Preschool Literacy

But, Are They Learning?

"All they do is play all day, so how will they learn their abc's?"  This is a statement that is familiar to many early childhood teachers.

The following are just a few examples of how our students have a literacy rich experience.

Enjoying books in the reading nook.

Writing notes to their friends at the block zone.

Chalk Writing Outside

Dr Seuss

Graphing: Who Likes Green Eggs & Ham?

Dr Seuss Fish - drawing / painting fish then writing the color of fish they drew.

 Puzzles

Individually

With Friends

Calendar Creation

Making a class birthday calendar.

Working together in a group to make the birthday calendar.

 Clay & Playdoh

Rolling playdoh "snakes" to form letters.

Transferring what they learned to clay.

Making an "alphabet line" using pictures of finished letters.

 Wipe-off Boards

Using Picture Cards

Adding a Picture to the Written Word

Writing Around the Room

Shared Reading & Read Aloud

Guiding the Class During Shared Reading

Assisting in Read Alouds

High School Mentors - Read Aloud

All About Me

Self Portrait Drawing / Writing

All About Me Poem

Take Home Books

SMART Board Poem - Shared Writing

Writing Material Available Outdoors

Eric Carle Collage - Adding Writing to Art Work

Adding Their Words To Their Drawings

Shadow Dancing

 IT'S ALL IN THE DANCE

One of our most beautiful experiences happened by accident.  On a very hectic day with a fire drill AND a tornado drill the overhead projector was left on.  As the children reentered the classroom they flowed into the different zones in the room.  As the children worked I noticed two girls had made their way to the carpet and started making shadow figures with their hands.  As they investigated how their body movement blocked the light on the wall I got inspired to add some music. 

As the music played their movements went from straight / quick hand movements to slow / curvy whole body movement.

As the music changed, so did their body movement.  

Slowly other children made their way to the carpet.  Even though the area was quickly filling up the children respected each other's space as they danced in the light.

 When the music changed again to Unchained Melody, the children went from dancing individually to pairing up and slow dancing.

At the end of the day I sat down to review the video that I took of the shadow dancing experience and wrote down some questions for myself.

QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT:

1. What attracted the children to this activity?  The newness of the light being projected?  Other children's interest of the activity?  The effect that the light had on their bodies?
2. What role did the music have in the investigation?  Would the play had lasted as long as it did without it?  What mood did the music create? Would fast and loud music create the opposite effect of today's activity?
3. What did the children discover from this activity?  What background knowledge did they bring to this activity?  Will they notice light and shadow in other areas? 
4. How can we build from this experience? How long do we let them free explore before adding to the experience?  What materials could be added to the shadow dancing experience - scarves, hats?

Back to School Books For Preschool

My favorite Books

The following books are some of my favorite books 

for the beginning of school

Llama Llama Misses Mama by Anna Dowdney

An adorable book about how a child might feel when they first see their parent leave after school drop-off.  Little llama is sad to see Mama go, but his friends make sure to show him how fun preschool can be -- and before you know it, Mama is back for pick-up and the day is over!  A reassuring book that discusses how young children might feel on the first few days of school.

 Franklin Goes to School  by Paulette Bourgeois   

One of the most loved characters, Franklin the turtle is starting school today!  Kids can read along to see that Franklin is a little nervous on his first day of school.  But after reassuring words from his parents, and getting involved in first-day-of-school activities, Franklin learns that he will love school!  A popular choice for teachers to read the first day/week of school.

The Kissing Hand  by Audrey Penn

School is starting in the forest, but Chester Raccoon does not want to go. To help ease Chester's fears, Mrs. Raccoon shares a family secret called the Kissing Hand to give him the reassurance of her love any time his world feels a little scary.

When I Was Little: A Four-Year-Old's Memoir of Her Youth by Jamie Lee Curtis

"When I was little, I could hardly do anything, Bur now I can do lots of things, like braid my own hair and go to nursery school. I'm not a baby anymore. I'm me!" Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell perfectly capture a little girl's simple, childlike celebration of herself.

Chrysanthemum   by Kevin Henkes

She was a perfect baby, and she had the perfect name, Chrysanthemum. When she was old enough to appreciate it, Chrysanthemum loved her name.  And then she started school.

Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin

Pete the Cat is back—and this time he’s rocking in his school shoes. Pete discovers the library, the lunchroom, the playground, and lots of other cool places at school. And no matter where he goes, Pete never stops moving and grooving and singing his song . . . because it’s all good.

 

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon  by Patty Lovell

Molly Lou Melon is different, but this doesn't slow her down.

Wimberly Worried  by Kevin Henkes

Wemberly worried about everything.
Big things.
Little things.
And things in between.
Then it was time for school to start.And Wemberly worried even more.
If you ever worry (or know someone who does), this is the book for you.

If You Take A Mouse To School  by Laura Joffe Numeroff

Bringing a plucky mouse to school isn't the wisest idea, no matter how much fun it might seem. Thankfully, the bestselling duo of author Laura Numeroff and illustrator Felicia Bond -- creators of If You Take a Mouse to the Movies and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie -- have teamed up to show us the hijinks a whiskered school guest could cause.

Yo! Yes? by Chris Raschka

An effective, unusual 34-word story of the beginnings of a friendship, accompanied by wild and wonderful illustrations. Against pastel backgrounds, in vibrant, colorful images, an African-American boy and a white boy meet on the street. [Their] one- and two-word exchanges on each spread lead to a tentative offer of friendship, sealed as both boys jump high in the air and yell Yow!"

Bubbles! Bubbles! Bubbles!

Bubbles! Everyone loves them!

One of my favorite books is Bubble Bubble, by Mercer Mayer.  It is a good introduction to our bubble investigations.

Adding Bubbles to the Water Table

We start with them just using their hands to start creating bubbles, then we add tools to advance their play.

  

Tools we add to enhance the play:

1. hand held eggbeater 2. individual straws 3. containers for transferring water

Bubble Art

Once the children had a chance to explore bubbles at the water table, we then transfer what they learned to the art table.

Add liquid watercolor or food coloring to the bubbles solution - we usually have 3 or 4 colored bubble solutions in jars for the children to pick from.  The children share the colored bubbles, but have their own straw to blow bubbles with.

The photo above used both warm and cool colors. Mixing both types of colors can turn to a dirty brown color if not careful.  It is more ideal to use only cool colors (shades of blue and green) or warm colors (shades of reds and yellows).

Transferring the Bubbles to Paper

Have the students gently place a white sheet of paper on top of the bubbles.  The bubbles will leave a pretty print on the paper when lifted up. 

Another way to create bubble art is on the art easel.  Place the white paper on the easel and have them blow the colored bubble solution onto the paper using a bubble wand.  

Nature Walk

Fresh Air ~ Fresh Eyes

Children love the outdoors and take every opportunity to explore the world around them.  Before we go on our walk I ask the children what they think they will see and write their responses on chart paper.

Example of questions I might ask

There are different types of nature walks:

1. Observational Walk 2. Investigational Walk  3. Collection Walk  4. Documentation Walk

• Observational Walk:  A walk were the children ONLY look at their surroundings. 
• Investigational Walk: A walk were the children use tools (magnifying glasses, binocular, etc.), and their senses to learn more about the environment.
• Collection Walk: A walk were the children collect natural materials (acorns, sticks, rocks, leaves, etc) to bring back to the classroom.
• Documentation Walk: A walk were the children record / document their surroundings using pen and paper, camera, or video.

Observational Walk

 Investigational Walk

Collection Walk

Documentation Walk

Classifying / Sorting Items Collected

The students enjoy seeing the items that their friends collected.  They look at each item and decide how they are going to classify / sort them.  Categories used in the past are: color, shape, texture, size, like / don't like, living / non-living

Once sorted, the items are ready to be placed in beautiful inviting baskets to be placed around the room.

EXAMPLES:

• Science Area: A common place to to add the natural materials for further investigation.
• Art Area:  To be used for collages, 3D art, leaf / stick people, stick / leaf painting, etc
• Construction Area:  Adding rocks, sticks, leaves, etc. as provocation for building
• Sensory Area:  crumbling leaves,  seeds, acorns & pinecones,  etc.
• Math Area: use items for counting sets, child made number line using found items
• Dramatic Play: child made flower crowns and jewelry, berries for cooking, etc

A good reference book that I use is 

Beautiful Stuff! Learning with Found Materials 

By Cathy Weisman Topal and Lella Gandin