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LF, a 3-year-old child, is the only child in her family and lives with her parents. She is highly active both at home and in the classroom. According to her parents, LF loves to socialize and engage with others. One notable observation is that LF is very expressive with her emotions, openly displaying her feelings in various situations.

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Family literacy resources are crucial tools that help bridge the gap between home and school learning. These resources, which can include books, educational games, art supplies, and digital tools, play a vital role in enhancing a child's cognitive, social, and emotional development. Engaging families in literacy activities at home not only boosts academic performance but also nurtures a lifelong love for learning. By integrating literacy into everyday routines, families can create meaningful and enjoyable learning experiences, ensuring that children build strong foundational skills. Understanding and utilizing these resources empowers parents to actively support their children’s educational journey, making learning a natural and integral part of family life.

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Literacy Skill 1 - Vocabulary Development

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Literacy Skill 1 - Vocabulary Development

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Vocabulary Development is addressed by discussing the lyrics of the rewritten song. This activity focused on expanding LF's vocabulary by introducing new words from the lyrics and using visuals and objects to reinforce their meanings.

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Literacy Skill 2 - Listening Comprehension

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Literacy Skill 2 - Listening Comprehension

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Listening Comprehension is enhanced through singing the Body parts song and asking LF questions about the story. This helps her listen attentively and understand spoken language. Questions like "What comes after “Head should Knees and Toes” song?" or "Why is the fingers are different?" encourage her to think and respond.

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Literacy Skill 3 - Phonological Awareness

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Literacy Skill 3 - Phonological Awareness

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Phonological Awareness is developed by clapping along to the rhythm of the song and identifying rhyming words. This helps LF recognize and produce rhyming words, and understand syllables and sounds in words. For example, she can identify words like "nose" and "rose" that rhyme.

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Print Awareness is taught by reading the storybook LF together and pointing out the text. This teaches Lucy that print carries meaning and that reading goes from left to right and top to bottom. It also highlights the difference between pictures and words in the book.

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Expressive Language is developed by encouraging LF to come up with her own lines for the song. This fosters her ability to express her thoughts and ideas through language, involving brainstorming and practicing how to put words together to form sentences.

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Emergent Writing is supported by helping LF draw and paint what she really liked from the story on the poster board. This emphasizes that painting is a way to communicate ideas and can be done through drawing pictures that represent the story or attempting to write simple words or letters with guidance.

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In the lesson plan on Solar System, according to PA Standards 1.1 and 1.2 Early Literacy and Language Development, the primary goal was to enhance vocabulary, comprehension, and expressive language through storytelling and puppet play. My observations indicated that LF recalled the names and characteristics of the planets. LF actively participated in repeating the names and facts during the reading and puppet show, demonstrating improved vocabulary and comprehension.

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In the lesson plan on Solar Systems, according to PA Standards 16.1 Social and Emotional Development, promoting social interaction, cooperation, and self-confidence through group activities and positive reinforcement was another essential goal. The group activity fostered a sense of community. LF cooperated during the puppet show, LF played a good role in a group by taking turns and supporting others. Positive reinforcement boosted LF’s confidence, with most children was eager to participate and proud of her contribution.

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According to PA Standards: 9.1.V OT.A Know and use basic elements of visual arts.

When I was implementing the lesson plan based on “Little Quack’s New Friend” by Laueren Thompson, various teaching skills and strategies were utilized to engage and support my classroom children. Here are some Effective Teaching Skills and Strategies which I used effectively.

Differentiated Instruction:

Example:

During the lesson, I used differentiated instruction to carter to the diverse learning styles of the children. For visual learners, I emphasized the vibrant illustrations in the story. I co-operated hands-on activities such as drawing scenes from the story. I read the story aloud and incorporated with sounds, emotions, and questions.

Impact:

This approach allowed each child to engage with the lesson in a way that resonated with their preferred learning style, resulting in higher engagement and we worked on the better comprehension of the story.

Sensory Awareness:

Example:

Kids thoroughly enjoyed the sensory feeling of the hand paint, and kids are so creative talking all about colors like brown for mud, blue for water yellow for ducks. This activity showed difference between painting using hands, brush and stamp paint.

Impact:

This approach helped my kids explore different texture, curiosity, problem solving and show all their creativeness. The sensory stimulation and hands-on approach helped kids from brain and memory development, gross and fine motor skills and strength.

Peer Collaboration:

Example:

I organized activities that required teamwork, such as creating a collaborative mural scene from the story.  Children worked together decide on the design, share materials, and help each other with the artwork.

Impact:

This strategy fostered social skills, teamwork, and a sense of community in the classroom. It also allowed children to learn from and support each other, enhancing the overall learning experience.

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According to PA Standards: 16.1 OT.A Make connections between emotions and behavior.

