Georgia's Pre-K Program teacher newsletter, Vol. 2, Issue 7 (Mar. 2006)

March 2006

READ ACROSS AMERICA

This year, the National Education Association (NEA) will be creating a one day event to celebrate the joy of reading on March 2, 2006. March 2 is Dr. Seuss's birthday. Be sure to visit www.nea.org/readacross/index. html for more information on how you can get involved in helping with providing books to public schools affected by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma.
This year NEA has not put out a national theme, but instead invites teachers to send in their own events to tell what they have planned for their own schools and classrooms.

There is an on-line toolkit available on the website to help plan some Seuss activities in your classroom. There is also information on the website about obtaining free "Cat in the Hat" posters.
While visiting the NEA website you will also find information about how NEA has partnered with Universal Pictures and Houghton-Mifflin to celebrate with the movie Curious George which opened in theaters February 10th.

Bright From The Start: Georgia Pre-K Program
Volume 2, Issue 7
March 2006
Special points of interest:
Read Across America Lion/Lamb Alliteration Spring Ideas

NEA, for the first time ever, has introduced a theme song for the 2006 event. The song for this year is "My Time" from the critically acclaimed husband and wife led Kindred the Family Soul. The song was chosen because it stresses the importance of making reading a family affair. You can listen to the song or read the lyrics on NEA's website.

PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS ACTIVITY

Alliteration is an important early literacy concept. Children should be able to listen intently and be able to discriminate the repetition of an initial sound. It precedes a child's ability to make sound/ symbol relationships. For prek, it is important that children are able to tell you the sound they hear and less important that they can identify the le t-

ter that makes the sound. Some simple ways to teach alli teration: recite poems, chants, and nursery rhymes with repeating initial sounds, sing songs such as Miss Mary Mack, find a group of items that all have the same initial sounds, and play tongue twisters. Another fun activity to do is make silly sentences where all words begin with the same sound.

"The art of teaching is the
art of assisting discovery"
Mark Van Doren

Contact information:
Consultant of the Day 404-656-5957 888-4GA-PREK
Suspension/Disenrollment Meghan McNail 404-463-0009 meghan.mcnail@decal.state.ga.us
Visit Our Website www.decal.state.ga.us

NATIONAL BUBBLE WEEK

National Bubble Week is the third full week in March. Bubbles are so much fun for children (and adults).
Try these ideas for making your own bubble solution and easy bubble tools: Solutions: 1. 1 Part Dawn Ultra/Joy Ultra, 15
parts distilled/soft water, .25 glycerin or white Karo syrup. 2. 1 part regular Dawn/Regular Joy, 10 parts distilled soft water, .25 part glycerin or white Karo syrup 3. 2 parts regular Dawn/Regular Joy, 4 parts glycerin, 1 part white Karo syrup

Tools: Wire hangers bent in different shapes Empty milk containers String Plastic bowl lids--cut out the center Tuna can--cut off top and bottom Strawberry Baskets Fresh Twigs bent into shapes Pipe cleaners bent into shapes
Activities: Bend hangers in different shapes. Have children guess if they think it will come out like the shape. Add bubbles and bubble wands to your outside sensory table.

Bubbles, Bubbles, Everywhere Bubble, bubbles, everywhere, Floating gently through the air. Let's all count now, 1,2,3. Pop your bubbles now with me!
Record the above poem on chart paper. Teach your children the poem. Encourage children to "float" around the room like bubbles as they chant the poem. At the end of the poem, have the children clap their hands to simulate the sounds of bubbles popping and then sit down quickly. This can become a great transition activity and time filler when you have down time!

March: In Like a Lion, Out Like A Lamb!

Make a chart to describe what a Lion day and a Lamb day would be. Graph Lion and Lamb days for the month of March. Read some books about weather such as The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins, Gilberto and the Wind by Marie Hall Ets, or The Boy Who Didn't Believe in Spring by Lucille Clifton.

Record this poem on chart paper and read to your class. Add pictures for each line:
One big windmill spinning in the sky.
Two bright flags waving up high.
Three spinning pinwheels twirling all around.
Four fluffy dandelions blowing near the ground.

Go outdoors and fly kites. Hang a windsock Five dancing kites near a tree so tall.
and wind chimes outside a classroom window The rushing, whistling wind can blow them and on the playground. Be sure to take pi n- all. wheels outside for fun!

National Cereal Day

March 7th is National Cereal Day. Think of all the fun activities you can do in your classroom that involve cereal!
You can create a class book by having children bring in their favorite box of cereal (empty). Cut off the front and bind the fronts together to create a class book. On the backs of the cereal fronts you can put a picture of the child whose favorite cereal the front represents. This makes a

great guessing game while introducing environmental print.
You can follow -up this activity by graphing favorite cereals. Do a class taste test and graph who likes which cereal the most, the least, etc.
You can also use some types of cereal for all kinds of math activities. Many cereals come with marshmallows that you can pattern with, or colors/shapes that can be

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains.
The superior teacher demonstrates.
The great teacher inspires!
sorted. You can also string round shaped cereals for fine motor development. When you are through stringing, hang the cereal strings out for the birds in your school yard!

