Georgia's Pre-K Program teacher newsletter, Vol. 2, Issue 3 (Nov. 2005)

November 2005

THANKSGIVING IDEAS

Here are some great books to introduce Thanksgiving to your class: The Story of The First Thanksgiving by Elaine Raphael and Don Bolognese, Friendship's First Thanksgiving by William Accorsi, The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh, If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1692 by Ann McGovern, Sarah Morton's Day: A Day in The Life of A Pilgrim Girl and Samuel Eaton's Day: A Day In The Life of A Pilgrim Boy both by Kate Waters and The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving by Ann McGovern. Some of these books may be a little lengthy, but they have great pictures and you can adlib! You can also discuss the kinds of foods they ate for the feast and talk about how it was

gathered, prepared, etc. Then compare to modern day--they didn't have grocery stores or packaged food back then! Provide as many real experiences for the children as possible. Make and knead bread, pretend to fetch water and fire wood, husk the corn, hunt for food, etc. These real experiences make the learning exciting and memorable for the children! Add a tee-pee, pumpkins, corn, baskets to gather food, pilgrim clothing, native American clothing, etc. to your dramatic play area to further enhance their play. Children can also paint with corn cobs or an ear of corn and paint rocks.
Start a discussion about being thankful by posting this poem on chart paper in your room and reading it aloud to

your children. End by asking children to tell you what they are thankful for. Have them draw their ideas on paper and then record their dictations. Combine pages to create a classroom book for your reading area.
Be Thankful
Be thankful for home
Be thankful for food
Be thankful for birds that fly
Be thankful for sleep
Be thankful for flowers
Be thankful for clouds in the sky
Be thankful for friends
Be thankful for rain
And the rainbows that follow close by.

Bright From The Start Georgia's Pre-K Program www.decal.state.ga.us Volume 2 Issue 3
November 2005
Special points of interest:
Thanksgiving books and ideas Turkey ideas November finger plays Grocery Store National Book Week Phonological Awareness activity

Contact information:

VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT

Remember it is very important where you would normally put pictures.

to be constantly introducing Add topical vocabulary to blank index

new words to children through cards and a picture (drawing, photo,

their educational experience in sticker, clip-art, etc.) Insert the cards

your classroom. You can dis- into the blank pages. Use the front

play vocabulary on chart paper page to title your collection of vocabu-

or on sentence strips. Try

lary words. If you begin to do this for

this idea: Collect photo al-

each of your studies or topics you pre-

bums (the free ones you get sent in your room, soon you will have a

when you get pictures devel- collection of topical vocabulary you can

oped are great). A small index use year after year. Here is another

card fits perfectly in the slots great idea. Download seasonal or topi-

cal clip-art from your computer and add the word or phrase at the bottom of each page. Compile the pages in a three ring notebook, using plastic page protectors for longer life. These are fun to make and you can keep them year after year and add to them as you think of new words or find new pictures to add.

Consultant of the Day 404-656-5957 888-4GA-PREK Suspension/Disenrollment Meghan McNail 404-463-0009
Meghan.McNail@decal.state.ga.us

TURKEYS

This is a great time to talk turkey with your children. Introduce turkeys to your children by sharing facts. Draw a picture of a turkey or have a picture of a real turkey (or both) and then label the parts of the turkeys. Great new vocabulary will be introduced! Be sure to label these parts: beak, feathers, caruncles (fleshy growths of skin found on head and neck of turkey), snood (growth of skin above its beak), wattle (piece of skin hanging from a turkey's throat), beard, and spurs. Here are some other turkey facts: A male turkey is called a tom or a gobbler. A female turkey is called a hen. A newly hatched turkey is called a poult. Turkeys feed along the ground, pecking for acorns, berries, seeds, insects, nuts, and mushrooms. They roost in trees to sleep.

Some books about turkeys: Sometimes It's Turkey, Sometimes It's Feathers by Lorna Balian A Turkey For Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting `Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving by Day Pilkey One Tough Turkey: A Thanksgiving Story by Steven Kroll Farmer Goff And His Turkey Sam by Brian Schatell Thanksgiving At The Tappletons' by Eileen Spinelli Thanksgiving Treat by Catherine Stock Albert's Thanksgiving by Leslie Tryon Daisy's Crazy Thanksgiving by Margery Cuyler Thanksgiving At Our House by Wendy Watson A Visit To Grandma's by Nancy Carlson

Mr. Turkey I have a turkey, big and fat. (make a fist with one hand-thumb out for turkey's head) He spreads his tail and walks like that. (attach tail by spreading out fingers from other hand and joining together) His daily corn he would not miss. And when he talks, it sounds like this: Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!

