Georgia's Pre-K Program teacher newsletter, Vol. 3, Issue 2 (Oct. 2006)

GEORGIA PRE-K: October 2006

Phonological Awareness

Research has shown repeatedly that phonemic awareness is a powerful predictor of success for children learning to read. In fact, experts say this indicator is more accurate than tests that measure general intelligence. (Reading Program Advisory: Teaching Reading pp. 4-5), (Stanovich, 1996).
As a result, experts recommend that teachers use different strategies and address different levels of phonological awareness daily in their classrooms.

But first, what exactly is phonemic awareness?
Dr. Keith E. Stanovich, a respected researcher on the psychology of reading, says phonemic awareness is the understanding that speech is composed of a series of individual sounds called phonemes; the ability to hear individual sounds in words; and the ability to manipulate sounds in words orally.
Here are some different activities that teachers can put into practice in their classrooms to promote phonemic awareness.

Teachers can: Sing nursery rhymes and
songs. Play rhyming games. Play with magnetic let-
ters. Use physical responses
such as clapping and tapping to demonstrate patterns in song, stories, and words. Separate words into separate sounds. Lead word play where children change beginning, middle, and ending sounds. Blend letters when learning common spelling and sound patterns. Decode big words by breaking them down into smaller words.

Bright From The Start www.decal.state.ga.us
Volume 3 Issue 2
October 2006
Special points of interest:
Phonological Awareness Fall Ideas Pumpkin Ideas Fire Safety Ideas

FIRE PREVENTION WEEK

Contact Information:

Each year, more than 100,000 fires are set by children, according to the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA).
Also, children make up nearly a quarter of all firerelated deaths and about 40 percent of fires that kill young children are set by other children playing with fire.
This year, the USFA wants to reduce those numbers through better education. October

8--14 is Fire Prevention Week, a time when parents and teachers can talk to
kids about fire safety. Remember that Fire Safety is a year round discussion and basic fire safety tips should be reviewed often.
We recommend that teachers read either "The Cow That Destroyed Chicago" or "Why We Celebrate National Fire Prevention Week" aloud to their children. For more ideas, visit www. nfpa.org.

Consultant of the Day 404-656-5957 888-4GA-PREK
Suspension/Disenrollment Dana Evans 404-463-0009 Dana.Evans@decal.state.ga.us
RC Information Darlene Sims 404-651-7418 Darlene.Sims@decal.state.ga.us

Hey teachers: FALL into LEARNING this year!

Fall is here and children can't help but notice all the change. The weather is cooling, the days are shrinking, and the leaves are falling all over the place.
But don't just let the season pass you by-- use fall as a launching pad for new projects. Check out some creative concepts below, or visit our website and look under PreK/ Teachers/PQA Resources/Planning/.
Science:
Add pumpkins, or pictures of pumpkins,
in all shapes and sizes.
Add small pumpkins and a bowl of water
to your sensory table. Do they float???
Add nuts, seeds and acorns for explor-
ing and sorting.
Math:
Add different size pumpkins for seriat-
ing.
Keep scales for weighing pumpkins and
gourds.

Use leaves for matching, patterning,
and/or sorting.
Language/Writing:
Add fitting vocabulary such as pumpkin,
vine, ribbed, hard, orange, seeds, round, gourds, apples, scarecrow, fall, autumn, leaves, jacket, cool and sunflowers.
Blocks:
Add small, real and/or plastic pumpkins. Add photos of pumpkin patches.
Art:
Experiment with orange, green, brown,
red, and yellow paints.
Try a corncob painting. Learn about leaf rubbings.

Reading: Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington It's Pumpkin Time by Zoe Hall The Pumpkin Patch by Elizabeth King Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert Barn Dance by Bill Martin, Jr. Why Do Leaves Change Color? by Betsy Maestro Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell Scarecrow Pete by Mark Kimball Moulton Autumn is for Apples by Michelle Knudsen The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall Patty's Pumpkin Patch by Teri Sloat Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic by Steven Schnur Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper How Do Apples Grow? By Betsy Maestro

THE IMPORTANCE OF CHANGING LEARNING CENTERS

Young children are active learners who touch, feel, experiment, and create. The effective center is designed to stimulate active learners and encourage their involvement with the world around them.
To excel, children need activities and materials that help them connect with the world and their peers.
It is of great importance that early child

care providers work to create engaging environments that reflect current topics and issues.
The PQA (B1) requires that you change your learning centers to reflect current topics and events. Now you know why!

