Pre-K teaching times, Vol. 6, Issue 6 (Mar. 2010)

Pre-K Teaching Times

VOLUME 6, ISSUE 6

MARCH 2010

SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST:
More on Project AIM
Changes to the Learning Environment
Spring Classroom Activities
Suggestions for Spring Outdoor Games

Have You Heard? We're a MILLION!

Georgia's Pre-K Program has officially served over one million children, and the program serving the Millionth Child has been revealed: Sumter County Primary School in Americus, Georgia! In honor of the event, Governor Sonny and First Lady Mary Perdue led a special celebration at the school on Thursday, February 18. Georgia is the first state in the nation to serve more than one million Pre-K children in a voluntary, universal, lotteryfunded program.
We are thrilled with the outpouring of support that

the Millionth Child Campaign has received, said Bright from the Start Commissioner Holly A. Robinson. This exciting campaign would not have been successful without our generous partners, outstanding providers and teachers, and most importantly, the one million children who have benefitted from Georgia's Pre-K Program.
The Millionth Child Campaign was launched in April 2009 when First Lady Mary Perdue read the book How Much is a Million? to a group of Georgia's Pre-K children. She and Governor Perdue chose the

book in honor of this milestone. Other activities include the Million Book Campaign challenging Georgians to read one million books to children this year. So far, more than 622,000 books have been logged in! Celebration activities will continue through 2010.
The millionth child campaign emphasizes the importance of a quality learning experience that includes a strong early literacy program for all of Georgia's children, said Mary Mazarky, Assistant Commissioner for Pre-K.

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Spring is here!
After a cold and snowy winter, the warmer weather in March is really welcome. You are probably seeing signs of spring all around your school green grass, new buds and leaves, and birds singing in the trees. Spring offers wonderful opportunities to change your classroom, and this issue has plenty of ideas to get you started.

It's Spring Get Outside!

Spring is the perfect time to head outdoors. The temperature is warmer, and there are so many new things for your children to see. Why not try one of these games outside?
Lilly Pad Leap Set out pages of newspapers folded into squares and tell your students the sheets of paper are lily pads. Tell the kids they are to run around until you shout, "Here comes the hungry fish. Then they must jump on a lily pad to be safe. When you say, "No food here, I guess," the kids can step off the lily pad and begin running again. Take away one

of the newspapers. Repeat until you are down to the last sheet of newspaper. Any frog that gets caught or falls off the lily pad has to help catch the others.
Hen and Chicks Have two safe points, e.g., trees, some distance apart. One child stands in the middle as the hen trying to round up her chicks. When she calls for her chicks, the chicks run from one safe point to the other while the mother hen tries to catch them. If they are caught, they have to stay in the middle and help mother hen. The last chick caught gets to be the hen for the next round. Option: Change the animal to fit a theme.
Nose Ball Race Tell the students they can choose to be an animal in a special, fun race. In the race they must push a ping pong ball to the finish line with their nose. Why with

their nose? Because as animals, they can't use their hands!
Give each child a ping pong ball and establish a start line and a finish line with masking tape, string ,or a chalk line. Space everyone fairly far apart because the children may have trouble moving in a straight line.
Caterpillar Races
Mark a start and finish line approximately 30'-60' apart using masking tape or chalk. Split the children into two even teams and line the children up in two straight lines. Have each child put their hands on the waist of the child in front of them. When you yell ,Wiggle, each team should run towards the finish line staying connected. If the line becomes unconnected before reaching the finish line, they must go back to the starting line and begin again. The first team to reach the finish line still connected wins.

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Project AIM Adding Interactive Media

We hope you have thought about how you can integrate media into your classroom and maybe even visited the link to PBS Raising Readers/PBS Kids Island on Georgia Public Broadcasting's education website www.gpb.org/education.
You have many resources at your fingertips at GPB, PBS, PBS Teachers, and PBS Kids that can help prepare your students and inform parents about optimal learning in a multimedia environment. Specifically, PBS Raising Readers/PBS Kids Island can sharpen your students' early literacy skills. Over 30 games on the site are aligned to the Georgia Pre-K standards. These fun, skill-building games with characters that your students will recognize from PBS programming focus on seven areas of early literacy: phonemic awareness, rhyming, letter identification, alliteration, phonics, letter sequencing, and reading/vocabulary. Tour the PBS Raising Readers/PBS Kids Island site by watching this short video.
You can even register each student in your class on the site in

