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We are excited to provide a link to the new Revised Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines on our CLI website. This document contains the new prekindergarten end of the year outcomes for all 4 year old classrooms. Teachers and Parents will have information regarding best classroom practices, examples of child behaviors and example of instructional strategies.
We are pleased to announce that theme related activities for the prekindergarten classroom will be coming soon on the Children’s Learning Institute website. These instructional activities are designed to help you, the teacher and/or mentor, develop more intentional lesson plans to use daily with the children. Over the summer, TEEM field staff worked endless hours to develop activities that will enrich many of the themes that are typically used in prekindergarten classrooms. View a sample from the theme All about Me.
The document was prepared by the Texas State Center for Early Childhood Development. Implementing the following areas of focus can help programs seeking to become certified through the Texas School Readiness Certification System as a Texas School Ready! Program. It is intended solely to offer support to early childhood education programs and is not to be interpreted as a guarantee that implementation will automatically lead to certification. To learn more about the Texas School Ready! Program and the Texas School Readiness Certification System, please visit our website at http://www.texasschoolready.com/.
Using Themes in the Pre-K Classroom
 Building classroom activities and materials around a thematic topic is a wonderful way to get children excited about learning and to connect the different areas of your curriculum in a meaningful, integrated way. Some teachers may already be familiar with this approach and use a curriculum that is organized by thematic units. Others may be less familiar or may never have tried it. This article will introduce the concept of a thematic unit, present some resources, and offer a step-by-step process for beginning to use thematic instruction.
What is “Thematic Instruction”?
Thematic instruction is based on the idea that children (in fact, adults too!) learn best when instruction is presented in the context of a coherent "whole," and when they can connect what they're learning to the real world. Thematic instruction provides opportunities for children to make connections among different subject areas (such as reading, math, and science) and to build a base of knowledge about a particular topic. The teacher chooses a thematic topic and then chooses lessons, books, and activities that relate to the theme. A thematic unit may be designed to last for a week, a month, or even longer. Most teachers change themes every few weeks or so. Watch this video clip for a brief overview of the benefits of themes
What themes do teachers use in Pre-K?
The best kinds of themes for preschool classrooms stimulate children’s interest and encourage their curiosity about the topic. Over the course of the unit, children learn new information (including facts, vocabulary words, and processes) and feel a greater sense of connection to the world around them. While holidays and seasons are often used as the basis for preschool activities, there are many other interesting topics about which children can get excited. An appropriate topic for a thematic unit should have the following qualities:
- It should be something concrete enough that children can understand and relate to their own experience (e.g., “Bugs”, “Things that go”, “What makes the weather?”).
- It should be broad enough to support a rich variety of activities and related concepts (e.g., “Cars” might be too narrow, but “Transportation” is broader; “Sharks” might be too narrow, but “The Ocean” is broader).
- It should not be so broad that it is hard for children to grasp a coherent sense of what exactly they are studying (e.g., topics such as “Our world”, “People”, or “Art” may be too broad for preschoolers).
- Some great theme ideas may come from paying attention to what your children are already interested in! For example, if a building is going up next to your school and the children see construction equipment and workers, “Construction” would be a timely theme to develop. Listen to this teacher talk about child-initiated themes:
There are hundreds of possible themes teachers may use! Here are links to some lists:
http://www.preschooleducation.com/topic.shtml
http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/preschool_themes/topics.html
I have a theme: Now what?
Once you have chosen a theme, it’s time to create your unit. The basic process generally follows this sequence:
- Brainstorm all the words, concepts, objects, and actions that come to mind when you think of the topic. Using a “web diagram” to get your ideas down on paper can help. This video clip shows an example of the process:
- Generate a list of things you would like children to learn from studying this theme. What are your learning objectives or goals? For example, for an “Ocean” theme, your list of learning objectives might look like this:
- Name and be able to identify 10 different creatures that live in the ocean.
- Understand differences between mammals and fish, and be able to categorize different sea creatures correctly.
- Identify parts of a fish’s body.
- Tell 4 facts about sharks.
- Talk about food sources in the ocean - what do fish and sea mammals eat?
- Understand concept of the “food chain”.
- Learn how waves are created, and what makes them bigger and smaller.
- Identify animals that live on the beach, in shallow water, and in deep water.
- Be able to discuss environmental threats to oceans (e.g., oil spills, trash in water, over-fishing).
- Decide how many weeks your theme will run and therefore how many lessons and activities you will need to generate.
- Consider the different Centers in your classroom (e.g., Math & Science, Writing, Pretend & Learn, Library, Construction, etc.). Make a chart with headings for each of these, under which you will list activities and materials to use in those centers, as described below.
