Learning Centers
The large variety of training centers is critical for children in the early stages of education. The significant advantage of the diversity of platforms where children can learn is the difference in approach that professional educators take to teaching the learner. While at one center, for instance, a child learns about nature in an interactive and fun way, solving a large number of native tasks, at another one, the child can be in an atmosphere of strict academic discipline that encourages compliance with school rules. In sum, the preschooler receives a new, versatile experience that stimulates the child’s harmonious personal and professional development.
Reading Together
- Activities: young preschool children gather in a circle and take turns reading excerpts from a pre-prepared book for this age level.
- Learning objective: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.4 Read emergent-reader texts with purpose and understanding.
- Used materials: Evidence-Based Reading by Carson-Dellosa Publishing (“Evidence-based reading, grade K,” 2020); chairs.
- Manuals: the teacher offers children to sit in the center of the room, lined up with a circle shape. Then the caregiver tells the preschoolers a short story about what awaits them during the reading: thus, the children will be prepared for the story and more involved in the process. The instructor hands the book to the first child and asks them to read aloud one sentence. As soon as the child did, the book is handed over to the neighbor, who also has to read one sentence. This continues until the book returns to the teacher’s hands. In the end, there is a discussion of the material read, when children share their impressions.
- Evaluation: the caregiver listens attentively to how children read the text fragments and takes notes if necessary. For some children, there may be a delay in reading, long pauses, or emotional unpreparedness. That is why the teacher documents all the features so that an individual plan can be developed later.
Important issues
- What do you feel after reading?
- Was it difficult for you?
- How would you change the story?
Rhyming With Cards
- Activities: children practice rhyming to a given word coupled with developing teamwork and reading skills aloud.
- Learning objective: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.2.A Recognize and produce rhyming words.
- Used materials: cards with prepared words (40 in total), pen, paper.
- Manuals: a group of students is divided into two teams (“A” and “B”), after which each team takes its table in the room. The teacher suggests that the children come up with a name for the team and choose a leader. As soon as the organizing stage is over, the teacher gives the leaders a deck of twenty cards on which the words are written. The first team (“A”) raises the first card and reads the word aloud (for instance, “cat”): the task of the second team (“B”) is to come up with a rhyme for the word (maybe a “hat”). If the second team cannot give a proper rhyme, it does not get the point. After that, the teams change places.
- Evaluation: for each rhyme, the team gets 1 point. If the rhyme was unsuccessful, the team gets 0 points. In the end, the total number of points is summed up to determine the team of winners.
Important issues
- Was it difficult for you to rhyme?
- Why did you decide to choose him/her as a leader?
- What is the name of the occupation of people who professionally use rhymes?
Search of Word
- Activities: children practice writing words from found letters using a tablet with touchscreen.
- Learning objective: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.2.E Add or substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in simple, one-syllable words to make new words.
- Used materials: tablets (by number of children), paper, pencils.
- Manuals: during the lessons, each child is given a tablet with a touchscreen, which shows a white sheet. The teacher tells the students to present themselves as archaeologists making excavations. With the help of their finger, the children must “erase” some parts of the white sheet to find the hidden letters. From the letters found, the child forms a whole word. For instance: milk, mail, sale, type, bird.
- Evaluation: the caregiver estimates not only the speed of the task but also the correctness of the word composition. Thus, the student who collected the wrong word first will have less advantage over those who had a delay but collected the word correctly. Moreover, the teacher makes their observations about how the child interact with the tablet and takes notes.
Important issues
- What do real archaeologists find?
- Were there any difficulties in compiling the word?
- What are the feelings of using the tablet for educational purposes?
Research-Based Rationale
The central mission of the designed centers is to create an environment in which students are able to demonstrate maximum involvement in the educational process while simultaneously increasing general competencies and skills development. It is true that preschoolers are the whole age group vulnerable to learning, as they can perceive any information as truth. In order to model more reliable, high-quality educational practices, the activities described can be used to educate children. It must be recognized that the object of each center is linked to the official purposes of kindergarten-level children’s development (“English language arts standards,” 2020). This means that the mission of these activities has multiple confirmations and recommendations.
At the same time, it is essential to discuss the modernity and relevance of the strategies used. In Center C, it is planned to use electronic tablets to solve the task of making up a word from letters. This implementation pursues several aims: (i) to create a more modern environment at the lessons, (ii) to involve the child in the educational process, (iii) to simplify the administrative work of the teacher, (iv) to make the game format of the lessons (“The benefits of technology in the kindergarten classroom,” 2020). Although the use of digital technology is a definite advantage of the Center, education specialists need to be careful since computer equipment can cause undesirable effects in children, namely, addiction, asociality, and economic segregation. In order to inhibit these problems, limited usage of the technology is suggested: about 15 minutes for the whole day when it is needed. Thus, the teacher will be able to reduce the chances of breakage of tablets and create conditions in which children are more attentive and interested in ‘days with electronic devices.’
Communication with parents is a vital pillar of the classes at all three centers. Notes created by the teacher during the lessons can be a source of useful information for communication with the child’s parents: if a pupil does not show any progress for a long time, it is an occasion to discuss perspectives with the adults. Such partnerships positively affect a child’s development and strengthen relationships between all parties to the educational process (Sheridan, 2018). During working hours, the teacher should be available at all times so that the parent can call or text the worker to clarify how their child is doing. Meanwhile, an excellent strategy is to create family days that can be organized by a team of parents and the child together.
References
The benefits of technology in the kindergarten classroom. (2020). Web.
Evidence-based reading, grade K (applying the standards) paperback. (2020). Web.
English language arts standards, reading: Foundational skills, kindergarten. (2020). Web.
Sheridan. S. M. (2018). Establishing healthy parent-teacher relationships for early learning success. Web.