Pre-K teaching times, Vol. 5, Issue 4 (Nov. 2008)

BRIGHT FROM THE START
Pre-K Teaching Times GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CARE AND LEARNING

VOLUME 5 ISSUE 4

NOVEMBER 2008

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Classroom 3 Changes

Ask Pat

4

Assessment 4

Setting up 6 for Success Fingerplays 7 and Rhymes

Ahoy, Matey!!
Shiver our timbers--It`s November already! Using How I Became a Pirate, written by Melinda Long and illustrated by David Shannon, as a springboard, we`ve collected our best pirate ideas for this month`s newsletter. Inside we`ve got everything--ways to transform your classroom into a pirate ship, simple pirate-esque science activities, and a treasure chest full of pirate fingerplays. Grab the wheel and turn the rudder--there`s smooth sailing ahead.

"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates' loot on Treasure Island ... and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life." - Walt Disney

How I Became a Pirate Written by Melinda Long Illustrated by David Shannon

Studying an author or illustrator can be a wonderful way to introduce your children to new books. We`ve compiled ideas and information to help you start a study of Melinda Long and David Shannon.
Story Summary: Jeremy Jacobs experiences the pirate lifestyle first hand when he joins Braid Beard and his crew for a day and becomes their digger.` As the day wears on, Jeremy begins to miss the comforts of home. Colorful and not scary illustrations are the perfect match for the text.
About the Author/Illustrator:
Melinda Long is a middle school teacher and author living in Greenville, South Carolina. She is

a graduate of Furman University. Melinda played pirate with her brother as a child inspiring this story.
David Shannon graduated from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He received the Caldecott Honor Award for his book No, David!. Shannon lives in Burbank, California.
Accompanying Activities:
1. Pirate Life vs. Jeremy`s Life
Create a Venn diagram comparing pirate life with Jeremy`s life.
2. Pirate Language
Ahoy thar, matey! Melinda Long incorporates pirate lan-

guage into her story. Use flashcards to match pirate language with the appropriate English translation. Create signs with the pirate language for chorus reading as the story is read. 3. Manners, Manners Role-play pirate manners and proper school and home manners. 4. What About the Art? Compare David Shannon`s illustrations in How I Became a Pirate with other books he illustrated listed in the Companion Books section.
(Continued on page 5)

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The Science of being a Pirate

Pirates...the perfect excuse to play in the water or dig in the sand! Incorporating pirates as a topic of study for science is easy. Post a world map near your sensory table, fill the table with water, add some boats, and sail away! Share with the children concepts of how to distinguish between water and land when reading the map. Place small boats of various types (tugboats, sailboats, tankers, barges, rowboats, canoes, ships) in the sensory table. Thoughtfully prepared, a water center, whether indoors or out, can
foster cognitive development, teach mathematics and science concepts enhance physical skills promote social learning and cooperative efforts enrich language experiences
Activity One: Sail Away
Gather boat making materials and encourage children to use the materials to build boats for floating in the sensory table. Materials can include:
Sponges
egg cartons cut into individ-

ual cups styrofoam trays
play dough or clay
foil
Ivory soap
small plastic containers
paper milk cartons
tin loaf pans
plastic bowls
Include straws, paper, glue, tape for making sails and masts. Posting pictures of various type boats and ships will inspire children to create different types of boats. Activity Two: Digging for Buried Treasure
Fill the sensory table with sand and add play jewelry and plastic coins. Add sifters and sand shovels. Provide a cardboard treasure chest (decorated shoe box) to store all of the treasure found buried in the sand. Children can wear pirate hats and eye patches while they dig for treasure.
Activity Three: Treasure Hunt
Hide gold coins, gold painted rocks of different sizes, and special pirate jewels around the classroom each morning before your children arrive. During work time your children be-

come pirates! Provide adult size white tee shirts, old ties (for belts), bandanas, and eye patches for pirate costumes. Create several spyglasses by decorating paper towel tubes with pirate symbols or wrap in gift wrapping paper with pirate motif. Have your children bring the treasure they find back to a central location. Use balancing scales to weigh the bounty. Provide several treasure chests for sorting found loot by type.
Activity Four: Water, Water Everywhere
Collect water samples in glass jars from different sources: pond, tap, distilled water, river, mud puddle. Use a magnifying glass to observe quality of different samples.