one group. After a quick registration by entering your e-mail address and password, select language (English or Spanish), click the radio button for teacher, and enter your zip code. The next screen allows you to add one player or a group of
players. By naming a group, you can add all of the students in your

class. Clicking the option to add/ remove players takes you to a screen where you can enter specific names (type-in players at the bottom of this screen). Clicking Play now after you have entered all students takes you to a list of every student where she can select her name (a great name recognition exercise!) to play early literacy skill-building games but your students will think they are just having fun with friends like Grover and Princess Presto!
After starting with the beginning games, each child will be introduced to games that correspond with his skill level. As he masters certain skills and game levels, PBS Raising Readers/PBS Kids Island will determine which games to introduce to the child according to level of difficulty. In addition, PBS Raising Readers/PBS Kids Island will keep track of the progress your students make in each skill area, such as phonemic awareness. You can see each child's progress by clicking on Child Progress Tracker under

P A G E 4 Project AIM Adding Interactive Media (continued)

PBS Kids Island for Parents & Teachers. Select the specific group and name of the student at the top of the page. PBS Kids Island offers teachers the opportunity to track their students' pro-
gress using the progress tracker with a focus on rhyming, alliteration, letter identification, phonics, letter sequencing, phonemic awareness, and reading/ vocabulary (GA Pre-K Content Standards

LD2,LD3, and LD 5.) The tracker can be printed and placed in individual children's portfolios to show their work and progress in each of the literacy skills mentioned above.
For example, phonemic awareness skills the ability to notice, think about, and work with the individual sounds in spoken words can be sharpened during a game such as Word World: Dog's Letter Pit. During this fun game, a child listens to the sound a letter makes and selects the correct corresponding letter in order to spell simple words with the help of D-O-G from Word World. You can find the games for each skill by clicking on the skill in the progress tracker.
As you will find out (or may already know!), PBS Raising Readers/PBS Kids Island is a sophisticated site

that you can use for planning multimedia activities and enhancing early literacy skills in your classroom. Let us know how you use the site; you might be featured in an upcoming newsletter. If you have questions, visit the frequently asked questions page on the PBS Kids Island site, or contact Meghan Welch at mwelch@gpb.org.
*Click here for a pdf flyer for your students' parents describing how they can log on at home, too!

When Spring Comes Rolling In

(Tune: "O When The Saints Come Marching In") O when the spring; O when the spring; O when the spring comes rolling in; The bee's will all start to buzz, When the spring comes rolling in.

(The tree's will all start to bloom,) (The rain will start to fall,) When the spring comes rolling in.

PRE-K TEACHING TIMES

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Assessment Corner

Children are born curious, a characteristic that is the key to learning anything, esspecially science. Children want to know how things happen, why they happen, and what will happen. We need to engage their curiosity by providing the materials and opportunities to find the answers to their questions.
To start, use children's interests as a starting point for your planning. What questions are

they asking? You can also set up child-directed activities so children can experiment on their own at their own pace. Examples of experiments are:
observing ice cubes or snow melt
exploring at the sensory table
matching seeds to their fruit.
You will want to record observational notes about students' discoveries.

You will also want to conduct some of these activities outside. Take magnifying glasses outside to look at ridges on an earthworm or the surface of a rock and use binoculars to get a better look at animals in the trees. Have paper and writing instruments for students to draw pictures of their findings. Then place these pictures in students' portfolios.

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Ask Pat

Dear Pat,
I am expecting my consultant to walk through my door any day now. I have worked hard this year on being organized and having everything together. Please tell me what items my consultant will want to see so I can have things ready for the visit.
---Waiting in Anticipation
Dear Waiting,
The more prepared you are, the smoother the visit will go. Following are some of the items he/she will want to see:
Training Certificates Project Director Site Director Lead Teacher (15 hours) BFTS training certificate and verification for the 3 additional hours completed Assistant Teacher (15 hours) 6 hours of online

training modules and 9 additional hours of training Attendance records with notations of any time that a child arrives late or leaves early. Kindergarten readiness plan with activities to familiarize families with kindergarten transition and activities to familiarize children with kindergarten routines Parent/Family Communication Changes to the environment using the Changes to the Environment form or other notations recording the changes you make to your environment Lesson plans and assessment portfolios your current week's plans and the previous plans from this school year
Many teachers also keep a consultant binder with documentation for all of the fabulous activities and ex-

periences going on in your classroom such as:
Long term/ongoing projects (C5) Field trips /Special Experiences (C5) Presentations from community resources about health and safety (B11) Health related activities (B11) Family involvement opportunities (D1) Music activities from various cultures (B9) Activities where children made their own instruments (B9) Book check out by children (B3) Dramatic Play multiple settings (B5) Revised daily schedules (C1) Literacy Pack and Lending Library checkouts (D1)
Hope this helps,
Pat

