Time Passage!

We often use academic language regarding math terms as if we expect our preschoolers to understand. We say things like, "We will finish our art in 5 minutes." Terms like seconds, minutes, and hours often are not meaningful to young children. We help our young learners to develop an understanding of time passage, which is another important school readiness skill. 

A favorite Marilyn Burns' activity is to see how many stars a child can make in a minute. But making stars can often be difficult for preschoolers. Have them draw lines on a piece of paper. The idea is not to see who can draw the most lines, but to give them a sense of how long it takes for a minute to pass. We suggest not even counting the lines to avoid making this a competition, rather talk about how they felt during the minute that it took to draw the lines.

Make a list with the class of other things that might take a minute to do. Some children may say washing their hands, brushing their teeth, walking in a line to the playground. Time different activities throughout the day to check children's understandings. For example, if someone said, "It takes a minute to sing our morning song," time the song to see if this is accurate. This will likely bring in the concept of two or three minutes. 

An hour can seem like an eternity to children. After you have helped them understand a minute, continue with understanding an hour. Set a classroom timer so they feel the passage of time. Does it take an hour for you to do the calendar, sing songs, read a book, and do circle activities? This will help children get a feel for an hour. 

Enlist families in your lesson. Send home a note, put it in your weekly newsletter, or post it on your door:

What takes an hour to do?

Families can make a list, Is it preparing dinner,  eating, and cleaning up? Is it going to the food store? Could it be riding to a relative's house? Families may not understand that young children do not have a feel for time passage.

One fun note: BEFORE you begin this activity, have children draw a picture of something that takes a minute to do and something that takes an hour to do. Label these pictures. It's fun to look back at initial impressions!  

Standards Alignment:
NAEYC - 2.F.04 & 2.F.07
Head Start - X.A.

Clothing Materials: An Avenue for School Readiness Skills

It's that time of year when children bundle up to protect themselves from the cold and snow. Use all that time you help with zippers and mittens in your classroom as a discovery lesson.

Show pictures of children playing in the summer. Discuss with children the kinds of clothing we need in hot weather. Then show pictures of children in the snow and ice. Have children share the clothing that is needed to stay warm. 

You can help your young learners to consider the skill of contrasting by laying down two hula hoops. Use photos of summer clothing and winter clothing (or even actual clothing items) in each hula hoop.  This is a wonderful visual to help children understand the school readiness skill of contrast. 
  
Later on, use the clothing, photos, and hula hoops as a center so that every child has a hands-on opportunity to contrast items.

Then talk about types of materials. Have examples ready like wool, cotton, felt, leather, silk, etc. (You can get small pieces of these materials by visiting a local fabric or craft store.)  Encourage children to look at, feel, and smell each piece of material. 

Ask children to state which material they like best and to give at least one reason why this material is preferred. The goal of this kind of question is to encourage children to describe the material, not necessarily to find out who likes what material. The observation is then meaningful as children are asked to state a detail about the fabric.  Being able to support a conclusion is another school readiness skill.   

Discuss the kinds of material that keep people warm in the winter and those that keep us comfortable in the summer. 

Conclude the lesson by having children look at their coats, hats, and mittens. Ask children if they can identify the materials used to create each clothing item.  

Standards Alignment:
NAEYC - 2.B.04., 2.D.03., 2.G.04.
Head Start - IV.C., V.B., VIII.B., XI.B.

Devloping Verbal Skills: Winter Trees

This week, our printable weekly activity highlights a strange plant. We use this fruit to teach math concepts. If you haven't signed up to receive these free activities, please do so in the box to the right.

Staying on the theme of plants, we know you talk with children about the ways plants, animals, and trees change with the seasons. Use the idea that some kinds of trees lose their leaves in the winter to help children describe nature and their response to it. If you have classroom windows or can go outside to see deciduous trees, ask children to tell about that type of tree. You can always show photos of these trees, too.  

Ask children to use their senses to talk about deciduous trees. Provide guiding questions such as: 

• How does the tree look? 
• Do you think this tree smells different in the winter (no buds, leaves, flowers, etc.)? 
• Might the tree sound different when the wind blows through it? (Children should understand that since there are no leaves, there will not be a rustling sound). 

You can also have children compare their response to winter weather to a tree's response to the cold. People bundle up in layers of clothes while trees lose all of their leaves. Have children color a picture of a winter tree and then add themselves to it to show this difference. Feel free to use this drawing as the basis for your lesson:

Finally, one numeral that can be difficult for children is zero. Use this concept freely when talking about the number of leaves on a winter tree. "There are 0 leaves." Have children use the term in other fun ways in the classroom, too. "We see 0 monkeys in that tree!" Encourage families to say zero when discussing what children learned during the day.

Standards Alignment:
NAEYC - 2.D.03, 2.F.02, & 2.G.03
Head Start - VIII.B.1 & 2, X.A.1, & XI.B.1.

