Georgia's Pre-K Program teacher newsletter, Apr. 2008

April 2008

"It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge."
-Albert Einstein

Bright from the Start Georgia's Pre-K Program
Teacher Newsletter www.decal.state.ga.us

APRIL is Month of the Young Child, therefore our focus will be on young children. Georgia will celebrate the Week of the Young Child, April 13-17.
April
Month of the Young Child Autism Awareness Month National Frog Month National Garden Month National Humor Month National Mathematics Educator Month National Stress Awareness Month

Important Dates to Remember
2 -- International Children 6 -- North Pole Discovered 9 -- Listening Day 10 -- Encourage a Young Writer Day 13 -- Thomas Jefferson Day
16 -- Georgia Reads Aloud Day 18 -- Pet Owner Day 22 -- Earth Day 23 -- International Sing Out Day 23 -- Administrative Professionals Day 26 -- Hug a Friend Day 27 -- Tell a Story Day

PQA TIPS OF THE MONTH

Tip # 1 C4--Teachers read to children in planned small groups at least weekly: At least once a week it should be evident that there is at least one lesson planned with a smaller group of children involving reading a piece of literature and some type activity that involves discussion, reaction, questions, comments, etc.

Some examples might include: Ask the children to state their favorite part of the story after reading a book or piece of literature in a small group; after reading a predictable text, have children suggest a different ending; ask the children to recall the sequence of the story; children can retell the story; or they can answer questions about the story.

30 -- National Honesty Day
Have fun with these events by planning your own celebration or finding activities in your own community!!!
Tip # 2 C5--Instruction is based on content standards in each of the following domains: Teachers should know the subject matter covered in their program curriculum and Georgia's Pre-K Content Standards. Over a period of one week, lesson plans should include activities to address skills in each of the seven domains
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An Inside Look... 2 Phonological Aware-
ness 2 Parent Involvement
2 Simple Science
3 Changing Your Environment
4 Recipes
4 GA Reads Aloud
5 Setting up Your Environment for Success
5 Georgia's Pre-K Assessment
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Pre-K Consultant of the Day 404-656-5957 888-4GA-PREK Suspension/Disenrollment Contact your Pre-K Consultant RC Program/Attendance Lori Smith 478-471-5311 Lori.Smith@decal.ga.gov
Newsletter Staff Nicole Cook nicole.cook@decal.ga.gov Peggy Kosater peggy.kosater@decal.ga.gov Meghan McNail meghan.mcnail@decal.ga.gov Pam Bojo Pam.bojo@decal.ga.gov Lori Smith lori.smith@decal.ga.gov Monica Warren monica.warren@decal.ga.gov

PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS ACTIVITIES

It is important to note that documentation of a daily phonological awareness activity on your lesson plans is under the Partially Meets column of Section C4 on the PQA.
The PQA Clarifications and Definitions states that it should be evident that teachers are planning for daily phonological awareness activities, are aware of the levels of phonological awareness, and are varying daily activities.
Teachers of preschool aged children should focus on listening, rhyming, sound matching, and alliteration. Phonological awareness is the auditory ability to understand the relationship between sounds and spoken words and is directly correlated with learning to read. Children should be engaged in activities that direct their attention to the sounds in words, such as rhyming and alliteration games.
Teachers should maintain a sense of playfulness and fun, and avoid drill and rote

memorization. Teachers should use group settings that support interaction among children and encourage their curiosity about language and their experimentation with it. Spending a few minutes daily engaging children in oral activities that emphasize the sounds of language will go a long way in helping them to become successful readers and learners. Activities that develop phonological awareness should vary daily and include activities like read-aloud rhyming stories, chants, songs, finger plays, games that play with sounds (rhyming, sound-to-word matching games, letter-sound association, and sound deletion), listening activities, and counting words in sentences or the syllables in a word.
Additional activities to support the development of phonological awareness include: Using clapping and rhythm chants such as "Miss Mary Mack," movement and rhythm games such as the "Hokey, Pokey," reading books with patterned, predictable, and repetitive text such as

"Brown Bear," reading books with alliteration like "Each Peach, Pear, Plum," and reading books or text that asks questions such as "From Head To Toe."
Activities for your lesson plans:
Ask the children to find an item in the classroom and bring it to the group. Encourage children to choose an item that they enjoy playing with during centers. Let them name their item and then see how many words the group can think of that rhyme with the item.
In a small group give each student 5-6 bean bags. Say a sentence and have the children toss a bean bag for each word in the sentence.
Try the same activity using the names of children in your class. Have them stand when their names are chanted. "It begins with /Sh/ and it ends with /erry/. Put them together and they say (Sherry)."

