So often we focus on making significant academic gains in the classroom. While subject matter content is the focus in most grade levels, in Pre-K your big goals should include school readiness in all aspects of P.L.E.A.S.E. and should be executed by establishing a positive learning environment and classroom culture... create a good first impression of what school is all about!
This is the year where your students are LEARNING HOW TO LEARN!* What is learning? What does a student look like? How does a student act at school? What are goals and expectations and how can I (your student) achieve them?EXPOSE your students to the world of academics, but there is no need to drill for MASTERY. Patterns, the alphabet, sounds and numbers are all skills that are re-introduced in kindergarten. It is MORE important for your students to understand the concepts behind what knowing these skills means. For example, by the end of the year, it is more important that your student understands that letters make sounds, sounds make words, words make sentences, etc. than it is for a student to be able to recognize all 26 letters.
So what should you teach? It is definitely important to consult your state standards, but I am going to give a brief overview of some things your students should be able to do by the end of the year (I'm sure I have forgotten some, so please feel free to add more in the comments section).
By the end of the year, your students should be able to...
PHYSICAL:
Gross: jump, skip, run, stand on one foot, hop on one foot, throw, catch, balance
Fine: hold a pencil; write or draw symbols, shapes, lines, curves, stick figures and some letters; use scissors; use eye droppers and tweezers to pick up objects, string beads, tie knots
LINGUISTIC:
Answer open-ended questions; know how to answer who, what, when, where, why, how questions; follow multi-step directions; describe objects with simple and complex characteristics; engage in active conversation (respond with more than one or two-word answers); tell stories in sequence
EMOTIONAL:
Have a good understanding of different emotions and how they can be represented by facial expressions, music, colors, tempo, pictures, etc.; understand what emotions they should be feeling for different situations; be able to control anger, fear, sadness (minimal tantrums or fits), be more independent!
ACADEMIC:
Reading Awareness: directionality of reading (left-right, top-bottom); knows that a space indicates a separate word, punctuation means the end of a sentence and understands the differences in punctuation marks; letters make sounds, sounds make words, words make sentences, sentences make thoughts, stories, etc.
Reading Comprehension: sequence story; retell short story; know main idea of story; ask questions about the story; answer closed and open-ended questions with answers relevant to story; predict what comes next; illustrate the story (it may be a few squiggly lines but student can describe what the picture is and how it relates to story)
Letters: recognize at least some letters
Math: recognize colors, recognize shapes (square, rectangle, circle, oval, star, triangle;) finish simple patterns; can put together a simple puzzle, understands the concept of counting, understand opposites of measurement: big/little, few/many, tall/small, long/short; understand directional terms (in front, behind, on top, under, side); recognize and discuss differences and similarities between objects
As far as the other curricular areas (art, music, dance, science, social studies) go, EXPOSE your students to AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE! These early years you have a little bit more flexibility to add some of the FUN stuff into your curriculum! Read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" during a literacy lesson to teach the students about the life cycle of a butterfly! Use music to teach about colors... the blues to teach about blue, mellow music to teach yellow, up beat music to teach red, etc.
SOCIAL:
Share, encourage others, be model citizens, problem solve with peers, engage with peers, willingly participate in activities, show sympathy, help others, know and follow routines and procedures in the classroom, use manners, be polite, listen and follow directions, understand the time and place to display certain behaviors (i.e. running and using a loud voice is for the playground), stay engaged in lessons for 20-30 minutes at a time without losing focus (this is for the END of the year...)
So what should you focus on NOW at the beginning of the year? Procedures... routines... expectations... creating model citizens! You can do all of these things by slipping in academic information.
For example: A lesson on SHARING (and squares):
So remember that while you are EXPOSING your students to academic curriculum, EXPOSING them to the concepts of language arts and math, EXPOSING them to a positive learning environment, EXPOSING them to school... they will MASTER what it takes to be a MODEL STUDENT AND CITIZEN of our beloved planet :-) and then they will learn and be so smart and be astrophysicists and cure disease and be president and CEO of the world and be awesome TEACHERS one day... GREAT WORK, ECE TEACHERS! Our world just got better because of you!
* I apologize for going CAPS happy in some places. I get really excited about things and can only express my excitement through CAPS LOCK and exclamation points!!!
Please feel free to post any comments or questions below!!! <- See what I mean about the exclamation points? I would be even more excited if you really post stuff!
So what should you teach? It is definitely important to consult your state standards, but I am going to give a brief overview of some things your students should be able to do by the end of the year (I'm sure I have forgotten some, so please feel free to add more in the comments section).
By the end of the year, your students should be able to...
