Transcript ECERS: Above & Beyond - Ed W Clark High School

ECERS: Above & Beyond
Presenters: Paulina Palacios & Timothy Kemp
Early Childhood Program Assessors
ECERS Advanced: Agenda
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Introductions (10 min)
What’s up with this classroom? (10 min)
Centers: Optimal Set-Up (30 min)
The Written Word (10 min)
Work Break (5 min)
Self Assessment (15 min)
Books & Pictures (20 min)
Class Evaluation (5 min)
ECERS Bingo (15 min)
What’s Up With This Classroom?
• From the following slide, utilizing what you
know about ECERS, assess this classroom
picture
• Assume this is the view from the door and
there are no other areas in the classroom
• Cite at least 5 positive ECERS attributes and 5
areas that seem to need some improvement
What’s Up With This Classroom?
Needs Improvement:
• Child Art too high and sparse (50% rule)
• Too much of the decor is too high (4 ft rule)
• Not enough soft furnishings
• Not enough identifiable centers
• Sink looks too high – not child sized
Positive Attributes:
• Live fish – science/nature
• 2 themes in dramatic play – child care and kitchen
• Low and open shelving with child accessible materials
• Child created art is individualized and creative
• Room set-up is amply spaced and uncluttered
• 4-sided art easel
Not enough soft furnishings
Artwork too high
Not enough books
Optimum Center Creation
• Clean Up & Throw Out
• Separate Materials for Rotation
• Move Furniture
• Visual Supervision
• Child Accessible Materials
• Label & Organize
Display & Decor
• Make sure ALL of your room display is
appropriate and useful
• Children’s eye level (4 ft and below)
– Relocate ABC’s to wall space under the white
board
• 50% of total room display should be childcreated
Optimum Center Creation
• Health & Safety
• Display & Décor
• Room Arrangement
• Variety & Rotation (materials)
• Staff Facilitation
• Exposure & Accessibility
Optimum Center Creation
• A clearly defined interest center should contain:
– A variety of related materials that simulate and support a
specific type of play
• Example: the blocks area should contain blocks and building
materials, as well as accessories including people and vehicles,
street signs, books on buildings, cars, etc. and drawing materials,
so that children can draw what they have made, etc.
– Accessible storage for the materials offered in the interest
center
• low, open storage shelves, containers to keep materials that go
together separated from other materials; Uncluttered shelves and
the use of picture-word labeling on shelves and containers that
children can understand, so that selection of materials and
participation in clean-up become more independent
– Suitable space to use the materials
• Example: a table or easel for art materials, a flat rug for block
building or a table or rug for puzzles or other fine motor materials
Arrangement
• Make sure furniture arrangement allows for the
staff to be able to supervise the children and
protect their health and safety
• Make sure arrangement allows for optimal traffic
flow and that quiet and active centers do not
interfere with each other
• If there are shelves that are too high in the
middle of the room this will also make effective
supervision in the classroom difficult – check for
blind spots from ALL areas of the room
Organization
• Label all items and the shelf where they will be placed
- Pictures & Words
• Make sure all items are in some sort of container
without a lid
• Make sure shelves are not too crowded and they are
neatly organized
• Make sure the items are completely child-accessible
and related to clearly defined centers
• Make sure there are a variety of items to choose from
with a variety of skill and difficulty
MUST HAVE Centers
• Be sure to include the following:
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Fine Motor
Blocks/Cars (indoors & out)
Library
Dramatic Play
Art
Sand/Water (indoors or out)
Music (indoors or out)
Science/Nature
• Other centers to consider:
– Math
– Writing
Block Center
• The block area may very well be the most important and
educationally robust center in the classroom. Blocks help
children learn scientific, mathematical, art, social studies, and
language concepts; use small-motor skills; and foster
competence and self-esteem
• Building with blocks also teaches art concepts such as
patterns, symmetry, and balance. A child learns about
symbolic representation, interdependence of people,
mapping, grids, patterns, people and their work. A child gains
pre-reading skills such as shape recognition, differentiation of
shapes, size relations. Language is enhanced as children talk
about how to build, what they built, what is its function or ask
questions about concepts or directions. And dramatic play is
also a part of block building as children create stories to go
along with their constructions
Block Center Arrangement
• Blocks should be arranged by type on
low open shelves
• Blocks area should be carpeted with
enough room for at least 3 children to
build a sizeable structure
Block Center Materials
• At least 2-3 types of blocks, with enough blocks for 2
to 3 children to build a sizeable structure
• Unit measurable blocks: sizeable cardboard, wood or
homemade blocks
– NOTE: Legos, Bristle, and/or any type of small or
interlocking blocks are considered fine motor or
manipulatives
• Accessories: Car Rug, Cars, Trucks, People
Block Play
– Include books on construction, architecture
and/or buildings
– Facilitate: Refer to books about construction and
buildings within this center – encourage the
children to draw what they have built
Dramatic Play
• Playing make-believe lets a child bring the complicated grownup world down to size. Research demonstrates that children
who are active in pretend play are usually more joyful and
cooperative, more willing to share and take turns, and have
larger vocabularies than children who are less imaginative
• Imaginative play helps youngsters to concentrate, to be
attentive, and to use self-control
• Through imaginative play, children learn empathy for others.
