May 2014 ● Volume 3, Issue #10●

Merry May Everyone!

I hope your May is magnificent!! May is a month of endings and lasts. It is the month during which many activities will be done together for the last time. While it can be a sad time, it is also a month for celebrating all of the amazing things the children have learned this year. They have come so far since day one and I have you to thank for that. Thanks for the amazing work you do with students everyday! As I walk through classrooms and see learning or see the classroom pictures that you send me, I am reminded how wonderful our early childhood teachers are! THANK YOU! May is a hugely busy month. Already the children are thinking about being off for the summer. This is a great time to think about summer activities, which we have included for you in this issue. We also have information about next year, information about ending the year and of course, items that teachers have shared with us to share with you! Have a marvelous May!!!

Reminder about Prekindergarten Rest Time

Rest time should look very different this month than at the beginning of the year. At this time rest should be 20 minutes long and should be a read aloud time. After the 20 minute rest, regular classroom activities should resume.

Austin ISD Prekindergarten Newsletter May 2014 Jacquie Porter, Director of Early Childhood Vol. 3, Issue #10

May 2014 ● Volume 3, Issue #10●

Prekindergarten Registration!

Prekindergarten registration will take place during the week of August 11-15, 2014 on every AISD prekindergarten campus. This year you will have the opportunity to register students on your campus beginning July 21.

Pre-K teachers can be paid to register students prior to reporting for duty. A stipend is available through the prekindergarten office for pre-K teachers who choose to come to their local campus to assist specifically with registration and testing of potential pre-K students. Each teacher is eligible to work a total of eight hours (8 hours @ $25 = $200) to complete the identification process for eligible students, form class lists, and contact parents. In order to be paid, teachers must:

1. Have completed AISD 2014-15 registration training either online or in person and provide the completion certificate from HCP.

2. Login to Workforce on the day they are working. All time MUST be logged into Workforce. The routing ID for prekindergarten registration is 814. Comments should read "Pre-K Registration 2014-15". All work must be logged between July 21 and August 16, 2014. Failing to login to Workforce could risk you not being paid by the next pay period for the work done.

Classroom Furniture

Is the furniture in your dramatic play center in need of replacement? We would like to know. We are working this summer to get furniture for the center replaced. If your center was purchased in the last five years, you will not be eligible for the new center furniture. Everyone should have received an information email from Sylina Valdez regarding furniture replacement. This email also requested information to get your current center furniture picked up this summer and replaced with the new furniture. We will be asking you to place all of your current center furniture in one place for pick up this summer.

This year prekindergarten teachers that need a new sensory table can order one as well. Please be sure to complete your order by May 15th.

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May 2014 ● Volume 3, Issue #10●

Time to Reflect, Time for Change Robbie Polan, Early Childhood Childcare Liaison

After your EOY assessments are complete, and after all your campus obligations have been fulfilled, you can begin thinking about the changes you want to make for next year. Please consider some of these ideas!

As you begin packing materials, consider removing materials that you don’t use any longer. This helps to reduce clutter and will give you more room for organization.

Many campuses have made changes in grade level teams for the upcoming year. Consider a day of summer planning! This is a perfect time for team building and planning for the new year. Your team can make decisions about field trips, scheduling animals from the science center, decisions on special programs to support units of study, consideration of common assessments, class projects, etc. The Early Childhood Department, as well as other AISD departments, has summer professional development. Take advantage of this opportunity to learn, grow, and hone your skills.

The end of the year is a perfect time to reflect on what worked in your classroom and what didn’t work. What can you change or tweak or improve your practice? Did your room arrangement allow for student exploration and independent discovery? Were your center materials engaging? Were your center materials labeled? Did you have an adequate amount of books to support your emergent readers? These are only a few questions that deserve your thoughts and reflections. The Early Childhood Department is always available to help you! Please let us know what we can do to support your growth.

AISD Teacher of the Year Melinda Servantez, Early Childhood Specialist The Early Childhood Department would like to congratulate the following prekindergarten teachers for being recognized as “Teacher of the Year.”