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Spring Classroom Activities

Teaching children about the life cycle of plants and animals helps them better understand growth, change, life, and death. It also helps them develop a sense of compassion in learning to care about and nurture things in nature, life skills to follow them into adulthood.
Spring Walk Go on a signs of spring walk. In some areas you can do this as early as mid February. What do you see? Are any sprouts coming up? Flowers blooming? Bugs flying/crawling? Do you hear birds singing? Do you smell the freshness in the air and in the earth? Use all your senses and ask open ended questions. Record student responses.
Animal Classification Hatched/Born Alive Materials: Index cards, 3" x 5" Pictures of birds, snakes, lizards, dinosaurs, puppies, kittens, mice, horses, etc. Two bags, one labeled with a picture of an egg that says "Hatched" and one with a picture of a baby that says "Born" What to do: 1. Draw or find pictures of animals to be classified. 2. Glue the pictures to the index cards. 3. Cover the cards with clear contact or laminate. The children take the top card and determine if the animal belongs in the Hatched bag or the Born bag. The activity and discussion about each card should be done as a group. The children can repeat this activity on their own as reinforcement in the science area.
Understanding Caterpillars Read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Then tell your students they are going to make their own Caterpillar. This activity will build

excitement about reading and story time, will review color recognition, and will exercise fine motor skills. Materials: Clip-style clothespin White glue Pompoms, 3/4 inch or larger 2-inch length of pipe cleaner Googly eyes, 5 mm to 7 mm in diameter Magnet (optional) What to do: 1. Help your students run a line of glue down one side of the clothespin. While the glue sets, have your students choose which pompoms they would like to use. They can create a repeating color pattern, match the colors of the caterpillar in the book, or choose a completely different set of colors. 2. Once they have selected their pompoms, ask your students what foods their caterpillar ate that made him these colors. 3. Have your students carefully place their pompoms on the line of glue to form the body of the caterpillar. 4. Have your students bend the pipe cleaner into a V shape to create the antennae. Insert the antennae between the first and second pompoms, holding the pompoms in place while the glue re-sets. 5. Put dots of glue where the eyes will go on the first pompom. Have your students put the eyes in place. 6. Let the glue dry completely. 7. To make the caterpillar into a magnet, have your students glue the magnet to the bottom of the clothespin. Place pompom caterpillar magnets on a filing cabinet or metal door frame.
Plants Pre-Activity: Show students pictures of living things and ask them

PRE-K TEACHING TIMES

to identify if the item in the picture is a plant or an animal.
What Do Plants Need to Grow? Graph Activity At the beginning of the plant lesson plan, use a poster board to chart the different answers of your students. Ask what they think a plant needs to grow, and offer different possibilities: dirt, cake, water, bugs, sun, gas, moon, wind, cheese...have fun with it!
Graph the answers and display the chart on the wall.
Explain to the students that you will be discussing seeds. Create a KWL chart to find out what they Know, what they Wonder, and what they want to Learn.
Grow a flower Materials: Seeds of fast growing plants or 4 flowering plants Flower pots or margarine tubs Chart paper 2-liter drink bottle Soil Markers Popsicle sticks Book: Wanda's Roses by Pat Brisson
(Continued on page 8)

VOLUME 6, ISSUE 6

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A New Beginning: Changes to the Learning Environment for Spring

Reading Area Spring Song by Barbara Seuling Bunny Bungalow by Cynthia Rylant Cold Little Duck, Duck, Duck by Lisa Westberg Peters From Tadpole to Frog by Wendy Pfeffer It's Spring by Linda Glaser Hopper Hunts for Spring by Marcus Pfister How a Seed Grows by Helene J. Jordan Jack's Garden by Henry Cole One Bean by Anne Rockwell Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert Spring Has Sprung by Jennifer Waters Sunflower House by Eve Bunting The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
Diversity Books Flower Garden by Eve Bunting Hello! by Betsey Chessen Howie Helps Himself by Joan Fassler I Am Me by Karla Kuskin Me I Am! by Jack Prelutsky My Steps by Sally Derby The Park Bench by Fumiko Takeshita
Flannel Board Include story pieces for the retelling of books by Eric Carle The Very Hungry Caterpillar The Very Busy Spider The Grouchy Ladybug
Math/Manipulatives Area Butterfly Match Create several different colored and patterned butterflies, and cut them in half. Have children match the butterfly halves. Flower Garden Glue flower shaped cutouts to craft sticks. Print numbers one through ten on index cards. Ask children to draw a number card and then place the number of flowers that the card indicates into