Children will often act out a whole range of emotions when
playing pretend, offering sympathy for a stuffed "doggie" that
is hurt or for a doll that fell off a chair
• Dramatic play encourages children to think abstractly, which is
an important prereading skill. Children come to understand
that words represent ideas
Dramatic Play
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Two themes
Dress-up
Writing tools
Books (menus)
Variety of
materials
include: dolls
(diversity), food
items, cereal
boxes, cooking
utensils, phone,
etc.
Dramatic Play: Dress Up
• Dress up should include professional men and
women roles, ethnic clothes, hats, shoes and
accessories.
Dramatic Play: Facilitating
• Encourage Creativity
– Inspire children to think beyond the obvious; example: help them use
their imagination to create a restaurant setting, take orders, use the
phone to take orders and deliver food to different areas of the
classroom, etc.
– Set up a “travel” theme – include travel brochures, poster, small
suitcases, have the children design a play bus, train, or plane with
chairs, etc.
Dramatic Play: Discussion
What are the differences in these dramatic play centers?
Music Center
• Music helps children connect the outer world of movement
and sound with the inner world of feelings and observations.
Playing games or moving to music is a powerful first
experience in theartistic process. Children learn music the
same way they learn language--by listening and imitating.
• Listening to music also teaches important prereading skills. As
youngsters use small drums or other percussion instruments
(homemade or store-bought), they can play the rhythmic
pattern of words. They can learn to hear the differences
between fast and slow, loud and soft, one at a time and
together, etc. When they try new instruments, they notice
how each variation changes the music.
Music Center
• Music materials
MUST be accessible
to the children
during Free Choice
time, for at least 50
minutes during a
half-day session
• Music materials
should including
instruments, props
(bean bags, scarves,
flags), and a variety
of music (including
cultures, genres,
tempos)
Music Center: Outside
– No room in the classroom? Thin walls? In addition to “circle time” song
and dance, offer a variety of musical instruments and props outdoors
when the class engages in gross motor activities.
Art Center
• Set up the art center for child accessibility and free choice
• Art Easel – double sided if possible
• Set up individual trays with a variety of different art
supplies each day
Facilitate: Inspire the children to create individualized art
• Try to limit pre-cut shapes and crafts
Art Vs. Craft
Art is a result of a person’s innate talents whereas skill in
craft can be acquired with experience. Craft forms can
be called skilled forms. In craft, more practical thought is
needed whereas in Art, it is the emotions that make a
perfect creation.
Science/Nature
• Add natural collections
• Add a plant or fish
• Post a growth chart on the
wall
• Add books on nature/science
• Quiet adjacent areas
• Variety of materials include:
magnifying glasses, flashlight,
measuring tools, rulers,
scales, tweezers, tongs,
microscope, etc.
