How can you make your literacy backpacks unique?

Weekly Learning Outcomes

1. Create a plan for a literacy backpack.

2. Choose developmentally appropriate activities for young children.

3. Analyze the developmental appropriateness of activities for young children.

 

Week 5 Overview

Congratulations and welcome to week five of ECE203!  This week we culminate our class with a few topics that seek to add to our knowledge gained in previous weeks and to further enhance your ability to plan effective activities for your students.  We will focus our attention on cognitive development through our choices of developmentally appropriate learning choices and literacy activities.  Just as in week four, this fifth and final week affords you the opportunity to put the information you have gained in ECE203 to practical use.

The literacy backpack and the final project are both concrete activities that you can utilize at the culmination of this course to demonstrate your knowledge of curriculum, instruction and assessment in the early childhood classroom.  The time and effort you are putting into your learning now will benefit you throughout your career, so continue to take the time to learn and grow and be the very best educator you can possibly be.  Our nation’s children are worth it!

 

Starfish (an inspirational message for all teachers) (Links to an external site.)

 

 

Discussion 1: Literacy Backpacks

“Language is essential to society, forming the foundation for our perceptions, communications, and daily interactions with others” (Kostelnik et al., 2014, p. 243).  Oral language in early childhood is fostered through many things such as conversations with adults and peers, pretend play, singing, questioning, etc. Oral language is also fostered through the daily reading of different genres of literature.  Children who are lucky enough to have lots of experience with nursery rhymes for example, “will have more highly developed phonological awareness” (p. 245).  Phonological awareness is the ability to hear the similarities and differences in the sounds of words or parts of words.  Also, allowing children to have fun with words through poems, music, rhymes, “silly words (goopy, soupy, boopy) and even nonsense words (anana, tabana, fanan)” will lay the strong foundation they need to connect language to literacy (p. 245).

 

Utilizing different genres and creating language and literacy activities that are engaging, interactive, and fun is an important part of the early childhood classroom. The concept of a thematic literacy bag, sometimes called a story sack, or backpack, has been used within the classroom, as well as an at home activity to support positive literacy experiences. These thematic bags include several language and literacy activities that support children’s learning. Literacy backpacks are often used to introduce literacy at home. The home-school connection is important, and having children share literacy that they are reading at school with their families is a great way to form this connection.  How to Make Awesomely Effective Literacy Bags (Links to an external site.) not only explains in detail what a literacy bag is, but provides useful tips on what should be placed in a literacy backpack before it is sent home. Below are two useful videos that demonstrate the benefit of literacy backpacks.

Hug That Book — A Literacy Programme Ups the Ante (Links to an external site.)

Do Your Ears Hang Low, Story Sack (Links to an external site.)

Initial Post: For your initial post:

· Create a plan for a literacy backpack that can be used within the center, classroom or at home. Your post must include:

· A visual of what your bag might look like. You can use whichever graphics program you choose to create the visual (e.g., the drawing tools in Microsoft Word or PowerPoint). Be sure to attach your visual to your initial post.

· Instructor Tip: Your visual should be something that attracts your age group but also promotes literacy. Could you spell out each child’s name on their literacy bag or add a design that signifies their reading level? How can you make your literacy backpacks unique?

· Instructor Tip: To display you image you can take a screen shot of this image and upload it. Please visit How to Take a Screen Shot of What’s on Your Computer (Links to an external site.) for details.

· A description of the theme of your bag and introduction to the bag (e.g., Back to School, Seasons of the Year, Animals, Apples, Feelings and Emotions).

· Instructor Tip: When choosing your theme, choose theme topics that cover a wide variety of things. For example, if you choose the season of Fall, you have limited your book choices, and the children in your classroom may have no interest in Fall. By choosing a wider topic such as Seasons, you have allowed for a wider literacy selection that may be appealing to more students.

· An explanation of the developmental level/age that you would use the activities with.

· Instructor Tip: What age would best suit your theme and literacy choices? Keeping in mind everything that we learned about DAP, what do you feel makes your activities appropriate for your age group?