PARENT INVOLVEMENT IDEA

Take time to focus on why children are special by sending a take-home project for families to do with their child. Have each family create a poster board about why their Pre-K child is special. At the top it can read, "I Am Special Because..."
Encourage the families to be creative with pictures, artwork, and how they decorate the poster board.

When the children return their projects to school, display them in the hallway outside of the classroom for everyone to see.

You could also ask 4-5 children each day to describe the items on their poster boards and talk to the class about why they are special.
Send pictures of your successful event or other ideas to involve family members to Lori Smith at lori.smith@decal.ga.gov.

SIMPLE SCIENCE FOR CHILDREN: Pop Goes the Bubble!

Activity One: Fill individual heavy-duty zip top bags with a variety of liquids: hair gel, water mixed with dishwashing detergent, shampoo, oil and water. Use duct tape to seal the top. Children can shake bags and use magnifiers to observe the bubbles. Place bags in the science area for independent exploration.
Activity Two: Gather a variety of bubble blowing tools for outdoor play. You can use a spatula with slots, sunglasses with the lens re-

moved, fly swatters, small embroidery hoops, various cookie cutters, strawberry baskets, or pipe cleaners formed in different shapes. Fill a container with bubble solution and let children freely explore bubble making.

Activity Four: Add tempera paint to several individual containers of bubble mixture. Teachers can blow bubbles while children catch them with white paper. The bubble prints create individual art masterpieces.

Activity Three: Fill the sensory table with water and dishwashing soap. Add washcloths and towels. Children can give the dolls a bath or wash the dishes from the home living area.

Bubble Solution: 6 cups water 2 cups Dawn dishwashing liquid cup light corn syrup (Cover and store for at least five days before use.)

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CHANGING YOUR ENVIRONMENT for Young Children

DRAMATIC PLAYAREA Turn your area into a castle for two weeks and then into a superhero cave for another two weeks. Create a castle out of cardboard and have your children help paint it. Add dress-up costumes and accessories for princesses, a prince costume, dress-up heels, boas, crowns, and wands inside the castle. For an environmental print you can add boxes of Princess cereal and Princess fruit snacks.
When it is time to conclude your castle theme, consider hosting a grand ball. The children can come to school that day in their best attire or costume. During the ball, play music and serve snacks.
For the superhero cave, create a cave look by covering the house area with cardboard that is painted black, gray, and brown for a cave and rock look. Hang bats from the ceiling and add other cave creatures. Add superhero costumes and accessories such as capes and belts. Show pictures of superheroes, and ask children to draw their favorite ones to be hung in the area.

BLOCK AREA Add various types of props that represent children. Use small block children such as Fisher Price toy children or Barbie doll children. Turn the blocks into a play ground and have the children create structures that represent items found on a playground (slide, swing, teeter totter, and balance beam). Next take digital pictures of your children and cut the outline of each child from the picture. Tape the picture onto half of a paper towel tube. Cover the tube with clear tape or contact paper for stability. Add these to your Block Center.

WRITING CENTER Add these words to your writing center like:

kids dance short hair boys

play jump tall eyes girls

run hop toy height young

skip friend teacher weight old

SCIENCE AREA Create graphs and charts comparing the differences in children. You can compare weight, height, eye color, and hair color.

You can also add pictures of the children to word strips that have their names on them. This will help teach them how to write their friends names. You can also add clipart or drawings next to the word on a word strip. This will address the needs of readers and non-readers in your classroom.

Add sponges that are shaped like children to

the sensory table with water.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS

Best Friends Sleep Over by Jacquline Rogers

ART AREA Add sponges shaped like children. Make paper

Children Around the World by Donata Montanari A Children's Zoo by Tana Hoban

dolls (attach to cardboard so they will last

Emily's First 100 Days of School by Rosemary

longer) to represent the children in your class.