Teaching Correct Use of Vocabulary

Preschoolers easily confuse many words including plurals of common vocabulary such as sheep, goose, etc. How do we handle situations like this? We want children to use vocabulary correctly but we also don’t want them to stop experimenting with new words.  Here is one method we’ve found helpful.

We keep short notes on words we see children using incorrectly. Then we make it a point to model the correct use of these words. This helps children learn to listen to others and make changes in their use of words.

For example, a child might say, “ I see lots of childrens on that page.” You could rephrase the child’s statement and say, “Yes, there are a lot of children on the page.” Reinforce the word, children.  

Later as you talk about the book, ask the child how many children are on this page:

Count as a group. Reinforce there are 7 children. At that point you can even say, “We always say children when there is more than one child. We don’t say childrens.” Have the class repeat it together, while making eye contact and smiling at the child who had trouble.

Talk with any children still having trouble and ask what they learned about saying the word children. Applaud them for being good listeners and learning from what you said. This way children learn to learn – and that’s important!

Illustrations are from the book, Is There Really A Human Race? by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell. This is a wonderful book to use to encourage rhyming skills!

Standards Alignment:

NAEYC –  2.B.01; 2.D.01,

Head Start – IV. A.; V.III. A & B.

Teach Rhyming: The Zone of Proximal Development

When a child doesn't know how to rhyme, the task of teaching this skill can seem overwhelming. The usual answer is to read books that contain rhymes, but this doesn't always help. Then we need to help children get in the "zone of proximal development." This means we break the task down into small components and moving the child, slowly, to our objective, in this case rhyming on their own.

For rhyming, we suggest playing a game with two words. Simply say, "Do bat and cat rhyme?"

Give lots of examples that do rhyme. Children can clap or jump...anything to indicate that two words rhyme. Reinforce by saying, "Yes, because the words sound alike at the end."

When children have the sound of rhyming words in their head, give two words that do not rhyme like book and kitchen. Get excited when they say," No, those words do not rhyme." We encourage children to use silly voices to indicate a resounding no for non-rhyming words. This makes the "game" fun!

Sometimes children think words like spoon and fork rhyme because they are focusing on the meaning of words. This means you have to play the "game" a lot and reinforce that rhyming is about the sound of the words - the ending sound.

For more, view our video explanation.

Standards Alignment:
NAEYC - 2.E.04, 2.E.06
Head Start - VII. A & B

Teaching Respect

Encourage independent thoughts in children by remembering to ask them their opinions. It is always heartening to listen to parents not only ask young children, “What do you think?” but then to have them follow up with the all-important word, “Why?”

Children learn that their opinions matter when we encourage them to tell us what they like or dislike. They should learn that it is perfectly fine to say, in a polite way, that they do not like something.  Teachers often ask children to give a thumbs up or down after listening to a book. Accepting that not all books are enjoyed by everyone is a way we can show our children that people have different opinions and these need to be respected.

One of the keys is asking children to state reasons for their opinions.  You may need to give them sentence starters like the following:

I liked it because it was funny when __________________

I liked it because the picture of the was __________________

I liked the ending because ________________________

I did not like it when _______________________

I did not like the character when it _________________________

I did not think it was funny when ____________________

This applies to many experiences.  Listening patiently to children as they tell whether or not they like something and their reasoning is an important learning experience. It not only teaches them that their opinions matter but it models for them that we all must listen and respect the ideas of others.

Standards Alignment:

NAEYC – 2.B.02., 2.B.07., 2.D.03.

Head Start – II.C., VIII.B.

Helping Children Organize!

This post might be helpful for your classrooms, but it is sure to please families, especially at this time of year when many children will be home and messes are sure to abound. Toys can take over a house (or classroom) and weary families often struggle with constantly cleaning up. The refrain, “Pick up your toys” is often a favorite but unfortunately may not yield the results we want.  There are a few ways we can avoid the constant struggle that disorganization brings.

This child was not happy with the disorganization of his toys. He often complained about it but did not know how to fix it.

Children must be included in organizing a room. This means that adults should not quickly clean when children are sleeping or at school. Small children are usually eager to help. While having their help may take a bit longer, the results are worth it. Children who are invested in organizing and have a hand in deciding where things will be kept are more likely to find those spots again when asked to clean. 

Another important component of cleaning and organizing is getting rid of toys, books, and games that children have outgrown. Have special boxes for these. Discuss with children where these should go (a neighbor, friend, relative, organization, or yard sale). When children can name the place their toys will end up, they are often more likely to part with them.

Finally, labeling bins, boxes, or even spots on the wall can help children as they return toys to correct places. The bonus? It helps preschoolers understand that words have meaning. They may even develop sight vocabulary! 

When he was involved in organizing, the child knew where everything should be put away. After having friends over, he cleaned up his room in less than 20 minutes with no complaints.

Involving your children in all aspects of cleaning and organizing will pay off!

Standards Alignment:

NAEYC – 3.E.03, 2.L.02

Head Start – II.B, VII.D.