Kids thoroughly enjoyed the finger puppets, expressed their emotions, and actions from the story.

·      Social skills: I observed LF, and other kids acted out the story which promoted the social interaction and collaboration.

·      Emotional Understanding: Kids explored different emotions through puppet helped children understand and they enjoyed the activity by express their feelings.

Impact: Drama activities enhance social-emotional development and improve children’s ability to understand and express emotions (Zins et al., 2007). By using puppets to act out the story, children explored and expressed different emotions in a safe and controlled environment. This lesson plan helped the kids develop empathy and emotional intelligence.

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Storytelling and interactive play with finger puppets

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Storytelling and interactive play with finger puppets

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Goal:

According to Art as a Way of Learning Language and Literacy Experiences,

children are provided with abundant,

intentional literacy learning opportunities

Children represent and express ideas through verbal and written languages

Imitate friendly words, signs/gestures, and actions

Pretend to be someone or something else

Tell/retell stories

Share information

Invent spellings

Read signs, symbols, their own words, others’ words

Re-enact the plots and dialogue of stories

Represent and/or interpret the knowledge they are constructing

Evidence:

According to “ART AS A WAY OF LEARNING” teaching skills and strategies, LF explored the language of the visual arts, drama, and movement to enhance literacy learning. By acting out the scene with puppets, LF understood the narrative, engage more deeply with the text, and enjoyed the learning process.

I asked LF and her friends questions about the story and encouraged them to use the puppets to act out scenes.

·      Engagement: By involving LF in the story telling process, she stayed engaged and interested.

·      Comprehension: Interacting questions helped LF and her peers understand the story and it encouraged critical thinking about the story’s event and characters.

This strategy helped LF and kids to think critically about the narrative, they understood the character motivation, and predicted future events, all of which are key components of reading comprehension.

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Goal:

According to AWL – Page no: 10 2. Children inquire and solve challenges with musical languages when they are familiar of the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. Using a well-known melody helped children feel comfortable and engaged, as they were able to follow easily and participate. The familiarity of the tune also aided in memory retention, this song helped them to work on new words and concepts introduced in the new lyrics.

The lesson plan centered around adapting “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, to “Twinkle Twinkle Taffic Light”, was designed to specific curricular goals in line with the PA Standards and AWL. These goals are well planned and implemented by developing their vocabulary, phonological awareness, and comprehension skills through engaging by singing song, and added interactive games.

Evidence:

The “Twinkle Twinkle Traffic Light” lesson was designed to engage three-years old children in language and literacy development through music, visual aids, and interactive activities.

Throughout the lesson, children demonstrated high levels of active participation. During the singing activity, children eagerly joined in, trying to match the new words to the familiar tune. The repetitive nature of the song helped them quickly pick up the lyrics. Children were observed smiling, clapping, and even dancing along, indicating their enjoyment and engagement.

The traffic light game was particularly successful in maintaining children’s interest. Most children were enthusiastic about pretending to be cars and responding to the traffic light signals. They showed excitement when it was their turn to move according to the colored cubes, demonstrating their understanding of the concepts of “stop”, go”, and “slow”. The game allowed them to learn through play, which is a natural and effective method for this age group.

Many children were able to correctly identify and use the new words introduced in the song, such as “red”, “green”, “yellow”, “stop”, “go”, “slow”. This was evident when they responded accurately during the traffic light game and in subsequent discussion.

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Materials used:

“Cuddly Cow” book by Axel Scheffler.

Finger puppets of farm animals (cow, pig, sheep, chicken, etc).

Story telling area (e.g., carpet or table)

Optional: Farm animal sound or music.

The implementation of the “Cuddly Cow” finger puppets lesson plan inspired in various positive responses from LF and other kids. The lesson plan was generally well-received by LF and the other children. It indicated that it is appropriately challenging for their age-group. When the story was read aloud and the puppets were used to act out the scenes, LF and the kids are visibly engaged. LF was excited to see the finger puppets, she loved carrying the animals and mimicked the actions with enthusiasm. LF and friends eagerly waited for their turn to put the puppets on the fingers to act their turn.

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Materials used:

Book: “8 Little Planets” by Chris Ferrie, Pictures by Lizzy Doyle,

Printouts of Solar system,

Laminator to laminate the solar system printouts,

Brown bags,

Glue, and

Scissors

Introducing young children to the solar system through "8 Little Planets" by Chris Ferrie offered an engaging educational experience. Utilizing brown bag planet puppets for a dramatic retelling, children were excited to bring the story to life. The lesson began with a review of materials, followed by distributing puppets and a brief recap of each planet's features. The activity included reading lines from the book, with children actively participating by showcasing their planet puppets. Effective planning, support, clear directions, and stimulating elements like visual aids and animated storytelling ensured a memorable and educational experience, fostering creativity, participation, and a deeper understanding of the solar system.