Wells

They can make different clothes for the dolls Friends at School by Rochelle Bunnett

to wear. Take photographs of their heads and Hush Little Baby by Sylvia Long

attach it as the head of the paper doll.

I Love You with All My Heart by Norris Kern

I Love You, Good Night by J. Buller and J. Shade

It's My Birthday by Helen Oxenbury

MATH/MANIPULATIVES AREA Take photos of the children and cut the photos in half (lengthwise) to create a matching game.

It's Okay to Be Different by Todd Parr My Friend and I by Lisa Jean-Claugh Noisy Nora by Rosemary Wells Special People, Special Ways by Arlene McGuire

Ask children to line up according to their hair and eye color. Have them create patterns using these differences. This makes a great transitional activity.

For additional book ideas, please visit our website under teachers and look for Book List.

Ask children to line up according to height (from smallest to tallest and vice versa) then have them try to do it without talking.

B E C R E A T I V E
"He who teaches children learns more
than they do." - German Proverb

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RECIPES TO MAKE WITH CHILDREN

SILLY FACE COOKIE PIZZA
1 roll of refrigerated cookie dough Candy corn 1 cup of powdered sugar 1 tablespoon of milk 1 tablespoon of butter, softened Food coloring
Heat oven to 350F. Press the dough into a round pizza pan. Use the candy corn to make a mouth and a nose before baking. Bake the cookie about 15 minutes until it's done, but only slightly golden. Cool completely. Mix the sugar, milk and butter to make frosting. Color the frosting as desired to create the eyes and hair of your cookie face. Using the frosting, create the hair and eyes on your cookie face. You

can substitute pre-made frosting. You can also allow the children to decorate their own faces by shaping the dough into smaller circles.
CATERPILLAR TREATS
3 tablespoons of margarine or butter 1 package (10 oz., about 40) of marshmallows or 4 cups miniature marshmallows 6 cups crispy rice cereal Prepared icing for decoration
In a large microwave-safe bowl, heat margarine and marshmallows at HIGH for 3 minutes, stirring after 2 minutes. Stir in cereal until well coated. Using a spatula sprayed with cooking spray or waxed

paper, press mixture into a 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 1-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Allow mixture to cool slightly. Using a small round cookie cutter, cut cereal mixture into circles. Place eight to nine sections next to each other to form a caterpillar. Decorate with icing to make antenna, eyes, feet, and spots on caterpillars.

GEORGIA READS ALOUD DAY

Georgia Reads Aloud Day is April 16! It is celebrated during the Week of the Young Child.
Plan to invite guests into the rooms to read to the children on that day. Then be sure to visit our website, www.decal.state. ga.us, to log in the total number of books read to your children. Last year we read approximately 34,000 books to children across the state! We need your to help us break that record!

You will also find additional ideas and a calendar of events you can use to help plan activities for the Week of the Young Child on our website. Please contact your consultant directly if you have any trouble finding these links.
Share your success stories with us. Please send them to monica.warren@decal.ga. gov.

"Too often we give children answers to remember rather than problems to solve."
- Roger Lewin

PQA TIPS CONTINUED

(continued from page 1) identified in the Georgia's Pre-K Content Standards. There must be evidence in lesson plans that teachers are using the content standards to plan their activities. The Content Standards will help improve teaching methods if they are used to guide choices of materials, activities and interactions.
Teachers should know and understand how children typically develop with regard to each learning domain that is addressed. A current copy of the Georgia's Pre-K Program Content Standards can be found in the Pre-K Teacher Section of the Bright

from the Start website.

Review the PQA online learning module: http://hollywood.gsu.edu/cdc/cdcbcm/pqa/ Application.html

Quick Classroom Tip: If you are removing artwork from the walls, be sure that you have new artwork to hang up in its place. Many consultants have observed classrooms with minimal amounts of artwork on the walls, because teachers have just taken it down to send home but have not put up new items. If this occurs, it will affect your scores on the PQA.
For more lesson plan tips visit our website and look under Pre-K/Teacher/ PQA Resources/Planning.

