Pre-K teaching times, Vol. 7, Issue 5 (Dec. 2010)

Pre-K Teaching Times

VOLUME 7, ISSUE 5

DECEMBER 2010

In This Issue

Opening Activity Ideas

Opening Activity Ideas
Quick Tips to Boost Literacy in the Classroom
Phonological Awareness
Pre-Writing
Small Group Instruction
CLASS
Assessment

It is important to effectively engage children in opening and closing activities since these activities set the tone for the beginning and end of the school day. Ensure just enough time to get the children excited and involved but not so long that they start to wander and lose interest. Activities should last no more than 30 minutes, but you must be flexible enough to adjust time given to opening and closing activities based on the development of the children in your class.
Always involve the children when planning group activities. As they play, pay attention to the things in which they are interested and develop activities based on those things. Providing children with materials in which they are interested guarantees more involvement and desire to participate during group activities. Plan open-ended activities where children have to actively participate rather than just passively sitting, listening to a story, or singing a song. For example, if you are telling a story, ask the children to predict what comes next or have the children act it out. Involving the children helps them stay engaged and look forward to the next time! Below are additional ideas for opening and closing activities:
Wear a costume related to the topic of study. For example, you will certainly capture children's attention if you wear ski goggles, hat, scarf, mittens, boots, etc. when you are talking about winter. Decorate a wooden spoon to use as a "speaker stick" to encourage taking turns. Children must be holding the stick if they wish to speak. When they have finished speaking, they place the stick in the center of the circle so another child can use it. Dim the lights. Subdued lighting can create a warm, calm, and quiet atmosphere.

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Quick Tips to Boost Literacy in the Classroom

Use touch/textures to make learning more meaningful. Create letters and numbers from clay, play dough, and blocks.
Everyone can be a storyteller. Have children retell stories in their own words or simply tell a story that is meaningful to them. Ask questions to help expand the childs story. Ask open-ended questions that must be answered with more than just "yes" or "no." For example, "How did that feel?" or " Where do you suppose that rock came from?"
Boost vocabulary with coins. Count the coins. Sort the coins (pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters). Talk about the shapes and colors. Talk about the figures on each side of the coins. Play "I Spy" with the coins. "I spy a brown coin." or "I spy a coin worth five cents."
Books are important in each center and can help children build a love for reading. Leave "irresistible" books in the housekeeping, block, dramatic play, science, math, and art centers. Make sure the books have wonderful pictures that will capture the childs interest.
Let your students see you read. Talk so your children can hear you explain why and what you are reading.
"I must read this recipe to see what we need to make our cookies." "I like all the stories by this author. I am going to the library and check out another book by him/her and read it just for fun."
Occasionally leave notes for your students. Keep the notes simple and, when possible, include pictures. Encourage children to write notes to classmates, especially in the writing center. Allow the children to create their own stationery to make "note writing" even more fun.