Looking for Treasure (To the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) I`m looking for treasure, yesiree! Want to come along with me? We can look for coins of gold
X marks the spot so we`ve been told. We`ll bring a shovel to dig, dig, dig If we find some, we`ll dance a jig!
PRE-K TEACHING TIMES

VOLUME 5 ISSUE 4

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Life as a Pre-K Pirate--Changes for Your Classroom

Reading Area
Busy Boats by Tony Milton
Bubble Bath Pirates! by Jarrett Krosoczka
Captain Bob Sets Sail by Roni Schotter
Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andreae
Do Pirates Take Baths? by Kathy Tucker
Everything I Know About Pirates by Tom Lichtenheld
Harold and the Purple Crayon Under the Sea by Liza Barker
Hello Ocean by Pam Munoz Ryan
How to Hide an Octopus & Other Sea Creatures by Ruth Hellers
Into the A,B, Sea by Deborah Lee Rose
Night Pirates by Peter Harris
Pirates Don't Change Diapers by David Shannon
Roger, The Jolly Pirate by Brett Helquist
Sail Away by Florence McNeil
Shiver Me Letters: A Pirate ABC by June Sobel
What Lives in a Shell by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld Books representing cultures, abilities, ages, and races: Grandma Calls Me Beautiful by Barbara M. Joose Mama, Do You Love Me? by Barbara M. Joose Papa, Do You Love Me? by Barbara M. Joose What I Like About Me by Allia Zobel-Nolan The Colors of Us by Karen Katz
Writing Area: Add materials for children to make maps (treasure and/or land and sea): variety of markers, letter x stamps and stamp pads, stickers, die cut shapes, and paper in a variety of types and sizes. Place the maps in the block area.

Add small bottles for children to place written messages in. Place the bottles in a water filled tub or the sensory table so children can find messages written by their classmates. Add vocabulary words such as: pirate, vessel, port, cargo, compass, lake, treasure, ship, map, ocean, sailing, journey, land, sea, and spyglass. Remember to add a picture, clip art or drawing next to the word on a word strip to address the needs of the readers and non-readers in your classroom.
Math/Manipulatives: Add treasure boxes with coins or other treasures for counting and sorting. Dramatic Play Area: Add white shirts, hats, sashes, black rubber boots, eye patches, and treasure maps.
Art Area: Jolly Roger Explain to the children that a Jolly Roger is a flag flown over pirate ships. Some pirates made their own. Place items in the art area for children to make their own Jolly Roger. Encourage them to design a flag that tells something special about them. Materials may include: large pieces of construction paper, felt pieces, fabric pieces, sticks, magazines, stickers, stamps, and glitter. Designate a special display area. Children and visitors can have fun guessing who made a specific flag. Add milk cartons for children to make

pirate ships. Add shoe boxes/Kleenex boxes for treasure chest creations.
Block Area: The children can build pirate ships using the blocks. Place a large blue sheet or fabric in this area for water. Science: Spyglasses Explain to the children that a spyglass is another name for telescope and that pirates use a spyglass to discover the world or to see other ships in the distance. Allow the children to make their own spyglass. You will need: long paper tubes (paper towel or gift wrap), construction paper, scotch tape, plastic wrap, and materials for decorating (stickers, glitter, markers, crayons, etc.) To make the glass lens, take a small piece of plastic wrap and cover one end of the paper tube. Use tape to secure in place. Cover the outside of the paper tube with construction paper. Add a narrow strip of yellow construction paper around the end that has the plastic wrap. Use the decorating materials to personalize.
Outside: Treasure Hunt Decorate a box to look like a treasure chest. Fill the chest with a variety of goodies and hide it in the outdoor play area (may be buried or hidden out of sight). Engage the children in a treasure hunt by calling out various clues from a treasure map or by giving them an easyto-follow map they can use on their own. Remember to provide digging tools if the treasure is buried.

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Ask Pat

Children need to learn letters and

Dear Pat,
I am a teacher new to Pre-K and have some questions about how I should teach. The Pre-K teacher across the hall from me noticed that I had letter of the week activities on my lesson plans, and she said this was a No No. Please tell me how to teach these children without teaching letters of the week.
-Miss AB Silly

sounds through integration not
isolation.

