CRITICAL COMPONENTS OF EARLY LEARNING CATCH-UP (PRE-K/K)September 13, 2011

PURPOSE FOR COMING TOGETHER

To examine the foundations of Early Learning To explore and reflect on being on Early

Learning Teacher To provide time to plan and design an

emergent curriculum and assessments To reflect on and respond to data

OUR DAYEarly Learning

What are the foundations of Early Learning?

Early Learning TeacherWho am I as an Early Learning Teacher?

Emergent CurriculumWhy and how can the curriculum be emergent?

EARLY LEARNINGWhat are the foundations of Early Learning?

PLACE MAT ACTIVITY

1. Individually think and write down words and phrases related to the foundations of Early Learning.

2. With your table, discuss and write down the common trends in the centre of your placemat

PRINCIPLES OF EARLY LEARNING

Children as Competent Learners

Holistic Development and Learning

Strong & Positive Relationships

Stimulating & Dynamic Environment

Early Learning Program Guide

THE EARLY LEARNING BRAIN

EARLY LEARNING

One of the human brain’s most amazing capacities is its ability to sculpt itself based

on what it experiences.Wolfe & Nevills, 2004

MAKE TIME EACH DAY TO...

CREATE

Provide freedom to create.

Encourage creativity.

Make time for creativity.

Creating is NOT limited to visual arts.

Realize the importance of process not product.

Creative play can become messy...

Creativity and imagination are the key to producing life long

learners.- Robert & Michelle Root-Berstein, Sparks of Genius

MOVE Children must

move in order to learn.

Outdoor play is important – rain or shine!

The three main learning styles are: visual, auditory & KINESTHETIC Movement is the door to

learning.-Paul E. Dennison, Brain Gym

SING

Sing to the air! It doesn’t need to be a performance.

Songs are “hooks to hang a memory on.”

We always remember the songs we learned from our childhood.

INTERACTIONS - LANGUAGE

Problem solve. Extend language. Explore & ask

questions. Powerful

interactions.

If you want to have intelligent conversations with children, give your own assumptions a rest, put on your listening ears and hear what a child is really saying.- Jane Healy, Creating Intelligent Conversations with your Children

OBSERVE Be engaged with all

their senses. Develop awareness. Take time to notice

what is happening in the world around us.

If you want to do something good for a child...give him an environment where he can touch things as much as he wants.

- Buckminster Fuller in Letter to Children on Earth

LITERACY Children who grow

up to be readers are children who have been read to.

Our goal is not to “get to the end of the book” but rather to instill of love of reading and of stories.

Allow for children to interrupt the story with questions and comments.

PLAY Playing is learning

and learning is playing.

Play is inquiry. The foundation of

play supports the house of higher learning.

EARLY LEARNING TEACHERWho am I as an Early Learning Teacher?

PERSONAL REFLECTIONClick icon to add picture

Discover your attitudes and habits of mind.

What changes would you like to see?

Personal Reflection

THE EARLY LEARNING TEACHER AS THE: OBSERVER & LISTENER

OBSERVER AND LISTENER

Becoming a field researcher in child development

Appreciating the details of children’s complex play

Observing before intervening or reacting Listening to accommodate (or value)

children’s ideas Listening to legitimize the child’s point of

view

THE EARLY LEARNING TEACHER AS THE: DOCUMENTER

DOCUMENTER

Holistic Learning- pages 28-33

(Early Learning Program Guide)

Intellectual Socio-emotional Physical Spiritual

Observable Items- pages 24-27 (Children First: A Resource for Kindergarten)

Intellectual Socio-emotional Physical Spiritual

Prekindergarten Kindergarten

WHAT ARE OBSERVABLE ITEMS?

How will these holistic observations influence you as an observer, listener and documenter?

ALIGNING DOCUMENTATION WITH…

COR

Early Learning Principles

Outcomes

Early Learning Principles

Prekindergarten Kindergarten

THE EARLY LEARNING TEACHER AS THE: ASSESSOR

ASSESSMENT

Effective educators continuously assess the degree to which children are achieving the curricular outcomes.

Evidence is gathered through observing, documenting, and interpreting to reveal what children have learned from experiences both inside and outside the classroom.

PURPOSE OF ASSESSMENT

To collect evidence to guide daily planning (Assessment for Learning).

To assist children in becoming aware of their thinking (metacognition) and to make it visible by documenting the learning process (Assessment as Learning).

To record evidence of children’s learning to report to caregivers and to in-school and school division administrators (Assessment of Learning).

DOCUMENTATION FEEDS ASSESSMENT

Documentation provides a transparent process of how children make meaning of ideas and develop theories. PROOF

Documentation provides information about children’s learning and progress. CONTINUUM OF LEARNING

Documentation is used to make children’s learning visible. METACOGNTION

DOCUMENTATION PANELS

The Power of Documentation in the Early Childhood Classroom

Sharing

Experimenting with ColourPPK.1 Analyze the effects of various forms of energy, including light, sound, waves, head, and magnetism, and the effects of forces.Here’s how we did it . . . Elliott – We needed milk and we needed some milk and we needed some dish wash.Lukas – We put the milk in. And then we put the colours in.Keely – For our experiment, first we got a bowl and then we got milk, we poured the milk into the bowl and then what we did, we put all the colours of food colouring in and then we got straws to blow it and then we put dish soap in.What happened when we put the dish soap in?Elliott – The colours moved and they changed to brown.Lukas – It moved the colours.

We poured milk in. We put in food colouring. We blew it with a straw

EVALUATION

Evaluation compares assessment information against criteria based on curriculum outcomes for the purpose of communicating to students, teachers, parents/caregivers, and others about student progress and to make informed decisions about the teaching and learning process.

