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1. Relationships: A Kindergarten Literacy UnitKate Wills, Carlinville Unit School District #1willsk@carlinvilleschools.net • Free PowerPoint Templates • www.presentationmagazine.com

2. Background • Present, 2010 • First year as a kindergarten teacher, Carlinville, IL • 21 Students • 2007-2010 • Instructional aide, kindergarten Carlinville, IL • 2005-2007 • Pre-K teacher, Mason City, IL

3. Challenges Questions • Differentiating instruction during literacy times • Providing meaningful and engaging literacy activities • Connecting content, process, and product to prior knowledge • Authentic assessment • Will adding a student digital product as a summative assessment increase student engagement during the relationships unit? • Will incorporating technology during literacy center time allow for greater connections between content and prior knowledge?

4. Reading and Social Emotional Learning Research • In 7 Strategies of Highly Effective Readers by Elaine K. McEwan, the auther proposes that activating prior knowledge, inferring, monitoring/clarifying, questioning, searching/selecting, summarizing, and visualizing/organizing are successful in teaching reading comprehension. • In Literacy Development in the Early Years, author Lesley Mandel Morrow suggests that social collaboration, technology, and play are powerful strategies for motivating reading and writing. • Susan Black (2006) comments on the findings of a study of more than 300 programs, indicating that SEL and academics are “intimately connected” and that SEL “significantly improve(s) students’ academic performance” (p. 21). • SEL improves self efficacy, which contributes significantly to a person’s drive for success, sustained effort, and perseverance (Linares et. al. 2005).

5. Social Emotional Research continued… • In 2004, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Bishop Tutu stated: We are all in danger-as world events continue to teach-when children grow up with academic knowledge but lack essential social and emotional skills such as compassion and empathy. And so, we argue here that a combination of academic learning and social emotional skills is the true standard for effective education for the world we now live in (Schonert-Reichl & Hymel, 2007, p. 20).

6. Cognitive process Involves decoding symbols for the purpose of comprehension Includes phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension, elements necessary for success in early literacy (Morrow, 2005) What do students learn? Letters and sounds Sight words Concepts about print and books Decoding To build on prior knowledge in order to make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections What is Reading In Kindergarten?

7. Making connections between new information and prior knowledge/experience is necessary for comprehension. The cars and wheels on the train are the essential components of instruction that will help you to do this.

8. Visualizing Reading Strategies Questioning Reading Strategies Summarizing Evaluating www.reading.ecb.org Text box With shadow Synthesizing Inferring Making Connections Prior Knowledge

9. Reading Strategies Defined • Summarizing:Readers identify key elements and condense important information into their own words during and after reading to solidify meaning • Synthesizing:Readers create original insights, perspectives and understandings reflecting on text and merging elements from text and existing schema • Visualizing:Readers create images in their minds that reflect or represent the ideas in the text. These images may include any of the five senses and serve to enhance understanding of the text • Inferring:Readers think about and search the text, and sometimes use personal knowledge to construct meaning beyond what is literally stated • Questioning:Readers ask questions about the text and the author's intentions and seek information to clarify and extend their thinking before, during and after reading • Evaluating:Readers judge, justify, and/or defend understandings to determine importance based on stated criteria • Activating prior knowledge:Readers activate what they currently understand or misunderstand about the topic and use this knowledge before, during, and after reading to clarify misconceptions and understand the text. • Making connections:Readers relate what they read to personal experiences (text-to-self), to information from other text (text-to-text), and to information about the world (text-to-world)

10. Assessment: process of documentation used to measure knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, or skills • Diagnostic: Process of assessing for the purpose of determining what students know about a given topic or skill • We will complete a graphic organizer to connect “Me” to friends, family, and school family (on next slide). We will discuss traits of friends and family members. • Formative: Carried out throughout a unit or project and used to support student learning • I will use ongoing observation throughout the unit to support student learning and use student products from activities to assess understanding of key social emotional and literacy concepts. • Summative: Carried out at the end of a lesson or unit to evaluate knowledge gained as the result of that lesson or unit • I will be taking photos of students demonstrating specific social emotional skills and the students will create a student digital product with voice over using Photo Story for Windows.

11. Relationships Unit Overview

12. Early Learning Standards www.isbe.netWith High-Order Thinking Outcomes STATE GOAL 31: Develop an awareness of personal identity and positive self-concept. Learning Standard A--Develop a positive self-concept. BENCHMARKS 31.A.ECa Describe self by using several basic characteristics. 31.A.ECe Use appropriate communication skills when expressing needs, wants and feelings. (Me) Learning Outcome: Describe yourself including your likes, dislikes, wants, and feelings. STATE GOAL 32: Demonstrate a respect and a responsibility for self and others. Learning Standard A--Perform effectively as an individual. BENCHMARKS 32.A.ECa Begin to understand and follow rules. 32.A.ECc Show empathy and caring for others. Learning Standard B--Perform effectively as a member of a group. BENCHMARKS 32.B.ECc Respect the rights of self and others. 32.B.ECd Develop relationships with children and adults. (Friends) Learning Outcome: Discuss how showing care, empathy, and respect help you to make friends and help you to be a good friend. (School Family) Learning Outcome: Indicate how following rules and procedures and showing care, empathy, and respect for others contributes to the school family. STATE GOAL 18: Understand social systems, with an emphasis on the United States. Learning Standard A--Compare characteristics of culture as reflected in language, literature, the arts, traditions and institutions. BENCHMARKS 18.A.EC Recognize similarities and differences in people. Learning Standard B: Understand the roles and interactions of individuals and groups in society. BENCHMARKs 18.B.EC Understand that each of us belongs to a family and recognize that families vary. (Family) Learning Outcome: Describe your own family and discuss how families are the same and different.