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Phonological Awareness
By now many of your students listening skills are more developed, and they are ready to move into rhyming activities. Learning nursery rhymes is fun, entertaining, and exposes students to many words that rhyme. Expose students to rhymes throughout the day and repeat the rhymes often so they become automatic. Listen for students singing along with rhymes during center time and producing them by themselves. Start with short familiar rhymes before moving on to more complex lengthy ones. Remember: we want students to feel successful! Incorporate rhymes with their names and objects in the classroom. Fun and entertaining activities might include playing hot potato in a small group and having each child make up a silly rhyming word as they pass the "potato." Give the first child an object, such as a sock, and as they pass it, they make up their own rhyming word. Remember: rhyming words do not have to be real words or make sense. The sillier the better! (sock, dock, lock, tock, zock, mock).
As children become comfortable with rhyming words, have them begin to make up their own rhyming words and tell you when two words rhyme. Say two words and let them tell you if they rhyme. Then say three words and ask children which one does not rhyme. (sock, block, cup)
Syllables are another important part of phonological awareness and can be introduced through large and small group activities. Clap out syllables, stomp out syllables, etc. Use colored blocks to help children represent the number of syllables they hear in a word. Students who are unable to coordinate clapping the correct number of syllables may be successful showing the number of syllables with small blocks.
Plan for phonological awareness each day. Small group is a perfect time to address varying levels of phonological awareness. Some students will benefit from specific listening, rhyming, or syllable activities in a small group. Other students who are manipulating sounds and beginning to read will benefit from small group instruction at their particular level of development.
So, does that mean you can do large and small group activities that involve phonological awareness?
Yes, absolutely. Children will benefit from exposure to phonological awareness during large group but will benefit even more when the activities are aimed at their level of development. Several children may be working on two-syllable words, and others may be working on counting syllables in three - and four-syllable words, while others still need to work on comprehending rhyming words.
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Phonological Awareness (continued)
Other examples of incorporating phonological awareness and letter sound recognition into the Pre-K day: Transitions- "If your name has two syllables, wash your hands for snack." "If your name has three syllables, make your center time choice." "If your name begins with ,,P find a friend whose name begins with ,,S."
You can also work on letters and letter sounds in Pre-K. This is not a specific step in phonological awareness, but it is letter-sounds correspondence and can be incorporated during many activities. Teaching letters to students should be incorporated into instructional and noninstructional activities and should happen in the context of the activity or situation. Letters should not be taught out of context such as letter of the day or week. Following are examples of ways to incorporate letters into the day. (1) Teachers says, "It is raining, and rain begins with the "r" sound. Does anyones name begin with the "r" sound? Youre right, Rebecca and Randy both have names that begin the with "r" sound. Does anyone know the name of the letter that makes the "r" sound? Do you see the letter "r" anywhere in our room?"
(2) If your students are learning about various farm animals, call attention to the names of the animals, the first letter and sound that each begins with. Here is an easy example: "Here is a cow. A baby cow is called a calf. Cow-calf. Both words begin with the same "c" sound! Everyone say cow, calf. Do you feel the "c" sound in the back of your mouth? What is the first sound you make with you say cow? Cow begins with the letter "c." Who can find the letter "c" in our magnetic letters? Lets look at all our farm animals. As we say their names and find the beginning letter, we will place them in this basket. When you are at center time, you can choose to match the animals with their letters. I am placing a picture of each animal with their name on it so you can match the animal to the picture and the letter to the picture. Be sure to let me see what you match up!"
Giving hints using phonetic cues: When you ask children questions such as "What is today?" give them a phonetic cue by simply making the first sound of the word to get them started. You would say, "Today is ,,W" to help them come up with Wednesday. Use phonetic cues to help students throughout the day. Another example: Who was the little boy in the story that found the cat? His name was "J."This may be enough of a cue to help the student remember that the characters name was John. You have made them successful by simply giving a cue, not the answer. This is one way to scaffold students learning and support them, making them feel successful!

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Pre-Writing

All too often young children are given writing tools to use before they are ready for them. Young children from three to five years of age use their hands to explore and learn about the environment and themselves. By developing good hand skills and other pre-writing skills, we prepare our children for the next step, writing. Following are ideas for creating an environment and planning activities that support young children's pre-writing skills. (no pencils required):

(a) When playing music, give the children scarves or ribbon sticks to hold/use. Show them how to go up, down, and across with the ribbons or sticks.

(b) When coloring with crayons, have the children color while lying on their bellies, or have them stand while coloring a piece of paper taped on the wall or a wall easel. Both positions help promote grasp and a proper position of the wrist. The first position, on their bellies, also helps strengthen their arms.

(c) When coloring, give the children finger crayons or broken or short pieces of crayons. This will help promote a proper grasp, so they cannot "fist" (i.e., wrap the whole hand around the crayon and use the pinky side of the hand to color) the crayons easily.

(d) When coloring, encourage scribbling first, imitation of vertical strokes second, horizontal strokes next, then circular motions, and finally, copying a circle. This is the proper developmental sequence of pre-writing skills. Remember, young children should not be coloring in the lines yet and should not be given too many pictures to color. This is a time to learn and explore with crayons, not be confined to a specific shape.

(e) Partially fill large zip-lock bags with colored hair gel or colored shampoo. Seal the bags and show the children how to make lines with their fingers. Have them imitate your strokes, as mentioned above. As they draw with their fingers, the material in the bag will be displaced so they can see their strokes. You could also do this on plates or trays using dry ingredients such as Kool-Aid powder (smells great!), dry pudding mix, or sand. Have them draw in these various materials.

(f) Make lines, shapes, and letters by finger painting, painting with pudding or shaving cream, painting with water on the sidewalk, and with your fingers in the sand. Use sponges, various sized paintbrushes, or Q-tips.

(g) Play shape and letter-matching or recognition games and make magnetic/foam letters accessible.