Omar Castillo – Blanton Elementary

Felicia Lopez – Campbell Elementary Gregory Belli – Dobie Pre-K Center James Butler – Gullett Elementary

Ana Zepeda – Lucy Read Pre-K Demonstration Diana McMillan – Mathews Elementary

Sierra Romero – Oak Springs Elementary Isabel Torres - Elementary

Aliza Rivera - Pickle Elementary Lourdes Zamarron – Pillow Elementary

Crystal Young – Sunset Valley Elementary Griselda Neri – Uphaus Early Childhood Center

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May 2014 ● Volume 3, Issue #10●

Social Emotional Learning in the Office Sylina Valdez, Early Childhood Administrative Supervisor

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Early childhood teachers across the district have been implementing SEL techniques and strategies in their classrooms this past year. One such component is providing a “safe place” for children to go to when they need a personal space to calm down and refocus. Ami Cortes, Principal at Lucy Read, has seen positive results of the safe place and decided to make her own safe place for children in her office. She has included a variety of sensory materials that will help children to calm down. Mrs. Cortes included books about different emotions, calming cream, drawing paper, writing tools, stuffed animals, etc. Posters with visual cues are available to guide children through the calming process. Through the use of the safe place, the goal is for children to learn to control their own emotions and to give them strategies to use when they are angry, sad, nervous, disappointed, etc.

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May 2014 ● Volume 3, Issue #10●

Out With the Old and In With the New! Robbie Polan, Early Childhood Childcare Liaison

There are changes being made to our AISD resource websites! What was once known as the “Curriculum Navigation System” is being transformed. During the summer break this site will become our internal (resource) website. What does that mean for teachers? These are the changes and what you need to know:

• The new internal website will be in the AISD cloud allowing us to share more information.

• This early childhood website topics include:

Department newsletters Curriculum information Unit vocabulary Classroom environments Assessments Professional organization PD calendar Much, much more!

• This website will have links to many of our other department websites and resources.

You will soon notice that district information that is currently on the AISD pre-k share and AISD kinder share wikis will be moved to our internal website. This will allow the wikis to be used as they were originally intended, by teachers and for teachers. We are excited about these website changes because they will provide more help and support for teachers! I look forward to your feedback and ideas.

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May 2014 ● Volume 3, Issue #10●

Beyond the Math Center: Incorporating Math Everywhere Brian Mowry, Early Childhood Specialist

As I have walked though AISD prekindergarten classrooms, I have seen so many creative techniques and ideas for incorporating math into other centers. Here a few center suggestions I would like to share, all of which integrate the district’s CRMs current thematic emphasis on animals. Of course, every mathematical experience is further enhanced if the children have the opportunity to represent their creative extensions and explorations on paper. So, in addition to number stamps, number cards, and number lines, each center should also have writing materials available as well.

• Sensory Table (Seek, Find, Count, and Record): Hide various animals/ insects in colored rice or sand. Encourage the children to transfer each item they find to a ten-frame container, which you can make out of a discarded dozen egg carton (just cut off the final column to make a 5 by 2 container.) Once the children have collected ten, encourage them to count and sort the animals into two is/ is not groups—e.g.,” All of these are _____.” “These are NOT ____.”

The children can count to determine how many they have in each group and then record their data on paper.

• Block Center (Zoo Inventory Count): Encourage the children to create a block zoo, building cages for different groups of animals. The children can then make a zoo keeper’s inventory in which they count the number of animals inside each cage and then record that number on paper. Inform the children that the inventory list exists so that the zoo keeper will know if any animals have escaped. In addition to the counting involved in this task, the children are also sorting and thinking about spatial relationships, such as inside/ outside and around/ next to.

• Pretend and Learn (Egg Hatchery): Continue to use the Easter eggs you have collected from last month. Use crates and shredded newspaper to create nesting materials for pretend hens. Encourage the children to count the number of eggs each hen lays and record that number on a Post-it note so as to keep track of the daily total.

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May 2014 ● Volume 3, Issue #10●

Early Childhood Summer Institute Sylina Valdez, Early Childhood Administrative Supervisor

Please mark your calendars for this two-day event that will take place July 23-24, 2014, at Uphaus Early Childhood Center. We have lots of great sessions lined up that cover multiple content areas and topics. Below is a list of the sessions for each day. We will send out more details such as times and session descriptions later this month. For credit purposes, registration is now open on HCP. However, you will also have the opportunity to pre-register for sessions to avoid overcrowding. A link for session registration will also be sent later this month. If you do not pre-register for sessions, you will only be able to attend sessions that are open on the day of the institute.