13. Time Frame and Overview of SEL Skills • First month of school • Social-emotional skills will be introduced during this month through the following Conscious Discipline (Dr. Becky Bailey) activities • Composure: Breathing techniques, Safe Place, Brain Smart Start • Encouragement: Shared agreements, greeting rituals, friends and family board • Assertiveness: Big Voice, telling vs. tattling discussion • Choices: Two positive choices • Positive Intent/Love: Ways to be helpful discussion • Empathy: Well wishes rituals • Consequences: Shared agreements/consequences • After the initial introduction, we will go into more depth focusing on one skill per month.

14. Time Frame and Overview of Reading Skills POSITIVE INTENT ASSERTIVENESS CONSEQUENCES COMPOSURE CHOICES EMPATHY ENCOURAGEMENT We will supplement SEL skills with a book from the Shubert series by Dr. Becky Bailey. Pre-reading will include a vocabulary introduction, picture walk, predicting what the story will be about, activating prior knowledge, and brainstorming questions about the topic.

15. Elements of the Reading • Pre-reading will include a vocabulary introduction, picture walk, predicting what the story will be about, activating prior knowledge, and brainstorming questions about the topic. • During the lesson, we will answer questions we brainstormed during pre-reading, rethink our predictions, and discuss the author’s purpose for writing. • Post-reading will include journaling (illustration with kid writing) about a part of the text that was surprising, a favorite page, or the author’s theme and how it relates to our SEL skills.

16. Example of Activity for Each TopicClick on Topic for Links to Introductory Videos • Me: Autobiographical Poem- Students will dictate a poem about themselves to an adult. We will share each during morning meeting over the course of a few days as a “getting to know you” activity. • Line 1: First nameLine 2: 3 characteristics or physical traitsLine 3: Brother or sister of__ [or son/daughter of] Line 4: Who loves__ __ __ (3 people, things, ideas)Line 5: Who feels__ (1 emotion about 1 thing) Line 6: Who needs__ __ __(3 things)Line 7: Who gives __ __ __(3 items you share)Line 8: Who fears__ __ __(3 items)Line 9: Who'd like to see__ (1 place, or person)Line 10: Who dreams of __ (1 item or idea)Line 11: A student of__ (school or teacher's name)Line 12: Nickname__ [or repeat first name] • Friends: Kindness Journal: After reading Shubert’s New Friend, discuss the new vocabulary: kindness, helpful, and togetherness. Place a blank journal next to a vase with flowers lying next to it. Explain to the kids that when they see someone who is showing kindness or helpfulness, they may sign that person’s name in the kindness journal and add a flower to the vase. When the vase is full of beautiful, bright flowers, we will know that we are working together to be kind, helpful, and aware of each other’s good deeds! • Family: Family Scrapbook Activity—Send home scrapbook page with a letter asking parents to help their children put together a collage of family photos, words, or illustrations that would describe their family. The children will share this with the class during morning meeting. Pages will be displayed in the room for open house, and then made into a class book titled, My Family Is Special. • “My Family is Special” writing activity: (Pair with Family Scrapbook Activity) Have students write about what makes their families special. Complete after discussion about traditions and celebrations. Use sentence starter: My family is special because… • School Family: Greetings: Watch video of Bill Martin, Jr. reading his book Brown Bear, Brown Bear. Play Kindergartener, Kindergartener, a name game in the style of Brown Bear, Brown Bear. Practice using eye contact and first names. Ex: Everybody: Riley, Riley, who do you see? Riley: “I see Jacob looking at me.” Everybody: Jacob Jacob, who do you see? And so on…

17. Summative Assessment Here is an example of Photo Story for Windows. (Link to download) Students will use their own photos and choose from photos we take in class to document learning. Instead of music and text, they will do a voice over to talk about what they learned during the unit about friends, family, school family, and themselves. I will be using this particular digital storybook to introduce myself at the beginning of the year. (Click on the Photo)

18. References • Black, S. (2006). The Power of Caring to Help Kids Adjust and Achieve Is Now Documented. Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review, 72(4), 18-23. Retrieved from ERIC database. • Linares, L. O., Rosbruch, N., Stern, M. B., Edwards, M. E., Walker, G., Abikoff, H. B., & Alvir, J. M. (2005). Developing cognitive–social–emotional competencies to enhance academic learning. Psychology in the Schools, 42(4), 405-417. Retrieved from ERIC database. • McEwan, Elaine K. Seven Strategies of Highly Effective Readers: Using Cognitive Research to Boost K-8 Achievement. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2004. Print. • Morrow, Lesley. Literacy Development in the Early Years (Book Alone) (5th Edition). 5 ed. upper saddle river: Pearson Education, 2004. Print. • Schonert-Reichl, K., & Hymel, S. (2007). Educating the Heart as well as the Mind: Social and Emotional Learning for School and Life Success. Education Canada, 47(2), 20-25. Retrieved from ERIC database.