Learning in the Car

In early childhood, every moment counts! Providing opportunities for children to be exposed to oral language, especially in the forms of high quality songs, stories, and fingerplays will help them in their future reading and writing success. Since young children spend so much time in the car, consider investing in CDs that emphasize these language strategies.

-play rhyming, quality children's music (e.g., Raffi) that use rhyme, play on words, and rhythm in songs

-expose children to nursery rhymes by playing them in the car (knowledge of nursery rhymes has been proven to be an indicator of reading success later on in life)

-encourage children to learn the names of letters and their corresponding sounds by playing CDs that emphasize these

-simple recorded stories can be borrowed from the library and played. By not seeing a corresponding picture, children are free to use their imaginations to illustrate the text

-play sound games with children. Stretch out words by emphasizing their individual sounds and encourage children to guess what the word it (e.g., c-a-t is cat)

-play I spy but use sounds (e.g., I spy something that begins with an 'a' sound)

-engage your children in conversation in the car. Encourage them to describe their day by prompting them with higher-level questioning such as who, what, why, where, when, and how questions. Avoid yes/no responses that limit children's explanation

Direct Observation as an Assessment Tool

I believe that too often educators overemphasis the use of product-driven, developmentally inappropriate tasks like worksheets when assessing young children. A much more effective tool is direct observation.

A description of the strategy/tool: This is the focused observation and recording of what children say and do in a specific activity. Is it considered an essential first step of planning because it provides teachers with a very effective way to quickly and clearly gather information in order to assess student knowledge and progress up to that point.

How it could be used: A variety of methods of gathering information should be used by teachers in order to observe students in action, record information about what the students are saying and doing, and compile the information in a meaningful and systematic way. Three common formats include anecdotal records, observation checklists and rating scales.

When it could be used: It should involve repeated observations of students in a variety of contexts and activities and occur over a long period of time.

Why it could be used: Directly observing students and recording exactly what they say and do helps teachers to recount incidents with children, helping to document the specific language and behaviour associated with the action. Teachers might consider recording their interpretation of the incident along with the direct observation.

A tool I use frequently in the classroom to help organize my direct observation of students in action during lessons, whole and small group organized activities, centers, and independent free choice time is a VENN diagram graphic organizer. At the top of the page I quickly describe the context within which the observations took place (circle, centers, gym class, etc.). I label each whole circle (e.g., the left as independent, the right as not independent) and I record the children’s names and brief information regarding each (what they did, what they said) within the appropriate circle. This way I can still record information specific to each child, but I can also organize it in a systematic way so that by quickly glancing at the page I can see where students fell within the continuum of the VENN diagram.

Websites for further reference:

Detailed description of what direct observation is and how it can also be used in research: http://www.idemployee.id.tue.nl/g.w.m.rauterberg/lecturenotes/UFTdirectobservation.pdf

VENN Diagrams: http://arb.nzcer.org.nz/strategies/venn.php

Practice of Freedom

“Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.” (Shaull, 2003, p.34)

Shaull, R. (2003). Foreword. In P. Freire, Pedagogy of the oppressed: 30^th Anniversary edition. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc.

This is one of my favourite quotes. How do you as an early years educator encourage the practice of freedom in your classroom? Children today need to be prepared for life in an unknown future. This requires time for them to engage in long periods of self-directed, authentic, collaborative, and exploratory activities that focus on the process, and not necessarily the product.