- Begin to gather activity and lesson plan ideas! Fortunately, there are many resources available in books and online to help with this step, so there is no need to “reinvent the wheel”. Many teachers skip right ahead to this step without generating learning goals. However, taking the time to think about what you want children to learn from your thematic unit will help you to sort through the many possible activities and materials, and pick those that are most useful and relevant, as well as fun. Here are some websites to get you started:
http://www.123child.com/act/
http://www.stepbystepcc.com/themes2.html
http://www.preschoolexpress.com/theme_station.shtml
- “Make some magic”! Can you transform part of your classroom in some way to fit your theme?? This really excites children and sets the stage for a new unit. For example, for an “Ocean” theme, could you bring in a sandbox and bury seashells in the sand? Hang paper seagulls from the ceiling? Hang a fish-themed tablecloth on the wall as a mural? For a thematic unit on “Pets”, could you transform the Pretend & Learn Center into a veterinary clinic, with exam tables and medical supplies to use with stuffed animals? Transforming the room can stimulate children’s own creativity and interest in the theme. Children’s theme-related art productions can be displayed as well, so your classroom continues to evolve over the course of the theme. Here are some pictures of classrooms that have been transformed for a theme
- Don’t forget books! Having theme-related books for your read-alouds and for children to browse through in your Library center is a very important part of theme-based learning. If you do not have funds for buying new books, your local library is likely to have many books on thematic topics. Include both story books and factual books related to the theme. Here are some websites with theme-related book lists:
http://www.preschoolrainbow.org/book-themes.htm
http://www.answerpoint.org/teachers_place/preschool/themes.asp
- When it is not possible to generate an activity for a given center that directly addresses your learning goals for the theme, you can create activities that address your broader learning goals for children using theme-related materials. For example, if children in the Math center are supposed to have opportunities to practice counting with 1-to-1 correspondence, you can have them count laminated fish cut-outs as they place them into a plastic “fishbowl”. If they are working on recognizing numerals, they can match number cards or plastic numbers with pictures showing different numbers of seashells.
Transitioning between themes
You might want to plan some kind of special activity to mark the conclusion of a theme before transitioning to the next theme. This might be as elaborate as a party or special breakfast with foods related to the theme, or more simple, such as completing a group art project to represent what the class has learned (e.g., creating a mural of a city after studying “Life in the City”; making a large papier-mâché elephant to represent a “Jungle” theme), or playing a group game that allows children to review and share all the information they have learned (e.g. a simplified version of a game show where children take turns answering factual questions and earning small prizes for correct answers). Whether your closure activity is large or small, be sure to let children know when one theme is ending and the next is about to begin. Children need the opportunity to say “goodbye” to the old theme and “hello” to the new one!
** A special thank you to Copperas Cove and all the TEEM sites who contributed pictures for this article.
Free reproducible language and early literacy activities
Developed by Angela Notari-Syverson, Ph.D. and colleagues
Now available SPANISH VERSION of the free parent-child early literacy materials titled "On the Go". These materials include 14 activities designed to be used outside the home: in the car, while walking, during bus rides, etc. The activities encourage early language and literacy development from birth through preschool. They are appropriate for children with disabilities as well as children who are developing typically. The development of these materials was supported by Grant H324M020084 from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.
The new materials are designed to encourage parents to interact with their children while they are "On the Go" to facilitate language, early literacy, and positive parent-child interactions. The materials include 14 activities as well as accompanying hints for each of the activities about how to modify the activities to meet the specific developmental needs of the child.
To download materials go to www.walearning.com and click on the purple button that says "Free Parent Education Handouts" on the home page. Look for the "On the Go" files to download the materials in PDF format.
As the new school year begins, let’s all take a moment and remember why we are doing this work. Thank you Dr. Bobby Ott, Deputy Superintendent with Copperas Cove ISD for sharing this wonderful keynote speaker to help us kick off the school year.
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Calendar of Events
September
- September 4th, 2008 - SRCS Prek Returning User Training 9:00-10:00a
- September 4th, 2008 - SRCS Prek Returning User Training 3:00-4:00p
- September 8th, 2008 - TETN Prekindergarten Guideline Training 1:00p-3:00p
- September 8th, 2008 - SRCS Prek New User Training 3:00-4:00p
- September 11th, 2008 - SRCS Prek New User Training 3:00-4:30p
- September 15th, 2008 - SRCS Prek New User Training 9:00a-10:30a
- September 18th, 2008 - SRCS Prek New User Training 3:00-4:30p
- September 22nd, 2008 - SRCS Prek New User Training 3:00-4:30p
- September 25th, 2008 - SRCS Prek New User Training 9:00a-10:30a
- September 29th, 2008 - SRCS Prek New User Training 9:00a-10:30a
October
- October 15 – November 15 Progress Monitoring Window Beginning of the Year
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September 2008
CONTENTS
- Revised Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines
- Coming Soon
- Preparing to be a Texas School Ready™ Program
- Using Themes in the Pre-K Classroom
- Free reproducible language and early literacy activities
- Do you believe?
- Your Teachscape eNewsletter Subscription
- Calendar of Events
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