the garden (a container with soil). Patternpillars Supply a container of pompoms in various colors, and encourage children to create their own patterns.
Dramatic Play Area Include materials for a florist shop (silk or plastic flowers, tissue paper, pads and writing implements for taking orders, small blank cards for writing messages, plastic vases in various sizes, cash register, pretend money, price list, etc.)

nally, draw a face and antennae on the clothespin.
Block Area Greenhouse Encourage the children to build a greenhouse using the blocks. Include artificial flowers (silk or plastic), garden tools, garden gloves, a watering can, and big sun hats.
Science Name Growing Activity Materials: Small box, grass seeds, and potting soil Line the boxes with plastic and fill with potting soil. Help the children scratch their name in the soil. Sprinkle grass seeds into the name, and cover it with soil.

Art Area Include small boxes for children to decorate for their own bug catcher. Add materials for children to make butterflies (coffee filters, spray bottles with water, washable markers, and clothespins). Have the children color coffee filters and then help them spray the filters with water. Twist the filter and clip with a clothespin to make wings. Fi-

Health Activity After reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, discuss healthy eating with the children. Provide healthy fruits for the children to sample (strawberries, plums, oranges, apples, pears, etc.)
Sensory Table Add potting soil, worms (gummy or real), containers, small shovels, and hoes.
Outdoor Time Take a bug expedition with magnifiers and bug catchers (made in the art area). Plant a real garden with flowers or vegetables in a small swimming pool (punch holes for drainage).

Spring Classroom Activities (Continued from page 6)

What to do: 1. Weeks ahead, plant seeds and wait for them to flower or purchase four already flowering plants such as marigolds. 2. Read Wanda's Roses, and discuss the three things that Wanda says her rosebush needs to grow. 3. Explain to the students that you will be conducting an experiment to find out how important it is for a plant to have air, water and sunlight. Have children predict the impor-
tance of each and record their predictions. 4. Describe the experiment. One plant will receive sunlight, water, and air. A second plant will be given water and air but will be kept in a dark place, such as a closet, where it will receive no sunlight. The third plant will have air and sun but no water. The fourth plant will be given water and sun but no fresh air (to do this, cut the top off the liter drink bottle and invert it over the plant; seal, but allow to open for watering).

5. On the popsicle sticks, draw the basic needs that each of the plants will be allowed to receive, e.g., a sun, water droplets, and a cloud-like figure to indicate air. 6. Set the plants in their appropriate locations. 7. Allow the children to check on the plants every day. As a class, keep a daily log of each plant's condition. Have the children dictate sentences describing the conditions of the plants. This experiment can end at any point. For example, you may decide to monitor the plants for several weeks but not let them die. Dramatic play: Children become the plants and role play different scenarios such as "I have lots of sun, but no water. What do I look like?" More science: Ask the children to predict what might happen if the basic needs that were withheld were restored to the plant. Reverse the experiment and see how long it takes to restore the plants to a healthy condition. Clear Garden Wet paper towels and put them in clear plastic cups. Sprinkle radish seeds on the paper towels until the seeds are clearly visible. Set the cups in the sun and keep the towels moist. Your students will be able to see how plants sprout and form root systems. Plant Growth Chart Track the growth of your class plant (activity below) daily. Talk about the weather and the needs of plants (sun and water). Use your circle time weather chart to explain how weather affects the growth of plants. At the beginning of each week have preschoolers draw what they think the plant will look like by the end of the week.