National Children's Book Week

Book week is the November 14-20, 2005. Celebrate the joy of reading during this special week. Try some of these activities:
(1) Role play one of your favorite class stories
(2) Invite parents and families in to read
(3) Host a celebrity reading day
(4) Create a Big Book version of one of your favorite class stories
(5) Host a book fair to raise money for your school
(6) Create a personalized version of a story on the web. Visit story creations from Sears Portrait Studio for further instructions at www.searsportrait.com/storybook/ storybook_storyindex.asp 7

(7) Host a read-a-thon (8) Create class books (9) Host a parent meeting to teach parents how to
read-a-loud to their children, offer a chance to visit your lending library and to sign-up for a library card and meet your local librarian (10) Take a field trip to the local library (11) Create a book hospital in your classroom to help mend torn books
Go to http://www.cbcbooks.org/cbw/links.html for additional information on this exciting week.

SONGS AND FINGER PLAYS

Ten Fat Turkeys (tune: "Ten Little Indians") 1 fat, 2 fat, 3 fat turkeys, 4 fat, 5 fat, 6 fat turkeys, 7 fat, 8 fat, 9 fat turkeys 10 fat turkeys ready for Thanksgiving.

I Am Thankful (tune: "Where is Thumbkin") I am thankful, I am thankful
Yes I am, Yes I am I am thankful for my friends
I am thankful for my kin Yes I am, Yes I am
(explain kin is another word for family)

"The greatest revolution in our generation is that of human beings, who by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives."
Maryilyn Ferguson
The First Thanksgiving (tune: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)
Pick the corn and pick the beans, Pick the squash and other greens
It is harvest time you see Come and share a feast with me.
Bring your family out to play, We'll call this Thanksgiving Day.

Volume 2 Issue 3

Page 2

WRITING IN PRE-K
Rather than using worksheets, provide writing opportunities that are varied and meaningful for the children. Writing progresses in stages from scribbles, to random letter formation, to copying words, to writing independently. Each child in the Pre-K classroom will be at a different stage of development.
Writing in Pre-K should occur naturally and skills develop over a period of time. Work sheets and tracing activities are not appropriate for instruction in a Pre-K classroom.
Before children can write, they must develop fine motor skills. Fine motor skills need to be practiced often in the Pre-K classroom. Be sure to provide fine motor activities for children on a daily basis.
In the Pre-K classroom it important that teachers begin to model writing and talking about the reasons why we write throughout the daily routine. It is also important that children be given daily opportunities to write in the classroom and that writing materials are interesting, abundant and, rotated often.
Here are some ways to offer children daily opportunities to write:
(1) start a sign-in practice. You can begin this experience by explaining that teachers have to sign-in every day when they get to the school so that their "boss" will know they are there. You can then say, "I think that is a good idea, so I am going to have a place for you to sign-in every day when you arrive so I will know you are here." When you develop something for the children to sign-in on, please do not have them trace their name. Simply have a model of their name written in the correct form (upper and lower case) for them to look at if they want to. From these sign-in sheets you will begin to see the progress the children are making. You must be willing to accept each child's individual signature even if it is scribbles, letters are formed incorrectly, letters are out of order, or reversed. Remember that you are just establishing a reason to write and these are all acceptable stages of writing for young children.
(2) When you complete work in your classroom simply say, "You know, I need help

remembering whose paper is whose so please write your name on your paper so I can remember." Again, we accept what they write.
(3) Children can sign-up for a turn on the computer or at the paint easel
(4) Children can write a message on the daily message board
(5) Children have access to a well-equipped writing center daily--see our website for writing center ideas if you need them
(6) For class graphs, have children sign their name on a post-it note and then post under their choice
(7) Children have access to writing materials in every learning area
(8) Children have access to writing materials outside daily
(9) Children can write in journals
(10) Set-up experiments for the children and have them "record" what happened.
While all this is taking place, the teacher is constantly modeling for the children how and why we write. The teacher models on the morning message board, chart stories, graphs, dictations, etc. Every time the teacher writes, he/she should model appropriate writing skills and correct letter and sentence form.
Teachers can also create portable writing centers for children to help peak the interest of children who might not have developed a strong interest yet. Try filling a pocket book, a tool box, a tackle box, a make-up bag or kit, a small suitcase, a briefcase, a tool apron, etc. with writing materials. Introduce the portable writing centers to the children and offer to the children that they can take it with them anywhere they want. You can also send these home with parents when the need arises or if you know a child would like to use it in their home.
Make writing fun and exciting in your classroom. Add new vocabulary words, stickers, cool pens and pencils, colored and shaped papers, cards, stamps, envelopes, etc. If you are excited about writing, your enthusiasm will carry-over to the children.
If you would like more ideas about writing in Pre-k, please visit our website and look under Pre-K/Teachers/PQA Resources/Language and Literacy/Reading and Writing in Pre-K.