· Three developmentally appropriate literature selections that could be read to the child, including the title and author.

· Instructor Tip: Checking out your local book store or websites such as Barnes and Noble (Links to an external site.), Scholastic (Links to an external site.), and Amazon (Links to an external site.) will help you choose from a wide variety of children’s books. Use this information as a resource when selecting literature.

· Three open-ended questions that the child could discuss after reading the stories.

· Instructor Tip: Open-ended questions are questions that leave room for interpretation. An example of an open-ended question would be, “What did you think about the two characters in the story who were crying?” This question allows you to engage your student in further discussion. A close-ended question is a question with a definitive answer. An example of a close-ended question would be, “Did you like the story?” This response will not allow you to have further discussion with your student. Be sure to ask questions that require more than a yes or no answer.

· Three activities which reflect reading/writing for the developmental level.

· Instructor Tip: This will depend on the age group you have chosen. Remember that DAP is based on what your age group is capable of. Refer to your text to review developmental milestones. Once you have reviewed the milestones, match your activities with each milestone. This will help you ensure that your three activities are age appropriate.

· Three language activities that could be done with the child.

· Instructor Tip: How can you raise phonological awareness? Can you add songs, use poems, or chant while marching? How can you increase language in your classroom?

· Three manipulatives or additional items that could be added to the bag, with a rationale of why they are important. For example, you may wish to include a puzzle or a stuffed animal that is related to the theme.

· Instructor Tip: This is a chance to create that home school connection. What could be added to your literacy backpack that is meaningful to not only learning, but also enhances the home school connection? Could you add a note to the families explaining the book choices for the week? Could you provide a sticker chart that can be added to each time the child reads a story? What can you add that serves as a tool both at school and at home?

Guided Response: Review several of your peers’ posts. Respond to two peers, offering a reflection of the bag from the perspective of a family member who used it with their child. Describe what the strengths are about their bag for addressing the concept of literacy development. Is there anything you would do differently? Constructively provide that feedback for your peer as well. For example, you might say, “The questions were well written and help extend the content in the story,” or, “The story was engaging, however it was rather difficult and long to read. I might recommend a story that fits the developmental level more appropriately.”  Additionally, suggest one way that the peer can supplement their bag by including an activity for a non-English speaking child and family.

· Instructor Tip: As you engage with your peers, take some time to reflect on their ideas. Was there anything you felt was missing? Could you think of anything to add to their literacy backpack? By providing suggestions and thoughts you are helping your peers grow as learners.

 

Final Project: Developmentally Appropriate Activity Planning

This entire course has been devoted to understanding the individual components of curriculum, instruction and assessment, as well as how each is interconnected.  We have discussed how to assess our students, how to create a curriculum that is developmentally appropriate and how to individualize our instruction.  We have even practiced creating individual content lessons.  Now, for the culmination of this course you are asked to plan in a more in-depth manner.

 

 

The Developmentally Appropriate Activity Plan is designed to provide you with the opportunity to display the knowledge you have gained these last five weeks. As you plan nine developmentally appropriate activities, utilize what you have learned about DAP, learning environments, and lesson planning. While planning each activity it is important that you keep in mind the materials that you may need. The Preschool Materials Guide (Links to an external site.) provides a list of materials that should be placed in each learning environment. The following video provides some DAP activity examples that can help you when creating your activities.

 

 

 

Developmentally Appropriate Practice (Links to an external site.)

Be sure that you include each one of the requirements listed below.  To assist you with completing each component, an example of the activity sheet has been provided below.  Before beginning the activity think about your age group. Utilize the Center for Disease Control’s Developmental Milestones (Links to an external site.). This will help remind you of what your chosen age group is capable of. Then think about your goal. What is it you want the children to achieve? Your goal can be something simple. For example, if the milestone is a gross motor one, you goal will be for the child to improve his gross motor skills (see example below). Then you will write about the activity that will help the child achieve the goal you have set. This means that you will write a gross motor activity, for this section. When writing this activity, remember to keep in mind all the materials you will need to complete it (see example below). You will do the same for each section.  Remember, it is important in your final assignment that you show a complete understanding of each area of development. So, review the material you have learned these past five weeks and get creative!