"Happiness can exist only in acceptance."
Denis De Rougamont

Create a pumpkin patch and gain credit on B5 Exceeds

Start by creating a list of items you'd like to include in your pumpkin patch. Here are some ideas:
A sign with the name of your pumpkin
patch
A cash register, play money and scales
for weighing pumpkins
A market stand and price list for pump-
kins (you can use your puppet stand or create one from a cardboard box)
Real and/or plastic pumpkins or ones

made from stuffed, painted paper bags
Aprons, overalls, gloves or straw hats. Rolled green tissue paper vines
A small wheelbarrow
Large produce baskets Books about pumpkin patches
You can also add: sunflowers (real or plastic), gourds (real or plastic), a scarecrow, baskets of apples (real or plastic), Indian corn, corn stalks or boiled peanuts for tasting (check for allergies).

REMEMBER: Multiple settings should be provided in the dramatic play area throughout the year. Be sure to record the changes you make. Take pictures so you can show your consultant what you've been doing, and also look back on some of your best work.
Remember when you change your dramatic play area, you are still responsible for having the basic equipment and supplies for PM and M on B5.

Volume 3 Issue 2

Page 2

Fire Safety Ideas

Making changes to the learning areas in your classroom to reflect fire safety will help you reinforce the ideas you are teaching in your classroom. Try some of these ideas:
Blocks: Add plastic firemen, fire trucks, ambulances, fire helmets, small pieces of hose with nozzles, fire alarms or a siren. Encourage children to build their own fire house, fire truck or home and then pretend to be a fireman.
House: Add props for dressing up as a fireman (boots, jackets, helmets, class made fire extinguishers), graph paper to draw escape plans, a phones a plastic fire hydrant and a fire hose (borrow from a fire house). Convert your kitchen into the fire house kitchen. Add sheets so children can pretend the sheets are smoke and practice crawling under and out of the house. Add a sign outside of your house area with the name and number of your fire house.
Writing: Cut paper in the shape of fire trucks. Stock fire truck/safety stickers. Write down children's addresses and phone numbers.

Art: Use small fire trucks and a pie pan or other shallow dish. Place a small amount of paint in the pan. Have children roll the wheels of the fire truck in the paint and then onto paper to make colorful fire truck tire prints on the paper.
Cooking Idea: Fire Truck Cookies: Use graham crackers, red frosting, Oreo cookies and black licorice.
Cut off one corner of a cracker. Frost the cracker. Split the Oreos apart and place one on the front and one on the back for the wheels. Lay a black licorice across the top for the ladder.
For more information, visit our website at www.decal.state.ga.us. Go to Pre-K/Teachers/PQA Resources/ Planning.

Hurry, Hurry, Drive The Fire truck
Hurry, hurry, drive the fire truck Hurry, hurry, drive the fire truck Hurry, hurry, drive the fire truck Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!
Hurry, hurry, climb the ladder Hurry, hurry, climb the ladder Hurry, hurry, climb the ladder Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!
Hurry, hurry, squirt the water Hurry, hurry, squirt the water Hurry, hurry, squirt the water Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!
Books About Fire Safety: Dot The Fire Dog by Lisa Desimini Stop, Drop and Roll by Margery Cuyler I'm Going to be a Firefighter by Edith Kunhardt Fire Safety by Nancy Loewen Big Frank's Fire Truck by Leslie McGuire Fireman Small to the Rescue by Wong Herbert Yee Firefighters A to Z by Chris L. Demarest I Want to Be a Firefighter--SERIES A Visit to The Fire Station by B.A. Hoena and Gail Saunders-Smith Protecting Your Home: A Book About Firefighters by Ann Owen

