Discover new, practical methods for teaching literacy skills in your early childhood classroom. Has teaching early literacy skills become a stumbling block to getting your preschool students kindergarten ready? Break out of the tired “letter of the week” routine and learn how to transform your lessons with fun and effective techniques. Teach Smarter: Literacy Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers will equip teachers to infuse every aspect of their teaching with exciting hands-on literacy teaching methods that engage students and help them build authentic connections with books, so that 100% of their students will have a strong literacy foundation and will be fully prepared for success in kindergarten and beyond. Respected author Vanessa Levin, veteran early childhood educator and author of the “Pre-K Pages” blog, breaks down the research and translates it into realistic, actionable steps you can take to improve your teaching. Features specific examples of teaching techniques and activities that engage students in hands-on, experiential learning during circle time, centers, and small groups. Offers a simple, four-step system for teaching literacy skills, based on the foundational principles of early literacy teaching Demonstrates how to build your confidence in your ability to get 100% of your students ready for kindergarten, long before the end of the school year Understand the problems with traditional literacy teaching and identify gaps in your current teaching practice with this valuable resource.
Encompass Preschool Curriculum is a 26-week curriculum intended to guide a preschooler through basic developmental and educational skills expected of a 3 or 4 year old including, but not limited to, fine and gross motor skills, music, art, math, Bible, recitation, literacy, and cooking skills. By the end of this curriculum a preschooler should be able to recognize all basic upper and lower case letters, numbers 1-20, basic shapes, basic colors, time to the half-hour, U.S. coins, his/her full name, and demonstrate basic reasoning skills. In addition, a preschooler will have the opportunity to memorize several well-known poems and nursery rhymes as well as Bible verses and character studies that will have a life-long impact on their behavioral development. This curriculum is intended to be used 4 days a week for approximately one hour each day. It's an open-and-go guide to preschool with little prep work necessary. Instead of worrying about planning and prepping, parents can now have fun learning together with their preschooler and enjoying the process of watching their little one grow.
"Letter-a-week" may be a ubiquitous approach to teaching alphabet knowledge, but that doesn't mean it's an effective one. In No More Teaching a Letter a Week, early literacy researcher Dr. William Teale helps us understand that alphabet knowledge is more than letter recognition, and identifies research-based principles of effective alphabet instruction, which constitutes the foundation for phonics teaching and learning. Literacy coach Rebecca McKay shows us how to bring those principles to life through purposeful practices that invite children to create an identity through print. Children can and should do more than glue beans into the shape of a "B"; they need to learn how letters create words that carry meaning, so that they can, and do, use print to expand their understanding of the world and themselves.
The Creative Curriculum comes alive! This videotape-winner of the 1989 Silver Apple Award at the National Educational Film and Video Festival-demonstrates how teachers set the stage for learning by creating a dynamic well-organized environment. It shows children involved in seven of the interest areas in the The Creative Curriculum and explains how they learn in each area. Everyone conducts in-service training workshops for staff and parents or who teaches early childhood education courses will find the video an indispensable tool for explainin appropriate practice.
What's your plan? If you're not sure, this great big book has the answer! With 52 weekly plans, it's easy to come up with appropriate learning experiences that children will love. This essential classroom resource covers special holidays, seasonal topics, everyday plans, and other things you've probably never thought of, such as National Pretzel Month or National Pancake Day!
This primary textbook for graduate-level curriculum courses is comprehensive, rigourous, practical, and professional. Provides a thorough presentation of theory and research focused on how they pertain to the practice of teaching.
Curriculum and Students in Classrooms: Everyday Urban Education in an Era of Standardization is a timely and thought-provoking work that attends to often-neglected aspects of schooling: the everyday interactions between curriculum, teachers, and students. Walter S. Gershon addresses the bridge between the curriculum and the students, the teachers, and their everyday pedagogical decisions. In doing so, this book explores the students' perspectives of their teachers, the language arts curriculum at an urban elementary school, and how the particular combination of curriculum and teaching work in tandem to narrow students’ academic and social possibilities and reproduce racial, class, and gender inequities as normal. Recommended for scholars of education and curriculum studies.