Georgia's Pre-K Program teacher newsletter, Vol. 2, Issue 1 (Aug./Sept. 2005)

BACK TO SCHOOL

UPDATES FROM DECAL

First of all--Welcome Back! We are hard at work and off to another wonderful, yet busy school year.
DECAL is always excited to offer new training each school year. Please visit the training schedule now available on our website if you haven't already. New for this year: Site Director training is MANDATORY. A new lead teacher training for those who have been to all other DECAL trainings: Best Practices: Developing Expressive Language will be offered. A new Focus on the Basics is being offered and the topic will be Behavior Management. The Assessment and Portfolio training

has been combined into one , two day training and will include all information from the basic as well as the advanced training. BRAND NEW and MOST EXCITING is the New Teacher Institute. It is MANDATORY for all new lead and assistant teachers in the state. Many topics will be covered, including: Lesson Planning, Schedules, Assessment, Transitions, Language and Literacy, Inclusion.
CONTENT STANDARDS have been aligned with DOE's new Kindergarten GPS standards and have been revised. You will be able to access the new content standards on our website at the end of August

Georgia's Pre-K

and all Project Directors will receive a copy at training. Be looking for them!
THE PQA is also under minor revision. We have added more definitions and clarifications and updated some wording in the document. This will also be available on our website midAugust and will also be given to Project Directors at training. We have also developed a Self Assessment Guide that will be available at the same time as well.

Program
Volume 2, Issue 1
August/September 2005
Special points of interest:
DECAL Updates Back to school tips Alliteration fun Phonemic Awareness Recommended Book Lists

The new Governor's choice book this year will be One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root. You will receive the books for your class as well as a lesson planning guide.

Contact information:

BEFORE SCHOOL STARTS

As you are preparing your classroom for your new children, here are a few things you might want to consider. Try contacting each family before school starts and extend a warm welcome to the family to open house or the first day of school. Tell the family you will be taking their pic-

ture and want them to be sure to come. Tell them a little bit about you and what they will need to bring the first day of school. Go ahead and check for changes to address and contact numbers. You can also ask how the child will be getting home the first day of school and then for

the rest of the year. Open house will run smoother. Updated Ideas for Parent Orientation can be found in the Pre-K Provider's Operating Guidelines available on-line at www.decal.state. ga.us

Consultant of the Day 404-656-5957 888-4GA-PREK
RC Contact: Darlene Sims 404-656-4711 Darlene.sims@decal.state. ga.us

Symbols--helping with alliteration!

One thing that has long been a part of setting up a Pre-K classroom has been assigning symbols to the children in your classroom. It is recommended that the symbol be easy for the Pre-K child to draw and relate to. A child will refer to his/her symbol for the majority of the Pre-K year. Symbol recognition comes in handy for children who are non-readers to identify belongings and places of importance. It also helps to develop the sense of belonging in the classroom when suddenly everything with their symbol becomes theirs. This year when assigning symbols try to assign a

symbol to each child that begins with the same sound that their name begins with. Be sure you remember to keep it simple to draw, so as children are learning they can eventually begin to draw their symbol (beginning writing) and then move on to writing letters of their name and eventually their whole name. You can use these symbols all day to help with alliteration skills in your classroom. Some examples:
Mary Moon
Sally Sunshine
David Dog

Susie Star Hannah Heart Darla Daisy Bonnie Butterfly Billy Ball Trevell Tree
Periodically, throughout the day say the child's name and symbol together for transitions, attendance, dismissal, etc.

Materials, Materials, Materials

When setting up your classroom, keep in mind children can quickly become overwhelmed and distracted when too many items are accessible in the room. Refer to your PQA and make sure you start by making the required items accessible.
Be sure to introduce each new material placed in a center throughout the year. Small Group time is an excellent

time to introduce new materials and teach the proper way to use them. You can involve the children in finding a location for the new material and labeling the new material.
It is also important to introduce each area of your room at the beginning of the year, along with each material you have already placed into learning areas. Pretend the children

don't know anything and you have to teach them everything--how to use it, where to put it during clean-up, etc. Take time to do this and you will be amazed at the results.