FIRE SAFETY
Fire can be helpful When handled with care. But fire and children Do not make a pair! So don't play with matches Or anything hot. Adults may use fire, But children should not!
~Pauline C. Peck
Volume 3 Issue 2

FIRE! fire! FIRE! (Hands
FIREcuSpOpiNnGg mouth)
Fire! Fire! Fire! (Hands cupping mouth)
HeaHr teheaSriretnshBelowisngir(Heanndscubpsleoawr) ing Fire! Fire! Fire! (Hands cupping mouth)
Everybody'(sHgaonindg! t(oWaelakrin)g in place)
FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! Climb the ladder (Pretend to climb a ladder)
Squirt the hose (Holding a hose)
With(HaaSndh,s Schu,pSphin,gShmo(Mutohvi)ng hose from left to right)
OutEthveefirreygboeos!d(Cyla'pshagndos itnogget!her)
(Walking in place)

"If you don't set goals for yourself, you are doomed to achieve the work of someone else."
Brian Tracy
Page 3

MORE PUMPKIN IDEAS

A Pumpkin Seed by Alice C. Hoffman A pumpkin seed's a little thing. When it's planted in the spring. But, oh, the fun it can bring.
At Halloween it turns into A pumpkin pie for me and you Or a jack-o-lantern that says.. BOO!
Here are some ideas for activities with real pumpkins...
Start by hiding a pumpkin in a mystery box. Decorate a large box and place the pumpkin inside. Have students ask questions to try to determine what is inside. You can cut a small hole in the box so they can feel the pumpkin inside. Let them use describing words to share what they feel. Record those words on chart paper. Can anyone guess.....??

Display pumpkins of varying sizes and have students estimate what the pumpkins weigh? Record their estimates. Now weigh the pumpkins.
Will pumpkins float? Record the children's responses on chart paper. Now test their theory by using a large tub of water to determine if a pumpkin will float or sink.
Estimate the circumference of a pumpkin by having students cut a piece of yarn they think will wrap completely around the pumpkin. After measuring the pumpkin, sort pieces by too short, too long, and just right. Use a tape measure to determine the exact length.
Carve a jack-o-lantern from your pumpkin. Wipe the edges of the cuts with petroleum jelly to keep the pumpkin from shrinking.

Estimate the number of seeds in your pumpkin. Begin by recording the children's estimates on paper, then let them cleanout the pumpkin and count the seeds. To keep the pumpkin fresher longer, wipe out the inside with bleach to retard the growth of mold (NO CHILDREN AROUND FOR THIS PART).
To make counting a little easier, have children count out groups of ten seeds and then count by tens.

AND SOME MORE IDEAS.......

Soak some pumpkin seeds overnight. Cut them open and the children can see the tiny plant embryo inside the seed.
Plant some of the pumpkin seeds in a Ziploc bag with a little dirt and water. Zip the bags tight and hang somewhere. The bags will fog up and clear up and you can explain to your class how it is similar to clouds and rain. The Ziploc bag will allow the children to see the seeds open and the roots grow down and the sprout grow up. Send the seeds home to be transplanted shortly after they sprout.

Weigh acorns and pine cones in your science or math area. Add a scale along with containers of each. Which weighs more? How many acorns weigh the same as 10 counting bears? The possibilities are endless!
Add a basket of nuts for children to sort in your math or science area. Add smaller baskets for your children to sort the nuts into.
Add some leaves (the fake ones will do) to an area in your room. Be sure to add a rake too. Teach your children these songs as they pretend to rake leaves.

Be sure to read the book The Biggest Pumpkin Ever by Steven Kroll.
Roast some pumpkin seeds by spreading oil on a pan and spreading the seeds in a single layer. Add a little salt. Roast in the oven at 400 degrees until brown. It should take about 10 to 15 minutes.

Autumn Winds (tune: "Ring Around the Rosie") Autumn winds begin to blow Colored leaves fall fast and slow Whirling, twirling all around Till at last they hit the ground.

Raking Leaves My poor back will surely break, If one more leaf I have to rake! Crusty, rusty brown leaves! Dusty, blustery red leaves! Crunching, bunching, scrunching beneath my feet. In a pile of crispy leaves, I'll find a welcome seat!