Dear Miss AB Silly,
The Pre-K teacher across the hall is exactly right. Teaching letters of the week to Pre-K students is not a concrete, meaningful way to teach young children. Teaching letters of the week (LOTW) removes the letters from their context which, in turn, removes the meaning and purpose from the letter. LOTW activities convey the idea that to learn reading

and writing children must know only letters and sounds. Children do need to learn letters and sounds but they need to learn through integration not isolation. This integration happens as you incorporate your topic of study and the children`s interest throughout the course of your day.
Children will learn letters through:
The concrete, hands on activities you plan
As you talk and write about the letters in their names
Your interactive morning message
As they dictate to you about their daily journal writings and drawings
The environmental print you have up in the room
The chart stories you create together

The word cards/name walls that relate back to your topic of study
The stories and pieces of literature you read and discuss with them
You are teaching and the children are learning about all of the letters all the time.

Assessment Corner

Shiver our timbers!! Can you believe that November is here already! We are getting close to the end of our first assessment period. If you haven`t started already, now is the time to start filling in the gaps on the developmental checklist. With some simple planning you can easily make sure that you`ve completed the developmental checklist for each child without working

your fingers to the bone. Planning small and large group activities around indicators you haven`t rated yet can aid in completing all 55 indicators on the developmental checklist. Also, make sure that your lesson plans reflect activities/ lessons around assessment. Here are a few examples of activities you might do to fill in the gaps.

Plan a small group activity for children who do not have documentation for recognizing and describing the attributes of shapes (Mathematical Thinking D:1). Read a shape book like Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh or Shapes, Shapes, Shapes by Tana Hoban. Have the children pull a shape out of a paper sack. Have the children go on a shape hunt
(Continued on page 5)

PRE-K TEACHING TIMES

VOLUME 5 ISSUE 4

How I Became a Pirate

(Continued from page 1)
5. Stranger Danger
Discuss Stranger Danger Would it be a good idea to go off with a group of pirates without Mom and Dad`s permission?
6. Story Map
Create a story map for How I Became A Pirate. Include the setting, characters, and story details. Complete the map as a class after reading the book.

Pirates See-through Pirates by Kelly Davis Erie Canal Pirates by Eric A. Kimmel Bubble Bath Pirates! by Jarrett Krosoczka The Ballad of the Pirate Queens by Jane Yolen
Soccer Soccer for Fun by Kenn Goin Froggy Plays Soccer by Jonathan London
Manners Mary Louise Loses Her Manners by Diane Cuneo Don't Slurp Your Soup! by Lynne Gibbs

Companion Books: Other books by Melinda Long Hiccup Snickup When Papa Snores
Other books illustrated by David Shannon Alice the Fairy The Amazing Christmas Extravaganza Bad Case of Stripes David Gets in Trouble David Goes to School Duck on a Bike How Georgie Radbourn Saved Baseball No, David! The Rain Came Down

PAGE 5

Assessment Corner, cont.

(Continued from page 4)
around the room for the shape they chose. Once back at the table have them discuss the different shapes they found. Write observational notes of what children say. Missing documentation for gross motor activities (Physical Development and Health A:1, 2) Create and use a matrix during outside time to fill in the gaps. Remember there is a blank matrix form you can download from our website. Look in the Teachers section, under Georgia PreK Child Assessment Program.

Take photos of children using measuring tools in the sensory table (Scientific Thinking A:2) Remember, you cannot place a check on the developmental checklist unless you have documentation in the child`s portfolio. Next month as we get ready for the end of the fall rating period, we will look at progress reports look for tips for creating truly individual progress reports and for family conferences.

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Students who are stimulated and
engaged seldom need correction and often surprise their teachers by how much they
are able to contribute to the
group.