• Add weather materials
• Talk daily about science and
nature related themes
Fine Motor Center
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Puzzles
Lacing Activities
Bristle Blocks
Lincoln Logs
Legos
Mr. Potato Head
Writing Materials
Variety & Rotation is KEY
Facilitate: Capitalize on those “special teaching moments”
and encourage the children to use logic when using the
materials - count, build, and create something in sequence
Sand/Water Table
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Sand/Water Table
Scoops
Spoons
Buckets
Sifters
Small Toys
Indoors or out – both for a 7 score
Facilitate: Encourage the children to utilize math,
science and measuring skills
Math Center
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Math can be
incorporated all over
the classroom
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Be sure to incorporate
math concepts into
everyday activities
(snack counting, steps,
measuring in the
science center or at the
sand/water table)
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Add a growth chart
with pictures of each
child – children love to
see themselves in the
classroom materials
Meaningful Print
It is important to create and provide meaningful print for
preschool children. Children learn as they explore, interact
and have meaningful discussion about the written word.
In order for children to explore and interact with the written
word (print) we must set up our preschool classrooms to have
a print rich environment through out the whole classroom.
If your classroom is full of print then it provides the children
with countless opportunities to learn about letters, letter
sounds and the concept of print. Children will be able to build
on their knowledge that printed words hold meaning.
The Written Word
• Eliminate your calendar and pose the “Question of
the Day”
• Write what the children have created on their
artwork
Self-Assessment
• Please fill out your Self-Assessment form
1. Name the open centers in your classroom?
a. Remember, Centers are easily identifiable to anyone, even without a sign – they are fully
equipped with a variety of materials that are child accessible.
2. How long do you students engage in “free choice” time?
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How many soft furnishings do you have in your classroom?
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Do you have any live plants? Fish? Or natural collections accessible to your students (shells, rocks,
pine cones, etc.)?
Total each of the sections and divide them by 10 = Self-Assessment ECERS Score
SCORE:
3. How long do your students engage in outside gross motor time?
NEEDS LIST:
4. Is 50% of your room décor child-created?
5. Are most of your art projects child-inspired?
a. No pre-cut shapes or pre-made teacher model
b. Child-Inspired art is free in form, and completely child derived
6. Are ALL of your electrical outlets covered?
7. Does your staff or your children wash their hands in the bathroom sink, for anything other than
after bathroom use?
Cite the TOP 3 MATERIALS/FURNISHINGS you think your classroom needs:
Cite the TOP 2 areas you think your classroom need improvement in:
If you would like for us to answer a more in-depth question, or come out and help you with your
classroom, conduct a one-on-one personal assessment or do a full rearrange, please list your name,
program and school below:
Teacher:
School:
8. How often do you rotate your fine motor materials?
Program:
• Feel free to discuss this with your classmates
• We will be scoring the assessments in a few minutes
Books & Pictures
• Add related books to every activity center (books on
buildings in the blocks area)
• Books should take no longer than the child’s age to read (4
years old – 4 minutes)
• Add pictures of children in classroom; use them in signs for
centers, washing hands, and/or projecting family life and
culture
• Add real pictures of real people in history, science/nature,
depicting real life (eliminate pictures and décor that are not
utilized regularly or useful – such as cartoon bear labels and
movie posters)
Reading
• Be sure to have at least 1 formal “whole” group
reading
• And at least 1 “informal” reading to 1 to 3 students
each class session
Class Made Books
The most popular book selection in any library
Library
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Cozy & comfortable
Soft furnishings &toys
Forward facing shelf
Quiet adjacent areas
Variety of books
include: diversity,
ability (disabled), nonfiction (real people,
animals, science,
historical), different
skill levels (picture,
board,
comprehensive), classmade
Display & Decor
• Make sure ALL of your room
display is appropriate and
useful
• Children’s eye level (4 ft and
below)
• Relocate ABC’s to wall space
under the white board
• 50% of total room display
should be child-created
Class Evaluation
• Please fill out your Class-Assessment forms
• Please return them to the front of the classroom
Questions?
If you have any questions, that require a more
in-depth explanation or discussion, please feel
free to contact us:
• Paulina Palacios or Timothy Kemp via
InterAct™
• Or Phone at: 702-799-7479
• Or Mail at: Seigle II – Location #485
ECERS BINGO
• Create an ECERS BINGO game (Questions and a Set of
Playing Cards) for 30 Bonus Points.
• We will read your series of ECERS related questions, if
students know the answer, they will raise their hand,
even if they don’t have the answer on their bingo card.
• First one to fill a line across, in ANY direction, wins the
prize!
• Use a pen to “X” out a space.