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Archive for October 2009


Posted Saturday, October 31, 2009 by Jody Bohrer
I was reminded recently that young children can be so curious about the writing they see all around them. When we were out on the playground today, Edgar, a four year old boy, asked me what a sign said. I responded, “I can’t read it from here. Let’s walk over there and see what it says.” We read it together. The sign said, “Please do not dig in the garden. Sand stays in the sandbox. Thank you.” Since Edgar’s first language is Spanish and he is not fluent in English yet, I showed him where the garden was and talked about its purpose and why we shouldn’t dig in it. Then, I saw a spot on the lawn where someone had dumped a lot of sand. I explained why the sand is supposed to stay in the sandbox. On his own, Edgar eagerly started shoveling the extra sand back into the sandbox. I suggested that it might have been the custodian who put the sign there, because his job is to take care of the grass. Edgar was happy to be helping, and I was excited about all the new vocabulary he was hearing. By having this conversation, I was encouraging his curiosity and adding to his background knowledge, as well as his English vocabulary. In addition, when he asked me to read the sign to him, this helped me learn where he is on the road to literacy. Unlike some of his classmates, he already knows that reading and writing have a purpose and that purpose is to communicate. The professional development training I’ve had has helped me get better at modeling and encouraging early literacy behaviors in my classroom. Research has shown that print awareness (also known as “book and print rules”) should be explicitly taught while reading with preschoolers. This means that children need to learn what a letter is, what a word is, that reading goes from left to right on the page, where the front and back of the book is, what a title page is and what the author and illustrator means. One thing I usually do is point to the words as I’m reading them. I just glide my finger along the text as I’m reading. I automatically did this while reading the sign to Edgar. This helps children learn that reading is done from left to right. Sometimes I check kids’ knowledge by pointing to the upper right hand corner of the text and say, “Is this where I should start reading?” In this way, I become the “Amelia Bedelia of the classroom as I purposely do things the wrong way to see if kids notice. Amelia Bedelia is a beloved character in a series of books written for elementary school aged children who always seems to misunderstand and do things backwards. I can usually detect a collective sigh of relief from the children when I finally get it right! Another strategy I use when there are not too many words on a page is to point to each word as I’m reading. This can help children understand that a group of letters is a word. It is also useful to point out that the “empty space” between letters means that one word is done and another one is beginning. To practice this, I often have my class count the words together with me. In this way, they are learning to count and also gaining print awareness. Thinking about Edgar again, we could look at the sign tomorrow and have him count the words in the sign. I could also ask him if he recognizes any letters in the sign. In my classroom I have a daily message which I write on a large white board at the front of my circle time area. While I read the message, I use a pointer stick to point to the words. I usually write a greeting and then put a statement or a question on the board and children freely give their responses. For example, this week we were talking about the letter Hh, so I tried to think of words that start with that letter for the message. The message I wrote on the board today said: “Hello Happy Hands! How do you know when someone feels happy?” We talked about how you can make your hands look happy – by waving, giving a “thumbs up” sign, a hug, blowing a kiss or by shaking someone’s hand. After that we talked about needing to look at our friends’ faces to see how they are feeling. I drew pictures of a happy, sad, and mad face and wrote the words under them. This is an important conversation to have with children at the beginning of a new school year when they are just starting to learn how to relate to each other. After a brief discussion, I have one child come up front to write the letter of the week and circle it on the white board. This helps them learn what a letter is. After that, we count together the number of letters the child has found. During discovery center time, children are encouraged to use the pointer sticks to read the message and use the dry erase markers to trace or rewrite the letters. These daily rituals are all developmentally appropriate, because they are fun and meaningful, and they help children “get the connection” between talking, listening, reading, and writing. These activities only take a few minutes, but the added exposure to important literacy concepts is well worth it. All of this knowledge is being stored in their amazing brains and the more practice children have with early literacy the more prepared they will be when they begin kindergarten.
Posted Thursday, October 29, 2009 by Lanette Sowle

Are you someone like me that views the start of the school year as a bit like the start of the New Year?

There's something about "Back to School" that says "New Beginnings" for everyone. If you are fortunate enough to be a teacher you get to begin again with another group of active young children and their families. There is nothing more exciting than this new beginning!

The beginning of the school year is the perfect time to begin new with observation and assessment. Generally everyone in early childhood education agrees that assessment is important, but many do not understand the process. In theory most people believe assessment is important. The difficulty becomes in how to make the assessment process manageable and authentic.