"Everyone has gifts. They just open them on different occasions."
Author unkown

PRE-K CONSULTANTS

As many of you know many of the PreK consultants have changed regions. We feel it is for a good reason even though it may be frustrating to our providers at times. This year we were able to hire 2 new consultants. If you are not sure who your new consultant is, you can contact your previous consultant for the information or call our Pre-K Consultant of the Day.

The role of your consultant is to partner with you to help provide the best learning opportunities for the children enrolled in your Pre-K program. Your consultant is available to you via e-mail or phone. Please find your consultant's contact information and don't hesitate to call him/her throughout the school year when assistance is needed or you need ideas

or information. If for some reason your consultant is unavailable, please contact the Pre-K Consultant of the Day at 404-656-5957 or 888-4GAPREK. Consultant contact information is being updated on the website. Our website is another excellent source for obtaining information for your site. Be sure to visit www.decal. state.ga.us often for updates and new information.

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Phonological Awareness

Phonological awareness is the ability to hear, identify and manipulate sounds. Here are some basic things to remember about phonological awareness instruction in your classroom:
1. It should be PURPOSEFUL and MEANINGFUL.
2. It should occur DAILY, SYSTEMATICALLY, and EXPLICITLY!
3. It should happen with SMALL GROUPS - not individually.
4. Instruction should be in 10--15 minutes time intervals.
5. REPETITION is important!

6. It should be ORAL!
The song "Tooty Tot" is an excellent example of a song with movements that you can do daily with your children to teach phonological awareness.
If you assign children symbols that begin with the same sound of the first letter of their name and call them throughout the day, you are also teaching phonological awareness.
During planning time you can use strategies to help you teach phono-

logical awareness, "The person whose names rhymes with jelly is the next one to make a plan."
Clean-up time is another time to teach phonological awareness. You can simply say, "I see something that needs to be put away and it rhymes with _______".
By implementing these strategies and others you will be teaching phonological awareness, having fun, and not even know it!
Be sure to document your phonological awareness activities on your daily lesson plans. (C4 on the PQA)

CHARACTER EDUCATION AND VIOLENCE PREVENTION

Here is an opportunity available to you. Please read the following and then make the contact if you are interested.
Money is available for a character education/violence prevention program geared to Pre-K/Head Start that really works! The Georgia Children's Trust Fund Commission offers grants to cover of the modest cost of the Second Step curriculum and 100% of training costs.
Why Pre-K/Head Start teachers love the Second Step:
cuts down on discipline problems and allows more time for learning based on solid research and has

been proven effective teacher-friendly and only takes 20 minutes a week for 15 weeks loveable puppets and fun songs on tape included Endorsements: Georgia Humanities Council: exemplary character education program Character Education Partnership/ Schools Of Character Awards U.S. Department of Education exemplary award SAMHSA model program

For more information About the Grant: Carole Steele The Georgia Children's Trust Fund Commission Tel: (404) 206-6037; Fax: (404) 206-6041 About Second Steps Committee For Children Client Support Services (800)634-4449 info@cfchildren.org www.cf.org 2006 grant application availablealeNovember, 2005 at www. gactfc.com

"Behold the turtle. He only makes progress when he sticks his neck out."
James Bryant Conant

LESSON PLANNING

When beginning to plan your lessons for this year, remember there are many ways to generate ideas for plans. Be sure to remember that plans should not be disjointed and random. Lesson plans should have a purpose and you should be teaching and planning activities for a reason. Keep these key things in mind when planning this year. Planning can occur

around current events, children's interests, community events, concepts, season, holidays, content standards, objectives, assessment, poems and pieces of literature. Lesson plan ideas can be found on our website and sample lesson plan formats will be added in mid-August. Remember lesson plans should address the needs and developmental levels of all of the

children in your room and that lesson planning and assessment go hand-inhand. We will be offering a session on planning and assessment at the New Teacher Institute as well as Director Training.

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