PHYSICAL:
Gross: jump, skip, run, stand on one foot, hop on one foot, throw, catch, balance
Fine: hold a pencil; write or draw symbols, shapes, lines, curves, stick figures and some letters; use scissors; use eye droppers and tweezers to pick up objects, string beads, tie knots
LINGUISTIC:
Answer open-ended questions; know how to answer who, what, when, where, why, how questions; follow multi-step directions; describe objects with simple and complex characteristics; engage in active conversation (respond with more than one or two-word answers); tell stories in sequence
EMOTIONAL:
Have a good understanding of different emotions and how they can be represented by facial expressions, music, colors, tempo, pictures, etc.; understand what emotions they should be feeling for different situations; be able to control anger, fear, sadness (minimal tantrums or fits), be more independent!
ACADEMIC:
Reading Awareness: directionality of reading (left-right, top-bottom); knows that a space indicates a separate word, punctuation means the end of a sentence and understands the differences in punctuation marks; letters make sounds, sounds make words, words make sentences, sentences make thoughts, stories, etc.
Reading Comprehension: sequence story; retell short story; know main idea of story; ask questions about the story; answer closed and open-ended questions with answers relevant to story; predict what comes next; illustrate the story (it may be a few squiggly lines but student can describe what the picture is and how it relates to story)
Letters: recognize at least some letters
Math: recognize colors, recognize shapes (square, rectangle, circle, oval, star, triangle;) finish simple patterns; can put together a simple puzzle, understands the concept of counting, understand opposites of measurement: big/little, few/many, tall/small, long/short; understand directional terms (in front, behind, on top, under, side); recognize and discuss differences and similarities between objects
As far as the other curricular areas (art, music, dance, science, social studies) go, EXPOSE your students to AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE! These early years you have a little bit more flexibility to add some of the FUN stuff into your curriculum! Read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" during a literacy lesson to teach the students about the life cycle of a butterfly! Use music to teach about colors... the blues to teach about blue, mellow music to teach yellow, up beat music to teach red, etc.
SOCIAL:
Share, encourage others, be model citizens, problem solve with peers, engage with peers, willingly participate in activities, show sympathy, help others, know and follow routines and procedures in the classroom, use manners, be polite, listen and follow directions, understand the time and place to display certain behaviors (i.e. running and using a loud voice is for the playground), stay engaged in lessons for 20-30 minutes at a time without losing focus (this is for the END of the year...)
So what should you focus on NOW at the beginning of the year? Procedures... routines... expectations... creating model citizens! You can do all of these things by slipping in academic information.
For example: A lesson on SHARING (and squares):
Teacher: (Holding a box) Look what I found today! A box! I wonder what is inside? (Pull out a shape from the box). A SQUARE!!! Look at my discovery, kids! A square! Say it with me, SQUARE! I LOVE this square! It is my FAVORITE shape in the entire world. It looks like the side of my box! I love to play with it! Would anyone like to play with it with me?Easy, cheesy lesson, I know, but if you get excited, THE STUDENTS GET EXCITED! They will LOVE TO LEARN if you show them that LEARNING IS FUN! Get your students READY for SCHOOL by teaching them how to LEARN and what learning LOOKS like.
Students raise hands
Teacher: Sally, will you come SHARE my SQUARE with me?
Hand Sally the square.
Teacher: Did you see how I SHARED my square with Sally? Say SHARE with me... SHARE. Sharing is what we have to do when we have one toy and we all want to play with it.
"Sally, may I please play with the square?"
Sally hands you the square.
"Thank you for SHARING the SQUARE, Sally."
(Then you can talk about the different ways to share... 1. taking turns, 2. playing with the object together).
Sally, can you please share the square with another student?
(Then you can break the students up into groups and let them share an object and come up with ways to play with it... how many things can a SQUARE be?)
SMALL GROUP (teacher facilitates): 4 students in a group and 3 crayons and 1 square to trace. Tell the students that they each have to trace a square onto their papers. (Model tracing the square for them). Let the students figure out that they will have to share their crayons and square so all students can trace the square. Once they figure it out, praise them on their exemplary SHARING skills!
So remember that while you are EXPOSING your students to academic curriculum, EXPOSING them to the concepts of language arts and math, EXPOSING them to a positive learning environment, EXPOSING them to school... they will MASTER what it takes to be a MODEL STUDENT AND CITIZEN of our beloved planet :-) and then they will learn and be so smart and be astrophysicists and cure disease and be president and CEO of the world and be awesome TEACHERS one day... GREAT WORK, ECE TEACHERS! Our world just got better because of you!
* I apologize for going CAPS happy in some places. I get really excited about things and can only express my excitement through CAPS LOCK and exclamation points!!!
Please feel free to post any comments or questions below!!! <- See what I mean about the exclamation points? I would be even more excited if you really post stuff!