Authentic assessment is described as a series of developmentally appropriate methods. It is the process of gathering information about children to inform instruction. This means that assessment is part of what a teacher does everyday in the classroom as she promotes developmentally appropriate practices. There are many examples of authentic assessments such as work samples, photographs, videos showing work in progress, comments by adults working with the children, transcriptions or audio recordings of children’s discussions, and children’s dictated thoughts, and stories. It is easy to manage this type of assessment because most of the items listed are samples of things you do everyday in the classroom.

Observation is another key piece of assessment. Observation is best done during children’s informal work and play times. In other words, being a “kid watcher” and writing down what you observe. You need to be deliberate about the skills that you are looking for and systematic in recording your observations. Observations allow teachers and parents to see and record the actual capabilities, language, and reasoning of children in relation to everyday events.

Another important piece of assessment is collaboration. Teachers and parents should collaborate because children often show very different abilities in different settings. The most accurate picture of a child comes when parents and teachers share observations made in these different settings. Now is the time to have parents fill out forms where they list their child’s interests, strengths, and areas for growth. This is the beginning of collecting parents’ observations. Parent and teacher collaboration is so important because it builds good communication between the home and school and provides a true picture of the child’s capabilities.

Observing and assessing children’s learning must be foremost in your mind as you begin this new school year. That is the only way to plan and guide your instruction. By having specific policies and consistent practices in place for observation and assessment you send a clear message that children’s learning is the focus of the day and their growth and progress is of utmost importance.

As families begin this New Year with you they want to know that you know what you are doing and that you care about their child. Observation and assessment provides a great way for parents to be sure of these two things! So, go forward and begin a new year with observation and assessment in mind!
Posted Monday, October 05, 2009 by Michelle Beedle, MA

As we begin Fall Quarter 2009, and I am preparing to welcome a new group of early childhood students, my thoughts have turned to how far we have come with early childhood education in the last 15 years.  When I first began working with young children in early childhood education things looked a little different than they do today.  Specifically, when I talk about different, I am focusing on the general growth and increased recognition of our field, increased wages and support for early childhood professionals, and positive transformations in our practices.

First, in 1990, there were far less programs that specifically instructed students in early childhood education.  Often students who were interested in working in early childhood education were encouraged to go to school to be an elementary school teacher and get a preprimary concentration.  Today, however there are many different choices of higher educations institution programs for students who wish to work specifically in early childhood education.  Beyond that, there are more opportunities for students in the field once they graduate.  Students who graduate with a degree in early childhood education, may find a position in a child care setting, working for a school district, working within a social service agency, working with parents, and more.

Additionally, we have seen an increased appreciation for the work we do as professionals.  With that increased recognition, we have also seen wages increase.  Believe it or not, in 1990 in the state of Wisconsin, most teachers and assistant teachers were paid less than five dollars per hour (Riley, 1990).  Although improvements can still be made, early childhood educators are more respected and better paid than they were 15 years ago.

Finally, we have also seen many positive changes to early childhood education practices in the last 15 years.  As we gain more knowledge and continue to grow, early childhood educators have done a good job of integrating theory and research into practice.  I can think of many examples, but the first one that comes to mind is the major shift we have made toward family centered practice and creating partnerships with parents.  Although references to family centered practices were found much earlier, the 1990’s were a time where early childhood educators learned to be responsive to individual families and view the child’s parents as the decision-makers (Espe-Sherwindt, 2008).  Today, most early childhood programs place a high value on partnerships with families.

So as I reflect on the changes since I first began working in the field of early childhood education, I am excited to see what will happen in the next 15 years.  My prediction is that more attention will be placed on producing HIGH QUALITY educators and increasing collaboration.   According to Lewis (2009), a priority for the Obama Administration should be early childhood teacher quality.  If we can continue to increase the quality of early childhood professionals, we will continue to change the lives of our children.  I believe that early childhood settings are becoming more complex.  Children in early childhood education programs are coming from more diverse environments and backgrounds with more diverse needs.  Thus, teachers will need to be responsive, educated, and collaborative to meet children’s needs. 

FINALLY, my advice to those studying to be early childhood professionals is to be PROUD to be a part of our field and be PREPARED to face the challenges that lay ahead.  We need strong teachers, leaders, and advocates in early childhood education in the years to come!

Espe-Sherwindt, M. (2008). Family-centered practice: collaboration, competency and evidence.
Support for Learning, 23(3), 136-143. http://search.ebscohost.com

Lewis, A. (2009). Adding Young Children to the Federal Agenda. Phi Delta Kappan, 90(7), 459-
460. http://search.ebscohost.com

Riley, D. (1990) Pay and benefits of child care staff in Wisconsin.  Early Childhood Exchange.
http://dpi.state.wi.us/rll/ccic/pdf/ece_archives/ece_n30.pdf