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July 23rd Sessions 8:30-2:30

July 24th Sessions 8:30-12:00; Make and Take 1:30-3:30

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May 2014 ● Volume 3, Issue #10●

Springtime Literacy Activities Shared by Amanda Lujan, Pre-K Teacher at Patton Elementary

Amanda Lujan, pre-K teacher at Patton Elementary, would like to share a few springtime literacy activities that her students really enjoy. Thanks Amanda! Swatting the Alphabet

Students draw a letter out of a bag and then have to identify the letter and "swat" it before it gets away. I also added a few flies for the students to pretend to swat as well. Once the students understand the game, I add picture cards for them to find the beginning sound and "swat" the letter. Letters were created by die-cutting upper and lowercase letters and then laminating them. Sight Word Garden

In lieu of spring approaching and my students getting better at writing in their journals, I decided to create this sight word garden for them to reference. We have begun practicing sight words and I have also sent home a list for parents to practice at home with their child. I will add more words weekly. Made from http://sparklebox.co.uk/, the flowers are editable so you can choose which words you want to make.

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May 2014 ● Volume 3, Issue #10●

Wrapping Up a Fieldtrip with Writing Shared by Maria Esquivel, Pre-K Teacher at Allison Elementary

(Thanks Maria!!)

After a field trip to the Austin Zoo, students were asked to brainstorm what were some of their highlights of the trip. (This was done in English because I had a sub. However, their work was awesome!) I then downloaded and copied some of the pictures for them and together spelled the vocabulary words to use in their zoo book on Thursday. Since the students have already learned how to space their words in a sentence, capitalize/punctuate, use their visualization skills and stick to the subject, they then illustrated and authored their own books. Here are some pictures of their work:

Rough drafts to get ideas for the book after brainstorming.

Word wall with Wednesday’s words created. (Students helped spell vocabulary)

Student gets supplies: pencil, sticky pad to write vocabulary

she will utilize and a blank book.

Brainstorming on Wednesday

Students using the word wall and writing vocabulary on stickies.

(The conversation students use in this process is incredible.)

Student has vocabulary on

sticky to author and illustrate a story.

An authored and illustrated book.

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May 2014 ● Volume 3, Issue #10●

Light Tables Jacquie Porter, Director of Early Childhood

Have you thought about using a light table in your classroom? Light tables can be used in a variety of ways. It is a great place to see “through” items and explore with light. Light tables can make learning more interesting and engaging. It can be also be used for tracing and mixing colors with light. Children can experiment with mirrors, kaleidoscopes, prisms, magnifying glasses, prism blocks, x-rays and much more with a light table. If you don’t have a light table in your room, an overhead projector will work great. Just set it on the floor for the children to use. Be sure to talk them through safety rules for use before allowing them to work. If you don’t have an overhead, now is a great time to request one from your librarian for next year. Here is a great example from http://www.racheous.com/kids-activities/reggio-overhead-projector-play/ about building on a light table. (Notice the dollar store cups).

The link below has 25 light table activities for young children. Here is one of my favorite ones:

http://www.teaching2and3yearolds.com/2013/09/over-25-light-table-activities-for.html

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May 2014 ● Volume 3, Issue #10●

Project Open Training Opportunity

The Priscilla Pond Flawn Child and Family Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin is hosting a day and a half-long interactive Summer Institute on Friday, July 11 (8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.) and Saturday, July 12 (9:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.) for early childhood professionals, educators and administrators who work with toddlers through kindergartners. This training, Young Children’s Relationship with Nature: Reconnecting Children with their Natural World, will focus on the benefits that informal play experiences in nature can have on young children’s overall health and wellness. Rusty Keeler, internationally renowned artist, designer, and author of Natural Playscapes: Creating Outdoor Play Environments for

the Soul, will be the keynote speaker. Other early childhood professionals who are experts in their field will provide valuable information on the importance of reconnecting children to their natural world, the role that nature plays in children’s general development, and concrete ways to effectively incorporate nature into your curriculum. Hands-on sessions and breakout/team time for the application of the learning will be provided as well. For more information and a link to registration, please email projectopen@utexas.edu or call (512) 471-3974. Space is limited so register early.

Jacquie Porter 414-4740

Debra Caldwell 414-4790

Sylina Valdez 414-9682

Brian Mowry 414-9683

Robbie Polan 414-7487

Melinda Servantez 414-7485

Diane Smith 414-9684

Irene Campos 841-6561

Carmen Alvarez 841-6561

AISD EARLY CHILDHOOD

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