Music

Music is a big component of our classroom, especially when it comes to literacy. Since my room has the younger preschoolers, music is an important way to expose children to language, alphabetics, and vocabulary. Singing and dancing is an important part of an early childhood classroom. By singing songs, we get the students to manipulate sounds, change sounds, and think about words. This helps them prepare for the future grades in which they have to learn to read and write.


We sing songs such as the ABC's, BINGO, Willoughby Wallaby Woo, Miss Mary Mack, etc. We also have someone come in every other week to sing and play the guitar with the children and he helps promote literacy through music.

According to Laura Woodall and Brenda Ziembroski, "The successful acquisition of reading and writing in early childhood depends on a solid background in oral language skills. What better way to gain knowledge and confidence in oral language than through music? Oral language is an interactive and social process, and music is a natural way for children to experience rich language in a pleasurable way."
http://www.songsforteaching.com/lb/literacymusic.htm

Writing

What writing looks like in my classroom...

There are always writing materials available to the students, including paper, pencils, markers, and crayons. We also have small chalkboards/chalk, and white boards/white board markers.

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During table time, there is always a table that involves some sort of writing such as tracing over names, letter stencils, letter practice, etc. We encourage children to practice tracing or writing the letters in their names. It is important to provide children with many different opportunities to engage in writing and explore writing materials. At the young preschool level it is all about getting the children familiar and comfortable with writing materials and get them exposed to writing so that as they learn and develop they will be ready to write.

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We center uses a Handwriting Without Tears Program. Our class incorporates the program into literacy through activities such as making letters out of playdough, writing on chalkboards, and singing songs from the Get Set for School Sing Along CD. This program works well in my classroom because it is a multisensory approach which young preschoolers respond very well to.  Below is a little more information about the Handwriting Without Tears program.

***Handwriting Without Tears is a program that was designed by an occupational therapist to teach children how to write without frustrating them to tears. It uses hands-on, multisensory materials and was designed in such a way that it introduces shapes, numbers, and letters in an order that matches the progression of children’s developmental abilities so that it is easier for them to practice, learn, and remember.***

http://www.hwtears.com/hwt >link to the program's website

A study was done in 2012 to study the impact of preschool Handwriting Without Tears instruction one year following intervention and it concluded that the use of a structure handwriting program helped those struggling most with handwriting skills to improve handwriting abilities and to be more on the same skill level as classroom peers. It could not conclude that this program was more effective than others.

(http://thescholarship.ecu.edu/bitstream/handle/10342/4064/Phelps_ecu_0600M_10799.pdf?sequence=1)

A study was done in 2011 to study the effectiveness of this program with students with special learning needs, and it concluded that the program had components that resulted in the program being effective, however it was only conducted with one elementary school.
(http://www2.uwstout.edu/content/lib/thesis/2011/2011hanewallw.pdf)

Assessment

In my classroom, students are assessed according to the Objectives for Development & Learning from Birth Through Kindergarten used in the Teaching Strategies program. 

The objectives for literacy are listed below...
 15. Demonstrates phonological awareness
      a. Notices and discriminates rhyme
      b. Notices and discriminates alliteration
      c. Notices and discriminates smaller and smaller units of sound
16. Demonstrates knowledge of the alphabet
      a. Identifies and names letters
      b. Uses letter-sound knowledge
17. Demonstrates knowledge of print and its uses
      a. Uses and appreciates books
      b. Uses print concepts
18. Comprehends and responds to books and other texts
      a. Interacts during read alouds and book conversations
      b. Uses emergent reading skills
      c. Retells stories
19. Demonstrates emergent writing skills
      a. Writes name
      b. Writes to convey meaning

When children are assessed according to these objectives, there is a rating scale with indicators and examples of how a child may demonstrate the skills and the educator can select the level they assessed the child at. 

The following is an image of how the objectives look in assessment (for a language objective). A teacher would then select the level (1-9) on the chart according to the child's skill demonstration. The colored bands along the bottom are color coded to show the expectations of specific age/grade groups. 

 Red = birth to 1 year    Orange = 1 to 2 years   

Yellow = 2 to 3 years  Green = Preschool 3 class

Blue = Pre-K 4 class   Purple = Kindergarten

Below is a YouTube video of a Teaching Strategies Gold training

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFs7Ux5zyhw
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           Teaching Strategies emphasizes that research supports their comprehensive resources and it is a valid and reliable measure of child growth and development, (Teaching Strategies, 2002-2013). In the Teaching Strategies GOLD Assessment System Technical Summary, the Center for Educational Measurement and Evaluation at the University of North Carolina provided evidence that, “the assessment instrument reliably measures those six factors of child development (social-emotional, physical, language, cognitive, literacy and math,” (2011). This is important because the assessment instrument has to have construct validity and measures what it is intended to measure. The research also provided evidence of high interrater reliability, which is important because, “if the tool is reliable, the results should be the same (or nearly the same) regardless of the user,” (Teaching Strategies, Inc, 2011). The research also confirmed validity in item difficulty, person and item reliabilities, internal consistency reliability, accuracy of scale scores and age bands, and validity and reliability with children with special needs and English language learners.

              Richard G. Lambert from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte conducted research on using the Teaching Strategies GOLD Assessment System with the Creative Curriculum in order to demonstrate how child outcomes can be enhanced by assessment and curriculum. The study showed that when combining these two tools teachers can, “Teachers maintain the ability to link assessment opportunities with teachable moments embedded into the curriculum when the objectives of the curriculum are the same as the objectives of the assessment system,” (Lambert, 2012). This study discussed how assessment data can be used to inform instruction. 

Print Rich Environment

      A print rich environment is essential in any early childhood setting, especially a preschool classroom. A print rich environment has print abundantly displayed all around the classroom. According to Shari Ostrow Scher, a Curriculum Specialist for Early Childhood Education, "This environment must include an array of opportunities to see and respond to language in a 
context that is motivating and important to the child. This is particularly invaluable for students who come from homes without rich print opportunities," (Frederick County Public Schools, July 1999). 

    One aspect of a print rich environment included in my classroom is functional print, that is, print that gives information about routines, procedures and schedules. Examples of how we create a print rich environment are below...




Daily Schedule

Handwashing Procedure

First/Then schedule

Calendar/Weather

It is important to have print visible and accessible to students that coincides with their routines and procedures so that they can see that print is meaningful.