1 Growing Preschoolers’ Vocabulary and Concept knowledge through Language-Rich Instruction Jorge E. Gonzalez, Principal Investigator, Sharolyn Pollard-Durodola, Co-Principal Investigator Laura Saenz, Co-Principal Investigator PROJECT WORLD Words of Oral Reading and Language Development PROJECT WORLD Words of Oral Reading and Language Development

Project WORLD IES CFDA A IES Education Research Grants IES Early Learning and Policies Efficacy and Replication Goal grants that: Aim: Provide support for the development of interventions that address specific sources of reading comprehension difficulties. Award Period: July, 2011 – June

Project WORLD Shared Book Reading 18-week shared book reading curriculum 15 to 20 minutes a day five days a week Small group WORLD Shared Book Reading: offers carefully selected read-alouds to help grow pre-k children’s vocabulary and comprehension development using books. Vocabulary Instruction 18-week vocabulary curriculum 5 to 10 minutes a day five days a week Small group WORLD Vocabulary Instruction offers high importance vocabulary to help grow children’s vocabulary around every day concepts and ideas using instructional cards. 3

Quality Preschool Instruction High-quality literacy instruction during the preschool years can have long-lasting effects on children’s knowledge of words and the world around them (Biemiller, 2003; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Some children, however, need more than regular classroom instruction to support vocabulary and literacy development (Coleman et al., 2006; Dickinson, McCabe, & Essex, 2006; NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2000). 4

Language and Literacy Development of Dual Language Learners in the U. S. The number of ELL is out pacing any other portion of pre-k to 12 population. Schools are faced with considerable challenges in educating these children. 5

What do We Need to Do?

By Building Word and World Knowledge: Project WORLD Addresses 7 TEA Preschool Guidelines (2008)

8 25 Project WORLD Shared Reading Teachers 25 Project WORLD Vocabulary Instruction Teachers Project WORLD Teacher Selection Pre-screen to identify preschoolers Vocabulary pre-testing to select six students per classroom Each of 25 WORLD teachers has small shared reading group (6 max) Each 25 WORLD teachers has vocabulary instruction small group(6 max)

Thank You! For any additional questions or information please contact: Nora Resendez Phone: (956) (956)