Effective early literacy instruction provides preschool children with appropriate settings, materials, experiences, and social support that encourages early forms of reading and writing to flourish. Be sure to provide materials and practices that support the needs of individual children. Research strongly links play as one of the most effective ways to make literacy activities meaningful. Visit the following websites for information on pre-writing development and suggested activities.

http://prekinders.com/alphabet/

http://www.wiu.edu/itlc/ws/ws1/litfound_4.php

http://tinyurl.com/3xctfy5

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Small Group Instruction
Developmentally appropriate and purposeful small group activities should be planned daily to address any content area and skill. Small group activities are the "nuts and bolts" of instruction. The activities should be open-ended and encourage students to explore and use higher-order thinking skills for concept development. Hands-on, active engagement is the most appropriate instructional practice for four year olds. With that thought in mind, consider using these activities with PreK students:
Gather an assortment of bolts that vary in size and length, along with a variety of nuts or anchors. Begin the small group activity with a brief discussion of the purpose of nuts and bolts. Brainstorm uses for the nuts and bolts with your students.
MD5g -- Orders one or more objects by size (seriation) Allow students to explore the different bolts. Line three bolts up in order of size from smallest to largest. Where do the other bolts fit in the line up?
MD5d -- Measures the length of objects Demonstrate how to use a ruler to measure the length of a bolt. Ask students to measure the other bolts.
MD5b -- Uses mathematical language involving measurement Compare the length of the bolts Which is largest? Smallest? Same size?
HPD2b -- Uses eye-hand coordination to perform fine-motor tasks Model how to fit a bolt into a washer/anchor. Set a timer. Let students see how many bolts and washers/anchors they can fit together in the allotted time.
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CLASS

Georgias Pre-K Program continues to implement the CLASS in multiple classrooms across the state. The next classroom could be yours. This month we are spotlighting the second CLASS dimension, Productivity, included under the Classroom Organization domain.
Productivity encompasses the teachers ability to manage instructional time and routines while providing activities that engage and involve children. The indicators included are Maximizing Learning Time, Routines, Transitions, and Preparation. Children desire structure and are most likely to be productive in classrooms that provide daily routines with few disruptions throughout the day. These classrooms run like "well-oiled machines" where everyone knows what is expected of them and how to go about doing it. Behavior management also may impact how productive classrooms are. In classrooms with effective behavior management, little instructional time is lost due to distractions and misbehaviors, thus increasing the amount of time children are immersed in learning.

transitions or students finishing work early, and provide children with a choice of activities when finished. Teachers should also be organized and efficient. In classrooms with high productivity, the teacher has all materials ready and accessible, has reviewed the lesson ahead of time, and maximized learning time.

Finally, teachers should make the most out of transitions. In Pre-K classrooms, children spend a lot of time in transitions; therefore, teachers think of ways to embed learning moments within transition periods.

For example, end a whole group

activity by calling on groups of stu-

dents based on the color of their

shirts, shoes, shorts, pants, or hair.

Or develop routines to help stu-

dents transition from one activity to

another such as singing a song

.

about clean up.

Continue to look for more exciting news about the CLASS each month.

To learn more about CLASS, visit www.classobservation.com.

Teachers at the high end of Productivity provide clear and consistent learning opportunities. These teachers anticipate moments where learning time may be lost, such as

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Assessment

Assessment

Have you completed your developmental checklist? It is now time to tally your scores and write your narrative comment for each domain on the childs progress report. Combine the number of In Process (IP) and Proficient (P) scores together. If this total is more than half of the total number of indicators in the domain, then the child receives a check in the As Expected box for that particular domain.

When writing your comments, remember the "glow and grow" comments from assessment training. Check your spelling and grammar before sharing forms with parents. We recommend that you ask your director to read a sample of your progress reports. Notify parents about the conference in advance. Parents should be encouraged to participate in face-to -face conferences. Sharing portfolio artifacts with parents is important, effective, and informative.

The top of every childs progress report should be completed (days absent, tardy, EED, etc). Parents must sign and date the bottom of the progress report. Then give parents the top copy of the report. If you are typing your progress reports, make a copy for yourself and for the parents.

. WSO

If you are using WSO, remember to use the Narrative version of the

summary report. The summary report will not have the As

Expected or Needs Development box. For help with the narrative form, log on to WSO at www.ga.worksamplingonline.

Call the BFTS office and Pre-K consultant on duty

On the right-hand side of the home page is a green box labeled support. Locate the work sampling online users guide. Download the guide to your desktop. To find the narrative report, look under teacher files under summary reports. This will provide a quick refresher on how to create summary reports (page 32-34 in the online users guide).

at 404-656-5957. Pre-K consultant contact information also can be found on the website at

www.decal.ga.gov

PRE-K TEACHING TIMES