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SETTING UP YOUR ENVIRONMENT FOR SUCCESS
Great ideas from some of Georgia's Pre-K Mentor Teachers

During our unit of study on the community, we invite guest speakers such as firefighters, police officers, bankers, doctors, dog groomers, and even individuals from our school. They speak to the children about what they do to help our community.
On the last day of this unit of study called "Community Day," we transform the basement of our school into "The Pre-K Community." The children are given "payroll checks" they cash at the "Pre-K Bank" where some of their friends serve as bank tellers. There is also a wood shop, a barber shop, a book store, a post office, a dental office, a hospital, a pizza parlor, a bakery, and a theater with a storyteller. The "customers" can buy goods and services with their "Pre-K Dollars." During the event, the children switch places so everyone has the experience of being a customer and shop owner.
Each year we have overwhelming parent participation for this event. The parents escort two or three children through the "Pre-K Community" and assist with any needs that might arise. Parents are also stationed at each of the shops to assist if needed. However, the children actually

perform all of the tasks as shop owners and customers. Everyone really enjoys this event! -- Kay Pollard, 5th Year GA Pre-K Teacher from Paulding County
We host a luau at our school every year. We dress up with leis and grass skirts and the teachers plan outdoor activities for the children. Parent volunteers help run the centers (children rotate between them every 10-15 minutes.) While the children are playing, other parents help cook hotdogs and hamburgers.
Some of the activities we offer include, lei/grass skirt making, sack/egg race, water play, and basketball. This year we will add a talent show stage, so the children can perform with dancing, singing, and reading. --Dyana Grandison, 6th Year GA PreK Teacher from Gwinnett County
We plan to host a circus under the "Big Top" for our end-of-the-year celebration. We will hang a large parachute to use as a big top and use hula hoops as the three rings as well as play circus music in the background.

The students will use the following to perform their acts: Vendor: Coke crate, popcorn boxes, snow cones, peanuts, and cotton candy; Ticket booth: tickets, cash register; Souvenir stand: pennants, flags, and stuffed animals; Ringmaster: tall hat, coat tails, and bow tie; Strongman: barbells made with wrapping paper tube and pie plates; Clowns: hats, wigs, bow ties, large shoes, suspenders, and red foam nose; Elephants: trunks will be made with paper towels tubes; Lions: masks and hula hoop rings with flames to jump through; Tight-rope walkers: balance beam, stockings, tutu; Tall man: stilts (coffee cans with ropes they can walk on); Magicians: perform tricks; Cannon ball act: one child hides behind a target and one child climbs into a garbage can and when the boom goes off, the child behind the target pops out; Tumblers: will do somersaults on mats; Plate balancers: paper plates, broom sticks; Horses: brown shirts, masks. Can gallop around the ring.
After everyone performs, we will end with a circus parade! --Genevieve Johnson, 13th Year GA Pre-K Teacher from Bibb County

GEORGIA'S PRE-K ASSESSMENT
This month's focus is on using the WSS Checklists and Pre-K Progress Reports accurately.
1) Work Sampling System Checklist -- The checklist rates all 55 performance indicators. A rating should be given to all children twice a year. Please use the fall and spring columns only. Preliminary ratings should be made in pencil every four weeks. The preliminary ratings should be used to focus on observations and to adjust instruction. Final ratings should be marked in ink at the end of the fall and spring reporting periods prior to completing the Georgia's Pre-K Progress Report. A copy of the WSS Developmental Checklist must be kept on site for three years. 2) The Georgia's Pre-K Progress Report -- Must be completed for each child in Georgia's Pre-K Program and shared with families during a family conference at the end of the fall and spring reporting periods (December and May). Any family who cannot attend a family conference must have the Pre-K Progress Report mailed to them and should be followed up with a telephone conference. A copy of the Georgia's Pre-K Progress Report should be sent with families to give to the kindergarten teacher. A copy should also be maintained on site for three years. 3) There should be a balance of work samples, observational notes (including matrices) and photographs throughout the portfolios to support the Work Sampling System Checklist ratings and the Georgia's Pre-K Progress Report. 4) Children should have multiple opportunities to demonstrate what they know, understand, and can do. Documentation is needed to give a clear picture of the child's performance. All observations must be labeled with the child's name, date and WSS domain(s). (Example: LL=Language and Literacy). 5) Please use the recently developed Planning and Assessment Checklist to help make sure you are on the right track in keeping documentation. You can email your consultant directly to ask for the checklist. 6) Review the Pre-K Assessment online learning module at: http://hollywood.gsu.edu/usg/usgcla/assessment/Version2/Application.html.

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