Make Four Season Trees! Preschoolers love learning about the seasons and watching how leaves on trees change throughout the year. This activity provides a hands-on way for your students to illustrate how the trees look during each season of the year. After you are finished, you and your students will have learned about the four seasons and will have four beautiful pieces of artwork for them to take home. Materials (per student): 4 toilet paper rolls (or 2 paper towel rolls cut in half) Brown paint 4 sheets of cardstock or heavy cardboard (light blue works best) Construction paper in green, yellow, orange, and red A handful of popped popcorn Brown yarn Tape Glue
4 pieces of string or twine 8 inches long What to Do: 1. Tape both ends of a piece of string or twine to the back of each piece of paper. Be sure to leave enough slack in the string so that you can hang the picture. (specify if the paper should be

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Spring Classroom Activities (Continued from page 8)

horizontal or vertical) 2. Have your students paint the toilet paper rolls brown. 3. Show your students how to glue a toilet paper roll on each of the four pieces of paper. Glue the side, not the end, of the roll on the paper. Help your child write the name of a season on each piece of paper under the roll (which will be the trunk of each tree.) 4. Take your students outside and look at the trees in your area. Talk about what season it is and have your students describe the colors of the leaves on the trees. Discuss any other things you see on the tree, such as flowers, berries, or empty branches. Look for any animals that make their homes in the trees, such as birds or squirrels. 5. After your nature walk, give your students the piece of paper for the current season. Show them how to decorate the tree to illustrate that season, and then help them decorate the other three seasons: For example, Winter: Glue brown yarn onto the paper above the paper roll trunk to create bare branches. Spring: Use light green construction paper to make leaves for the spring tree. Glue pop-

corn on the tree to make flowers. Summer: Use dark green construction paper to make leaves for the summer tree. Draw fruit on the tree or glue colorful buttons or circular scraps of red or orange paper. Autumn: Use yellow, orange, and red construction paper to make autumn colored leaves for the fall tree. 6. Allow students to take their pictures home so they can enjoy all of the seasons no matter what the weather is outside! Throughout the year point out pictures of the seasons and talk about how the trees look outside. Pictures are a great reminder of how trees change throughout the seasons and what the trees will look like during the next season.
Book Study The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle Before reading the book The Tiny Seed, plant sunflower seeds in tiny plastic cups with soil (or plastic bags with moist towels). As the seeds grow, show your students how the roots form in the soil and how the plant grows above the soil. Also graph how many children think their seed will grow and how many think their seed will not. Graph their predictions and their results. Preview the book: Show students the book cover and read the title. Have students discuss what they see on the cover; what they think the story is about; and what kind of book this is. Show students the title page, and discuss information on the page (title of book, author's name, etc.). Model the process of making predictions using the cover illustration. Think-aloud: On the front cover, I see a flower. Since the title of the book is The Tiny Seed, I predict it is about a tiny seed that grows into a flower. I'm going to read the story to find out whether I need to revise my prediction. Write your prediction on the board.

Reading Discussion Questions: What is blowing? Where did the seeds come from? What helps a seed travel? Review: Ask students if their predictions were correct. Return to the KWL chart to identify misconceptions, confirm correct beliefs, and identify questions for further research. If students recorded information on a worksheet , they can do this independently or in groups.
Vocabulary Words: Blowing cause to move by means of an air current, suffix -ing Bud an undeveloped leafy shoot or flower Desert a landscape or region that receives little rain or snow Finally the item at the end, after a long period of time, suffix -ly Flower the reproductive part of a plant, usually composed of petals, sepals, stigmas, stamens, and a pistil Icy extremely cold Leaf part of the plant that specializes in photosynthesis Looms to hang over, something threatening

Spring Classroom Activities (Continued from page 9)

Neighbor a person who lives (or is located) near another Petals usually the showy part of a flower that attracts pollinators Plant a major group of living things, including organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, grasses, moss, and ferns Roots the underground component of plants, responsible for anchoring plants and providing them with water and nutrients Sails to travel by movement of the wind Seed part of a plant that can grow into another plant Shines emit light, be bright Snow precipitation falling from clouds in the form of ice crystals Stem a stalk, a long, thin or elongated structure that supports a plant, leaf, or flower Sways to move back and forth or sideways Tiny very small Weed a plant growing where it is not wanted

Art Activity Have the students make their own tiny seed. Trace and cut out their foot and

allow them to add facial features to represent tiny seeds.
Measurement Activities Students can measure real, artificial, or pictures of plants or flowers. Snap cubes, unsharpened pencils, rulers, or other measuring toolscan be used.
Number Activities Write a number between 1 and 20 on index cards. Have the students pick a card and then count out that many seeds.
Seed Sorting Discuss with your students where plants come from. Ask open-ended questions; you'll be surprised by the answers you get! Provide small groups with a bag of mixed beans and/or seed packets of different varieties of plants. Encourage the students to sort by shape, size, and color. Extend this activity by buying identical pairs of different seed

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