Below is an example of one of the completed activities might look (be sure you do not copy this example):

 

 

In your assignment, create a 9 – 11-page word document that addresses the following:

· For the Center-Based Preschool Option

· Complete each section of the Activity Template

· To complete the sections for a Center-Based Preschool:

· Indicate the age group (3s, 4s or 5s)

· List the intended goals

· List all the materials that will be needed for each activity

· Explain in detail the process/teaching strategies that will be used for each activity

· Specify how each activity is developmentally appropriate for that age group.

· Instructor Tip: Preschoolers are mostly verbal and able to follow directionality. Keep in mind however, that there may be a wide range of developmental skill.  How will your activities be developmentally appropriate for everyone in your class?

· For the Center-Based Infant/Toddler Option

· Complete each section of the Activity Template

· To complete the sections for a Center-Based Infant/Toddler:

· Indicate the age group (3s, 4s or 5s) – Of the nine activities, three should be appropriate for young infants, three for mobile infants and three for toddlers.

· List the intended goals

· List all the materials that will be needed for each activity

· Explain in detail the process/teaching strategies that will be used for each activity

· Specify how each activity is developmentally appropriate for that age group.

· Instructor Tip: Infants and Toddlers can range widely in their developmental abilities. Some children may have more language and have progressed further in their gross motor development than others. Keep this in mind when planning for this age group. With such a wide range, how will you adjust activities so they are developmentally appropriate for everyone?

· For the Early Childhood (4 – 8 years old) Option

· Complete each section of the Activity Template

· To complete the sections for Early Childhood:

· Indicate the age group (4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

· List the intended goals

· List all the materials that will be needed for each activity

· Explain in detail the process/teaching strategies that will be used for each activity

· Specify how each activity is developmentally appropriate for that age group.

· Instructor Tip: To keep their attention, older children will need hands on activities that engage their interests. How will your activities engage the students in your classroom?

For this assignment, you must submit

· A link to your electronic portfolio in Portfolium. To do this you will copy and paste the web address into the comments feature in Waypoint.

· A Word document including your completed assignment, as well as the link to your ePortfolio.

· Instructor Tip: If you need assistance in your writing please reach out to the Ashford Writing Center. It has many resources to assist you and is there to help!

 

 

 

“Teaching is not about answering questions but about raising questions-opening doors for them in places they just could not imagine”- Yawar Baig

 

References

All images used under license from istock

Berk, (2013). Child development (9th edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Eliason, C. & Jenkins, L. (2012). A practical guide to early childhood curriculum (9th edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Required Resources

Required Text

Jaruszewicz, C. (2019).  Curriculum and methods for early childhood educators  [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/

· Chapter 11: Language, Literacy, and Language Arts

Web Pages

Missy Gardiner Weeks. (n.d.). Literacy bags (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from http://www.pinterest.com/missyweeks/literacy-bags/

· This web page offers several visual examples of literacy bags for the preschool and elementary classroom. This resource will be useful for completing the Literacy Backpacks discussion. Accessibility Statement does not exist. Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)

Pre-K Pages. (n.d.). Take home backpacks (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from http://www.pre-kpages.com/buddy-bags/

· This web page showcases several ideas for Buddy Bags that can be implemented in preschool literacy programs. This resource will be useful for completing the Literacy Backpacks discussion. Accessibility Statement does not exist Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)

 

 

Recommended Resources

Supplemental Material

Zaur, J., & Bodamer, K. (n.d.).  Early childhood and child development: Lesson plan handbook . Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu

· This supplement is a Constellation course digital materials (CDM) title. This handbook provides students with information about how to create an effective lesson plan and may assist in the Developmentally Appropriate Activity Planning project. Accessibility Statement does not exist. Privacy Policy does not exist.