Reporting of student achievement must be based on the achievement of curriculum outcomes.

THE ASSESSMENT CYCLE IN THE EMERGENT CURRICULUM

Listen and Observe

Document

Assess

Prepare Learning

Evaluate

AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT Authentic assessment clearly assesses the

outcomes in a context that reflects the actual learning experience. In other words, we assess in the exact same way we have invited students to learn.

Authentic assessment also invites us to ask how students may come to apply the knowledge and skills they have gained and assess them based on that information.

ASSESSMENT PLAN An assessment plan clarifies the learning

destinations through establishing criteria. It clarifies how evidence of learning will be

collected – through products, observations and conversations.

An assessment plan is realized over the course of an entire unit and, ultimately, over the course of a year.

It aims to provide multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning.

It clarifies how students will be assessed formatively and summatively, how they will be offered feedback and how their progress will be reported.

IN THE NORTH EAST SCHOOL DIVISION WE BELIEVE:

that effective instruction depends on high quality assessment. Therefore, we expect all assessments to provide accurate and timely information about student achievement. Each assessment must adhere to standards of quality that all staff know and follow.

the primary purpose of assessment is to improve student learning. It is the expectation of the NESD that all assessments will be directly linked to specific student learning outcomes, use assessment methodology appropriate for the subject/grade level, and will allow for the effective communication of results.

 that assessment can serve as a powerful form of instruction. By involving students in the assessment and evaluation of their own achievement under direct supervision, teachers can use assessment and feedback to help students progress towards meeting the expected learning outcomes for each subject, at each grade level.

that a variety of assessment tools are considered appropriate for use within the NESD. Any ‘grade’ should include varied forms of assessment.

that a differentiated approach allows all students to be assessed on student learner outcomes in a manner that is appropriate to each individual.

that achievement and behavior should be assessed and reported separately.

THE EMERGENT CURRICULUMWhy is the curriculum emergent in Prekindergarten and Kindergarten? How can this be done?

TH

E E

MER

GEN

T C

UR

RIC

ULU

M

Click icon to add pictureIn Emergent Curriculum, teachers plan in response to the children’s interests and concerns, and curriculum expands into genuine inquiry, as children and teachers together become participatory co-learners through multiple ways of learning and creating (in drawing, dance, clay, wire, and so forth) so that new cultures of identity and classroom citizenship develop from it.

Emergent Curriculum in the Primary Classroom,

Carol Anne Wien

THE RENEWED CURRICULUM 2010 Saskatchewan

Curriculum 2009 Children First:

A Kindergarten Resource

Play & Exploration

RESOURCES:

MINISTRY VIDEO

https://www.edonline.sk.ca/webapps/moe-curriculum-BBLEARN/index.jsp?view=kindergarten&subpage=4&lang=en&XML=kindergarten.xml

The emergent curriculum is based on observing children’s emerging interests; listening to conversations; or observing actions to determine possible topics for exploration. A direction is decided if it aligns with curriculum outcomes, children’s interest is high, and if the focus has enough scope to include children’s ideas. The educator and children plan the experiences in coordination with the reflective lenses to construct understandings. Children investigate and explore ideas as the educator continuously reflects on and makes meaning of children’s behaviors. Ideas and investigations can be revisited to gain deeper understanding.

EMERGENT CURRICULUM PLANNING

What interests, ideas and questions do children have?

What context will we use to make the learning meaningful?

What outcomes from subject areas will be included?

How will we know when students achieve outcomes?

How do we set up the environment, conversations, and play to enhance the learning?

NESD PLANNING ORGANIZER FOR PRE-KINDERGARTEN AND KINDERGARTEN

Stage 1: Beginning with the End in Mind

STAGE 2: CRITICAL EVIDENCE OF UNDERSTANDING

STAGE 3: LEARNING PLAN

DAILY PLANS

Daily plans are designed around observing, documenting, and interpreting the actions of children and their achievement of the outcomes. Each day needs to be well-planned and yet flexible enough to allow opportunities for children to explore their interests and work towards achieving outcomes. Plans are adjusted in the light of observation and negotiations with children.

SCHEDULES

Sufficient time for children to carry out their exploration is characterized by large blocks of time. While young people have difficulty attending to adult talk for long periods of time, children are capable of extended periods of engagement activities matched to their interest and ability level. It is also important to remember that too much structure will hamper, rather than help, children’s learning.

BALANCE

ActiveIndividualRoutine

Self-InitiatedFamily Engagement

QuietGroup

Free-ChoiceEducator-directed

Community Engagement

PLANNING TIME Developing Emerging Curriculum Contexts

What questions are children asking? What ideas or interests have the children been exploring in play?

Big Ideas What do you want children to understand through the four dimensions of

Holistic Development?

Unpacking Outcomes What are the outcomes that align with the context?

Understandings & Essential Questions What understandings and questions are necessary to develop children to

learn?

Creating Assessments How can your documentation support outcomes through a continuum

of learning?

Preparing the Learning Plan What materials/resources are already available for the children related

to their interests and the outcomes? What can you add to the environment to support children’s

investigations through play and further develop their thinking and understanding?

What conversations, questions, and language strategies will be presented?

What play and activities will be stimulated to enhance the learning? How can you incorporate family and community into the context?

NESD SUPPORT MATERIALS

http://www.nesd.ca/~currcorner/

https://www.edonline.sk.ca/webapps/moe-curriculum-BBLEARN/index.jsp?view=kindergarten&subpage=4&XML=kindergarten.xml

SASKATCHEWAN MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

REFLECTION

Here’s what…(I learned).

So what…(does this mean to me as an Early Learning Teacher)?

Now what…(do I need to do)?