©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Chapter 17 Facilitating Pre-Academic and Cognitive Learning

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Cognitive Development and Emerging Literacy Involves reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Functionally illiterate are those who cannot perform well in one of those areas. Large numbers of children are coming to school without the experiences needed to learn literacy skills.

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Cognitive Development and Emerging Literacy (continued) Defining Pre-Academics –This includes the whole child: physical activities, social interactions, and creative and affective development. –More than just paper-and-pencil activities are included. –Children are active explorers of their world. –Child-initiated activities are key to cognitive growth and development.

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. What Brain Research Tells Us Infants’ brains are extremely active and busy forming synapses. The brain functions on a use-it or lose-it principle. Nature and nurture play a role in the development of the brain. Early care has decisive and long-lasting impact on children’s brain development.

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. What Brain Research Tells Us (continued) There are sensitive periods for learning that only come around once. Negative experiences or lack of stimulation have serious, sustained effects on the brain. Intensive intervention is necessary to lessen the effects of disabilities.

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Banning Academics: Ill Advised? Academic skills are appropriate for preschoolers. Academics should be a part of the play experience. Preschoolers thrive on absorbing new experiences. Paper-and-pencil tasks and workbooks are not appropriate.

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Developmentally Appropriate Pre-Academic Experiences Direct teaching –The teacher directly teaches a concept. –The teacher also blends direct teaching with an indirect and facilitative approach.

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Developmentally Appropriate Pre-Academic Experiences (continued) Embedded Learning –Children practice new skills and learn individualized goals within the regular classroom activities. –Clarify objective. –Determine current level of performance. –Determine times and places during the classroom day.

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Developmentally Appropriate Pre-Academic Experiences (continued) –Design instructional interaction. –Implement instruction. –Establish data collection.

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Developmentally Appropriate Pre-Academic Experiences (continued) Computers and assistive technology –Computers allow children to develop independent skills that they cannot do otherwise. –Computer software needs to be developmentally appropriate. –Evaluate software for inappropriate content and violence. –Computers enable a child to develop eye- hand coordination.

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Developmentally Appropriate Pre-Academic Experiences (continued) Fostering eagerness to learn –Children need to be encouraged to explore the environment, ask questions, and problem solve. –They need to involve all their senses. –Teachers need to support this eagerness.

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Developmentally Appropriate Pre-Academic Experiences (continued) Engaging children’s minds –Teachers show children how to record their thoughts. –Teachers write down what a child says and then teach the child to read. –It is then a recording of a child’s experiences for the future.

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Developmentally Appropriate Pre-Academic Experiences (continued) Valuing today’s learning –Make learning real. –Match children to activities that are developmentally appropriate and encourage their eagerness to learn.

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Developmentally Appropriate Pre-Academic Experiences (continued) Readiness skills –Readiness as maturation. –Readiness as learning. –Teacher needs to identify readiness skills that may be missing based upon developmental sequences. –Language readiness.

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Developmentally Appropriate Pre-Academic Experiences (continued) –Attention span The length of time an individual is able to concentrate on an activity is critical to all learning. Classrooms that are organized and inviting help children attend to a task and extend their attention span.

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Developmentally Appropriate Pre-Academic Experiences (continued) –Imitation and modeling Imitation is the key to learning new skills. A child imitates the model to see how a skill is performed. If a child is having difficulty imitating: –Imitate them –Provide models at their developmental level –Provide assistance and be directive –Make it fun and give encouraging feedback

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Developmentally Appropriate Pre-Academic Experiences (continued) –Perceptual motor skills Understanding sensory messages and translating them Sensory integration—involving more than one sense in a response Activities need to be planned to support the use of senses for learning

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Developmentally Appropriate Pre-Academic Experiences (continued) Fine motor skills –Eye-hand coordination and the use of fingers, wrists, and hands. –Essential for self-care skills. –Goes together with perceptual motor skills.

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Developmentally Appropriate Pre-Academic Experiences (continued) –Concept formation Internal images or ideas that organize thinking. Help us to make sense of our world. Discrimination—likenesses and differences. Classification—imposing order. Seriation—arranging objects in order. Spatial and temporal relationships—how things go together in space and time.

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Developmentally Appropriate Pre-Academic Experiences (continued) Memory –Long-term memory refers to events that happened a while ago. –Short-term memory refers to events in the recent past. –Memory is essential to learning and building upon skills.

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Developmentally Appropriate Pre-Academic Experiences (continued) Following directions –Children do best when directions are clear. –One direction at a time is more likely to be completed than multiple-step directions. –Teachers should get down on the child’s level to give the directions.

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Emergent Literacy –Rich teacher talk –Storybook reading –Phonological Awareness Activities –Alphabet Activities Developmentally Appropriate Pre-Academic Experiences (continued)

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Support for Emergent Reading –Look at and read books on their own and with friends. Support for Emergent Writing –Encourage emergent skills such as scribbling, random letter strings, and invented spelling. Shared Book Experience –Adults model skills. Integrate Content Focused Activities –Investigate topics of interest to children. Developmentally Appropriate Pre-Academic Experiences (continued)

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Planning and Presenting Pre- Academics Grouping children –Group by age. –Group by ability. –Groups should change as the skill levels change. –The number is set by the number of children and adults in the room.

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Planning and Presenting Pre-Academics (continued) Arranging Pre-Academic group activities –Advance preparation –Familiar and preferred materials and activities –Individual workspace with name cards –Individual setups –Short periods –Moving about –Changing tasks –Transition activities

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Planning and Presenting Pre-Academics (continued) Enjoying teacher-directed activities –If children are engaged and learning, teachers are happy. –Teachers spend more time planning and creating lessons. –The lessons are more fun. –Children continue to learn.