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9:35 PM Feb. 12, 2008 -
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- [ post comment ] As a teacher, I'm often asked by parents and nurturers how to teach and make it easy for pre-schoolers to go through educational journey that will develop and enhance their learning.
This workbook is an attempt to answer that. It is a teacher-created material and tested to children who are considered "underprivileged."
My philosophy as a teacher is "all children can learn." It took me years to create, observe, research and evaluate my method of teaching. Finally, I discover that to back up the success of my philosophy, I made or created materials that are based on a child's developmental level, not age level. Because of the children's "success" experience, they all look forward to the next lesson. I believe that the feeling of "success" motivated and empowered them to want to learn more.
Teachers differ in their approach to teaching, as there are different schools of thoughts in appropriate approaches. For example, I discovered that by letting children use pencil and paper along with crayons, watercolor, scissors and doing tactile and sensory activities, they expand their interest and all-around capabilities.
However, sometimes results will differ because of home environment situation and the lack of opportunity. That's why the same opportunity should be provided whether the child likes to do Literacy or Math activities. These activities in this workbook are taken from actual classroom work and experiences of children.
To achieve uniformity with the weekly lesson plan, I combine Literacy and Math based on the suggested curriculum theme. If you teach two days each (example: Literacy on Monday and Tuesday; Math on Wednesday and Thursday) the second day of Literacy and Math are variation practices. This is to assess and check if the children got it. The Literacy activities have 2 levels while the Math has 5. As the nurturer, you know which level is the child capable of. Most 4 year olds want to do all 5 work practices. We let them feel they are smart!
For Early Literacy goals, the visual perception activities will lead to letter or word recognition. As they color, match, circle and write, it will hone their fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination. Ultimately, as they say the letters, repeat words, recite poems, engage in conversation, sing and listen to stories, language development is achieved.
For Early Math, the recognition of colors, shapes and numbers, rhyming, counting, tracing and matching will enhance writing number concepts. Of course, nothing can substitute "hands on" experiences.
For effective use of this book, I suggest that parents and nurturers spend at least 5 to 10 minutes a day with the child to work on each page. By year's end, your child will hopefully be ready for kindergarten. Be sure to make every learning experience fun. Encourage the child's every effort and be lavish with praise.
Lastly, use your imagination beyond the pages of this workbook. It is my fervent desire that this step will make a difference in the life of a child.
Mila O. Paniamogan
Pre-K to K: Literacy and Math Workbook
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