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain."
Maya Angelou

Volume 2 Issue 3

Page 3

GROCERY STORE

What a great time of year to setup a grocery store in an area of your room? Most families will spend the next few months baking and cooking for the upcoming holidays, so frequent visits to the grocery store are an excellent spring board to begin this exciting area!
In advance collect grocery store advertising circulars grocery ads from newspapers, coupons, empty and clean food containers, jars, tubs, and boxes, grocery bags (plastic and paper), plastic fruits and veggies, play money, cash register, pretend credit cards, receipts, shopping baskets, uniforms from local grocery stores and signs from grocery stores (or make your own). Send a letter home to parents explaining the upcoming experience and ask if they would help gather and send in the above mentioned items.
If possible, arrange a field trip to a local grocery store before beginning

suggestions: At The Supermarket by David Hautzig, Just Shopping With Mom by Mercer Mayer, The Storekeeper by Tracey Campbell Pearson, A Visit To The Supermarket by B.A. Hoena, or We Keep A Store by Anne Shelby.
Be creative and name your class grocery store. Allow children to create signs and labels for "weekly specials", prices, grocery store displays, make their own grocery store flyers and advertisements, etc. Provide paper and markers and tape for this.
Encourage children to make shopping lists, use coupons, count money, etc. Have children sort the groceries into boxes, cans, jars, etc.
Introduce new vocabulary to children. Some words you might think of adding: display, purchase, price, bar code, cash register, money, bill, fruit, vegetables, dairy, breads, manager, bagger, manager, bakery, customer, buggy, aisle, poultry, meat market,

frozen foods, produce, check out, receipt.
You can do many things to enhance the experience for the children. Have them select music to play in the background while their store is in operation, explain the different jobs in the grocery store and let children practice, practice shopping for ingredients to a particular recipe and talk about where you would find each item in the grocery store, provide a cooking experience or samples. Be creative and use your imagination and theirs.
Be sure to take a picture of your wonderful center to keep each year along with a list of all the items you add so you can remember the changes you made for the next school year. It is also great to have the picture to show to parents who missed the experience, your consultant and to families who are registering for pre-k

PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS ACTIVITY

Recognizing letters should be encouraged in the Pre-K classroom, but only in appropriate ways. These are some activities that might help your children begin to learn the names and sounds of letters they are manipulating, forming and writing.
(1) You can encourage letter identification and identify letter sounds by having materials accessible to the children such as letters made of plastic, wood, etc. You might have letter beads for stringing, magnetic letters, 3-D foam letters, alphabet puzzles, alphabet blocks, letter flash cards, letter tiles, alphabet books, alphabet songs and finger plays, environmental print, etc. These materials and activities will help you get credit on the PQA for B3 Exceeds: Materials are accessible to enhance children's understanding of the alphabetic principal. Your overall goal would be to have something in each center area to address the alphabetic principal which

in turn provides the teacher an opportunity to address learning when children are using the materials during center time. (2) You can play games to make letter identi-
fication interesting. Try this for small group. Place about ten or twelve letters in a basket for each child in the group. Say something like, "I'm wondering who can find the letter ___ in their basket?" or "Who can find the first letter of their name?" Don't get frustrated with children who aren't ready or don't identify correctly. You may want to create smaller groups during work time for your children who are ready. (3) Provide letter shapes, stampers, and cookie cutters with playdough. You can also encourage children to form letters with playdough during center time. This provides a hands-on tactile experience for the children which makes learning more meaningful. (4) Use books that expose children to the

alphabet. Some examples of books you might look for: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by John Archambault, Alphabet City by Stephen Johnson, The Farm Alphabet Book by Jane Miller, The Ocean Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta, ABC T-Rex by Bernard Most, Alphabet Under Construction by Denise Fleming, Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert, Firefighters A to Z by Chris L. Demarest, Flora McDonnell's ABC by Flora McDonnell, G is for Goat by Patricia Polacco, Miss Spider's ABC by David Kirk, and K Is For Kissing A Cool Kangaroo by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees (5) Observe in the writing area. Many times you can spontaneously respond to a child's interest in writing letters just be making yourself available.