturing, well-managed settings and provide frequent and engaging opportunities to learn.
The CLASS describes three broad domains of effective teacher-child interactions: Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support. Within the three domains, multiple dimensions focus on a different aspect of teacher-child interactions. Each of the dimensions includes a set of effective-teaching practices.
Research in thousands of early childhood classrooms across the country shows that children in classrooms that score higher on the CLASS make greater gains in language, math, and early literacy development. Children in these higher-scoring classrooms also show more positive social development over the course of the year than their peers in lower-scoring classrooms. This research has included a diverse range of teachers, children and programs, showing that the types of classroom interactions measured by the CLASS are effective across settings.
Each month the Pre-K newsletter will provide an in-depth look on one dimension of the CLASS observation tool and how teachers can increase effective interactions with children in that area.

Page 4

Pre-K Teaching Times

Work Sampling Online
If you are using Work Sampling Online, you should work on the following items every week.
Observe, record, and classify all observational notes, work samples, and photos and complete matrices. Enter and classify documentation weekly. Archive students that have disenrolled. Update children's enrollment and IEP category as needed. Review documentation and rate indicators on the WSO Developmental Checklist. Use Group Reports for planning instruction. Remember: you do NOT have to keep supporting documentation in Physical/ Health and Social/Emotional domains. You do, however, still need to rate these indicators.

Georgia's Pre-K Program 2 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, SE 754 East Tower Atlanta, GA 30334
Phone: 404-656-5957
For updates from Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ gadeptearlycare or Facebook at www.facebook.com/brightfromthestart.

20-Year Celebration
This year Georgia's Pre-K Program will turn 20 years old, and several events will be held throughout the year to help celebrate. If you have been a part of this program since the beginning or know someone who has, we want to hear from you. Please e-mail your story to:
20yearsofprek@decal.ga.gov