Setting Your Environment Up for Success:

Gather `round, It's Circle Time!
Judging from the number of calls and e-mails that come to Bright from the Start concerning circle time, teachers and students are really struggling with coming together in a large group. The time has come to figure out a way to make circle time something that students and teachers look forward to and enjoy. The first thing that a teaching staff needs to consider is the length of large group time. The best way to determine how long circle time should be is to figure out how long the experience is beneficial to the students. It makes sense to start out with very short group times. Enough time to sing a good morning song and talk about the day, probably about five minutes, is a good way to start. The class can come together again later in the day for a short story or a music and movement activity. Having several very short large group experiences throughout the day often works better than having children sit for extended periods once or twice a day. Children are more likely to pay attention if they know they can move on soon. This is especially true at the beginning of the year. If five minute group time goes well, it makes sense for teachers to add more time in small increments. It is much easier to build on success than to try to correct misbehavior. Pre-K consultants love to see how classroom schedules change over the course of the school year as children grow and mature.
In evaluating circle time, physical space needs to be considered. Students should have enough room to sit comfortably and be able to easily participate in movement activities. Their bodies should not be touching when they sit with their legs crossed on the floor. Students who have a difficult time defining their space should have access to carpet squares or chairs to help them sit without touching other students. A great approach

that several schools use is to divide the students into two groups for circle time. Ten children will have circle time while the other half of the class is outside or participating in another activity. This gives students more space and more opportunity to fully participate. It is much easier for children to share ideas and for teachers to be responsive with only ten of them at a time.
Most importantly, circle time activities should be fun and engaging. Rote activities require rote responses. If a teacher points to letters every day, students will respond the same way every day. A certain group of them will always name the letters, a certain group will always start fidgeting and stop paying attention, and a certain group will always start bothering their peers. Students who are stimulated and engaged seldom need correction and often surprise their teachers by how much they are able to contribute to the group.
So the important fact to remember about every circle time activity is:
If it`s not fun, it isn`t working so don`t do it.
If it is fun, and the children are engaged, you`re on the right track!

PRE-K TEACHING TIMES

VOLUME 5 ISSUE 4

PAGE 7

Yo Ho Ho--Pirate Fingerplays

I'm a Little Pirate (Sung to I`m a Little Teapot) I`m a little pirate, Big & strong (show muscles) Sailing on the ocean All day long (rock back & forth) When I hear the waves' crash To and fro (make waves with arms) I sing along with my Yo Ho Ho!! (pump fist in air)
I`m a little pirate, Brave & bold (put hands on hips) Diggin` for treasure (pretend to dig with shovel) Searching for gold (look with hand over eyes) I look up high (look high) And look down low (look low) Still singing along with my Yo Ho Ho!! (pump fist in air)

Ten Little Pirates Ten little pirates stand in a row, (both hands up, fingers raised) They all bow down to the captain, so! (bend fingers down and up) They march to the left, they march to the right. (move hands to left and right) They shout "Yo Ho!" and give their captain a fright! (shout loudly and clap hands on "fright")
5 Little Pirates 5 Pirates heading out to shore One jumped overboard And now there are 4.
4 Pirates heading out to sea One stole all the Captain`s gold And now there are 3.
3 Pirates with not a lot to do One was made to walk the plank And now there are 2.
2 Pirates having lots of fun One drank all the first mate`s juice And now there is 1.

I`m a little pirate With one big yawn (give a big yawn) Now it`s time for bed Cause I`m up at dawn (hands on head, ready to sleep) Look up at the stars (look up) Then head below (climb down ladder-sleepily) And I go to sleep singing Yo Ho Ho!! (pump fist in air-sleepily!)
We Sail a Ship We sail a ship with a boy named _____. We sail a ship with a girl named _____. We sail a ship with a boy named _____. (repeat with children`s names)

1 Pirate sitting in the sun He decides to abandon ship And now there are none.
The Pirate Song When I was one, I banged my drum. (Chorus) The day I went to sea. I jumped aboard a pirate ship, And the captain said to me. We're going, this way, that way, Forwards and backwards, Over the Irish Sea. A bottle of rum, to warm my tum, And that's the life for me.
When I was two, I buckled my shoe...

(repeat chorus) When I was three, I banged my knee... (repeat chorus) When I was four, I knocked on the door... (repeat chorus) When I was five, I learned to dive... (repeat chorus)
Pirates, Pirates Pirates, pirates everywhere, (Motion around room) Pirates climbing stairs, (Climb stairs) Pirates giving stares, (Hand above eyes) Pirates shouting "Ahoy There!" (Cup hands) Pirates sitting on chairs. (Pretend to sit down) ARGH! (With frustration) Pirates washing hairs! (Rub hands on head) Pirates, pirates everywhere!