Kris Damon Transitional Kindergarten Coach Long Beach Unified School District Whitcomb Hayslip Early Childhood Education Consultant Elizabeth Quintero Professor and Coordinator of Early Childhood Studies CSU Channel Islands

 Welcome  Voices From the Field Updates  Transitional Kindergarten Presentation: Effective Use of Large and Small Group Instruction in the TK Classroom : Part 2, Small Group  Q&A – Please all questions to  Next Call: December 3rd, 3:30-4:30pm  Close 2

What is happening in the field?

Whitcomb Hayslip Early Childhood Education Consultant

Are We Ready? 5 Please all questions to :

Children come to Transitional Kindergarten with a very wide range of experiences and skills. 6

Once Size Does Not Fit All! 7 Please all questions to :

How can we use small group instruction to meet the unique needs of each child? 8

 Active: Bodies in Motion  Concrete Thinkers : Real/Relevant  Need for Repetition, Predictability and Routine  Use of Play to Make Sense of the World  Drive towards Mastery 9 Please all questions to :

Facing the Challenge 10

Elizabeth P. Quintero Early Childhood Studies, CSU Channel Islands

 Active, concrete project based—not so much direct instruction—must be meaningful  Exploration/hands-on centers or stations -- students are responsible for their learning  Directions that are short and concise with questioning possibilities  Student as well as teacher initiated hands- on learning Please all questions to :

 Enhance Skills through Reading and Dialogue  Practice Communication  Adapt to Individual Differences  Teachable Moments  Center Activities: Peer-play to practice and support peer learning through exploration !

Teachable Moments

 “…at school we promote “book culture”  In many homes family choose to share and transmit wisdom in different ways, such as through storytelling, music, or other ways  Our responsibility to ensure that the world of book literacy is not presented as a wedge between parents and their children, but instead fosters all sharing of knowledge  How?......what can we do in small group? Please all questions to :

“In my family we have a ‘Magic Book’. The magic book got its name because everyone in my family tells a different story every time it’s told. We have different types of levels of education and life experiences.” Her story of her mother….then! Please all questions to :

 “My nephew has had this magic book, a wordless book, since he was a few weeks old. My sister read to him this magic book every night. As he grew he carried his book and asked different family members to read. We explained to him that he could use his imagination and make up a story every time…  He is six years old now and continues the tradition with his younger cousins and his sister. “….he never repeats the story; it’s always different. What I find more interesting is that he individualizes the story according to whomever he reads the story to.”

 That environments for dual language learners intentionally and continuously support bilingualism.  This can be done in Small Group through… Please all questions to :

 Felt boards with story scenes and characters reflective of multiple cultures; and letters and numbers in a variety of forms and textures.  Puppets for retelling stories;  A listening center for listening and speaking activities;  Picture cards with labels for the writing center; and  Magazines and catalogues for collage work.

PLAYDOUGH BECOMES…. FINGER PUPPETS Please all questions to :

Dramatic Teacher Reading Dramatic Student Reading Analyze Illustrations Art Projects Creative Writing & Spanish Support five%20Mixtec%20Cats%20Teacher%20Kit.pdf

 Big Idea:  Integrated Areas of Study (minimum of 4)  Themes:  Anchor Text:  Project Based Activity/ies  Key Vocabulary  Planned Spontaneous  Small groups should be sometimes rotation with (homogeneous) and sometimes spontaneous with heterogeneous based on kids interests, abilities etc. Please all questions to :

THANK YOU!

Kris Damon Transitional Kindergarten Instructional Coach Long Beach Unified School District

 Allow you to offer a more focused experience  Introduce a new skill or concept  Engage children in solving a problem  Applying a concept already introduced  Provide the teacher time to notice what every child is able to do and where each has difficulty Developmentally Appropriate Practice, Carol Copple and Sue Bredekamp Please all questions to :

 TK California website  Teaching Tools  Sample Lesson Plan  Small Group teaching is the best opportunity to engage your students in: reflective conversation interactive dialogue Please all questions to :

1. Student Need: identify letters in their name Small Group Instruction: Students use name cards and find matching letters in the message. Teacher prompts and supports letter identification as needed. 2. Student Need: spaces between words Small Group Instruction: Use the morning message to make boxes or a marking if some kind to indicate the spacing between words. Please all questions to :

1. Student need: still learning to track text from left to right Small group instruction: Reread text in interactive writing. From prepared sentence strips, students cut words apart, mix and reassemble with teacher support. 2. Student need: ready to write sentences with more independence Small group instruction: Reread text from an patterned book (I like ___.) Using chalk boards or learning logs, etc. students write sentence with teacher support as needed. Please all questions to :

Retelling stories is powerful, but can be a challenge for some students. Use small group time to involve reluctant students in acting out and retelling a story. Use props or the book itself to support the retelling. Revisit a text with intricate or exceptional illustrations read in large group. Reread selections from the story and take a closer look at the relationship between the illustrations and the story.

What do I do with the remaining children?

 For a designated amount of time, students rotate through stations. Students may spend 5 to 10 minutes at each station. A class of 30 may move through 5 or 6 different stations. One station is with the teacher, usually working through a mini-lesson.

Advantages  Predictable routine for young children, often quickly learned  Some teachers find this easiest to manage  Minimizes materials preparation Challenges  Often not differentiated  Takes away choices for children  Students sometimes “stuck” with same group of children  Assumes all students will finish task in the same amount of time Please all questions to :

Ideas from Developmentally Appropriate Practice by Copple and Bredekamp  Dramatic play  Art  Blocks  Math manipulatives and games  Science May include sand or water area  Writing  Computer  Literacy Including books and audiobooks with headphones Ideas from TK Planning Guide  Art  Dramatic play  Language and literacy  Mathematics  and manipulatives  Science and technology More Center Ideas  Cooperative building  Playdough  Pocket Chart (literacy)  Storytelling  Puppet  Puzzles and Games Web search: Transitional Kindergarten Planning Guide

Advantages  Flexible grouping  Child initiated based on interests  The spontaneous small groups that are formed can be very meaningful to children  Predictable routine  Can promote inquiry Challenges  Requires clearly defined learning spaces in the classroom  Can be noisy  Initially materials preparation can be overwhelming  Initially time consuming to establish behaviors and working expectations Please all questions to :

 May be used by children independently  Most centers integrated with specific teaching and learning concepts  Extension of what was learned in the large group  Does not always require a product  Not always at a table  Differentiated for learners  Predictable and flexible  Active and quiet  Familiar and novel  Teachers: Observe Instruct Interact Respond Assess

In the beginning…  Students staying in one area for a time period  Students choosing and focusing on a task  Group cooperation  Students knowing, understanding and “doing” procedures As the year proceeds…  5 students working independently in 6 different areas  Students have learning and practice opportunities designed just for them  Teacher is able to spend time with a small group with few interruptions

Please all questions to :