Volume 2, Issue 7

Page 2

HERE COMES SPRING

Now is the time to spruce up and clean your classroom learning areas. Invite your children to help you. Out with old and in with the new. Remember that your learning areas are supposed to change as often as your current topic or interest changes (Item B1--Meets on the PQA). Look around your room and remove any items you might have added for fall or winter and replace them with new spring or other current topic items. Changing your learning areas to reflect your current topics or interests helps children relate and connect what they are learning about to the "real world" and also keeps their excitement level high and their interests peaked. Here are some ideas that might help get you started. SPRING on them!!

leave all of your basic science materials accessible to meet the requirements of the PQA (Item B8). Most teachers find that creating a science center helps them remember to rotate the science items in the classroom. You can add books related to spring. Some topics may include birds, frogs, butterflies, rain, spring, gardening, flowers, etc. Also, look for pictures related to spring you can display. Rotate your collections of natural items. You certainly don't want to still have your acorns and other fall items out with spring peeping around the corner. Include budding branches, fresh flowers, or new green leaves now. Try growing grass seed or forcing daffodil bulbs to bloom as an extra activity for your children to observe. You could also add "Easter" grass or shredded green paper and bugs.

ored pillows or rugs. Try putting your writing center in a picnic basket and see if it peaks the children's interest. Include new spring colored paper, spring colored pencils, and new word cards with spring words and pictures/icons.
Your art area can benefit from adding newly mixed spring colored paint for the easel, spring scented play dough, spring collage materials, and stencils of spring flowers and animals.

Spring is a really great time to really beef-up science. The first step you need to take is to inventory your science materials. Make sure you

Remember to enhance your book area. Add pots of planted spring flowers (real or fake), books about Spring, stuffed rabbits or chicks, and brightly col-

For more ideas visit our website under teacher/PQA Resources/ Planning/Spring Ideas.

WELCOME SPRING!!!

March 20th is the first day of Spring this year. Welcome Spring with this song to the tune of "Ten in the Bed":
Warmer weather is here, And (child's name) gives a cheer! Some (flowers)! Some (flowers)! So we all clap our hands and welcome spring!

Add different spring words in the place of flowers. It might be helpful to write some words on sentence strips and draw picture to represent the word so children can easily make a choice. Some words you might choose: birds, sun, trees.
Sun

Birds

Trees

TRY THIS IDEA!!

Let your children choose the next topic you will study? Many teachers get stuck teaching the same topics year after year. We forget to find out what the children want to study and what interests they might have. Start with a large group or divide into two smaller groups. Invite your children to talk about things they want to learn about or things they want to know more about. Record their ideas on chart paper so you won't forget. Charting children's dictation is one way to model writing and reinforce the concept that the spoken words can be wri tten and then read. After the brain-

storming session, pull out the main topics the children are interested in and list them on a class graph along with some pictorial representation for the topic. For instance, if you wrote birds as a topic, draw a bird beside the word. Call the children back together the next day and give each child a sticky note to write their name on. Identify the topics they were interested in and allow them time to vote by placing their name under the topic they want to study. After all votes are in, tally the votes by counting and let the children see which topic has the most votes to see what wins.

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of
a fire." William Butler Yeats

Volume 2, Issue 7

Page 3

MORE SPRING IDEAS!

To introduce the topic of Spring use the activity by summarizing the chi l-

this guessing game. In advance, cover a dren's guesses and saying they will be

box with gift wrap or Con-Tact paper l e a r n i n g a l l a b o u t s p r i n g !

with a springtime print. Put a collection

of spring objects inside the box. You Read the book, When Spring Comes by

might want to include: a bird's feather, Robert Maass. Discuss all the charac-

an umbrella, a bird nest, a pack of teristics of the season along with all

seeds, a watering can, a small blossom the items that were in the mystery box.

or blooming branch, some plastic spring Cut out a large sunshine shape from

flowers such as daffodils or tulips, etc. butcher paper. List the spring words on

During large group time, tell your chil- the sunshine cutout and hang in your

dren that they will have to guess what class at the children's eye level so they

the next topic you will be studying will can refer to it often. You might end up

be by seeing what is inside the box. with words like kites, bunnies, robins,

Have one child come to the box and flowers, green leaves, sunshine, etc.

pick one item without looking. Have

him/her show the item to the group. Ask the children what it is and then let them guess the topic. Have another child pick another clue from the box and continue until all objects have been chosen from the box and named. End

Take your camera and a group of chi ldren outside to look for signs of spring. Take a picture of each child holding or pointing to what they found. When you return to the classroom have each child

write and draw about what they found. Add the children's photos to their drawings and compile into a class book. Be sure to record their dictation on their page. Come up with a catchy title for your class book!
Find a tree at your center that you can watch. Begin to notice signs of budding. When you do, take your children out to see the buds, then check it daily to watch for changes. Be sure to take pictures for each significant change and compile into a mini book for your class science area or a poster for your science area. Your chi ldren should see the buds, the flowers, and then the leaves.

TEN READ ALOUD COMMANDMENTS for families

Mem Fox's Ten Read Aloud Commandments 1.Spend at least ten wildly happy minutes every single day reading aloud. 2. Read at least three stories a day: it may be the same story three times. Children need to hear a thousand stories before they can begin to learn to read. 3. Read aloud with animation. Li sten to your own voice and don't be dull, or flat, or boring. Hang loose and be loud, have fun and laugh a lot. 4. Read with joy and enjoyment: real enjoyment for yourself and great joy for the listeners. 5. Read the stories that the kids love, over and over and over

again, and always read in the same `tune' for each book: i.e. with the same intonations on each page, each time. 6. Let children hear lots of language by talking to them constantly about the pictures, or anything else connected to the book; or sing any old song that you can remember; or say nursery rhymes in a bouncy way; or be noisy to gether doing clapping games. 7. Look for rhyme, rhythm or repetition in books for young children, and make sure the books are really short. 8. Play games with the things that you and the child can see on the page, such as letting kids finish rhymes, and finding the letters

that start the child's name and yours, remembering that it's never work, it's always a fabulous game. 9. Never ever teach reading, or get tense around books. 10. Read aloud every day because you just love being with your child, not because it's the right thing to do. This is as important for fathers as it is for mothers!
Taken from www.memfox.com