WEBVTT

00:00:10.066 --> 00:00:12.266
The unit we're teaching

00:00:12.266 --> 00:00:20.646
in the summer is the Ocean unit and we have developed it according to our continuum

00:00:20.646 --> 00:00:26.046
of how kids learn, the things that they would need to know.

00:00:26.106 --> 00:00:29.336
And it's not always what age level they are.

00:00:29.386 --> 00:00:34.216
It's where they're at, at a particular time that they do come into our classroom.

00:00:34.586 --> 00:00:41.076
Summer lends itself to the ocean and there are so many wonderful stories in literature

00:00:41.076 --> 00:00:44.906
and the creatures-the sea creatures themselves are amazing,

00:00:44.906 --> 00:00:46.706
and I think children are really interested in them.

00:00:47.206 --> 00:00:51.456
And I just thought it would be a really fun way to cover all bases.

00:00:51.456 --> 00:00:57.856
Not only learning a little bit about the animals and the sea, but also in getting all

00:00:57.856 --> 00:01:03.496
that wonderful phonological awareness and dialogic reading.

00:01:03.496 --> 00:01:06.986
And the whole idea, I think, of the ocean is a big thing.

00:01:06.986 --> 00:01:12.196
And so I really had to think about what I wanted to have the kids learn

00:01:12.256 --> 00:01:14.916
and how I was going to go about it.

00:01:14.916 --> 00:01:17.376
Kids need to know how to play in this area.

00:01:17.376 --> 00:01:20.286
And the things that they would need to do to run a restaurant.

00:01:20.286 --> 00:01:25.056
So during our small group activities-my assistant is very good in the dramatic play

00:01:25.426 --> 00:01:31.406
and she very much enjoys being in this area-so she will usually start the play.

00:01:31.406 --> 00:01:36.706
She'll show them how to play here, how to take an order, the things that they might need

00:01:36.706 --> 00:01:39.346
to get the order together, to bring it to the customer,

00:01:39.566 --> 00:01:41.626
how to be a customer, how to be a cook.

00:01:42.246 --> 00:01:48.166
So the play will be set and then she will then move on to another activity,

00:01:48.476 --> 00:01:51.276
and so that when another small group comes through,

00:01:51.276 --> 00:01:54.096
they've already known how to play in this area.

00:01:54.616 --> 00:01:59.496
But they can start to play the way it was set up as a crab shack

00:01:59.496 --> 00:02:01.746
and how Mrs. Carter had taught them how to play,

00:02:02.086 --> 00:02:05.716
or they might choose to play it in a different way.

00:02:05.716 --> 00:02:06.996
And that's okay, too.

00:02:07.436 --> 00:02:13.446
One thing I do like to do is always leave something from a previous book, a previous unit,

00:02:13.446 --> 00:02:20.286
a previous way that the area was set up, such as Henny Penny and the hat that we used for a prop.

00:02:20.756 --> 00:02:27.336
And leave it in the dramatic play area and see how that is used in their play.

00:02:27.336 --> 00:02:31.096
Do they remember some of the things, some of the vocabulary they used?

00:02:31.096 --> 00:02:34.956
Some of the way they wrote things down?

00:02:35.046 --> 00:02:40.316
Whatever play it was that they established in that unit- is it carried over?

00:02:40.546 --> 00:02:42.166
Have they internalized it?

00:02:42.826 --> 00:02:49.566
I think it's easy to follow a lesson plan and to teach according to your plans and...but

00:02:50.496 --> 00:02:54.386
when you're thinking about those teachable moments, those times when you want

00:02:54.386 --> 00:02:59.896
to really jump in-you do want to jump in, but the play is happening

00:02:59.896 --> 00:03:03.486
and you hate to kind of interrupt that play.

00:03:03.866 --> 00:03:13.236
I think that those are the times that are so essential to really broadening their way

00:03:13.236 --> 00:03:15.766
of thinking, their vocabulary, the way they're writing.

00:03:16.096 --> 00:03:17.606
You can work with your sounds.

00:03:17.796 --> 00:03:21.086
You might also talk about the beginning sound in "lobster."

00:03:21.476 --> 00:03:26.366
"What other things do you know of that have the same sound as 'lobster'?"

00:03:27.376 --> 00:03:30.676
"Do you have the letter 'L' in your name?

00:03:30.676 --> 00:03:33.816
Do you have that sound in your name?"

00:03:34.076 --> 00:03:38.406
We developed these characters from the books.

00:03:38.406 --> 00:03:41.636
We copy the pages, of course, and put them on sticks so the children are able

00:03:41.636 --> 00:03:49.576
to internalize the story and really bring that story and all that wonderful vocabulary

00:03:49.576 --> 00:03:53.726
out into their play and using it in their conversations.

00:03:53.936 --> 00:03:55.826
We can now take a page from a book,

00:03:56.206 --> 00:03:58.846
put it through the computer, and it will come out like this.

00:03:58.846 --> 00:04:05.116
And then I've sewn the squares together and now they can take this lap quilt as we call it,

00:04:05.376 --> 00:04:08.486
and tell the story with a friend.

00:04:08.906 --> 00:04:15.376
Our kids can do this and they can, they are capable of, of phonological awareness

00:04:15.376 --> 00:04:17.266
and all the things that it brings with it.

00:04:17.755 --> 00:04:27.456
They will be ready for kindergarten.