This unit helps home-schooled students make the transition from home to school easy and comfortable. The child becomes familiar with teachers in the classroom and the routine and setting of the room.
TitleIII Technology Literacy Challenge Grant
Learning Unit
Overview | Content Knowledge | Essential Questions | Connection To Standards | Initiating Activity | Learning Experiences | Culminating Performance | Pre-Requisite Skills | Modifications | Schedule/Time Plan | Technology Use
| LU Title: HOME TO SCHOOL – MADE EASY | Author(s): Mrs. Judy Widrick & Marthe Whitney |
| Grade Level: Pre-Kindergarten | School: Belleville Henderson Central |
| Topic/Subject Area: School Adjustment | Address: P.O. Box 158 , Belleville, NY 13611 |
| Email: jwidrick & [email protected] |
Overview
This unit is to help in making the transition from home to school as easy and comfortable as possible. The child will become familiar with the teachers in the classroom and the routine and setting of the room. This will begin with the first home visit, using a book called “A Day in Pre-K.” A do-at-home project will be mailed to each child to pull family and school together. The first day of Pre-K will bring together the home visit and the project – with a story called The Kissing Hand. This is a beginning September unit. It will take two days initially and then 3 weeks to complete.
Content Knowledge
| Declarative | Procedural |
| 1. Making the adjustment between leaving home and going to school. | 1. Students will demonstrate the “arrival procedure.” |
| 2. Recognize the routine of the Pre-Kindergarten classroom. | 2. Students will demonstrate the “group time procedure.” |
| 3. Identifies the staff associated with the Pre-Kindergarten class. | 3. Students will demonstrate the “mealtime procedure.” |
| 4. Students will demonstrate the “choice time procedure.” | |
| 5. Students will demonstrate the “closure procedure.” | |
| 6. Students will demonstrate the “dismissal procedure.” |
Essential Questions
- What do you know about Pre-Kindergarten?
- What will you do in Pre-Kindergarten?
- What adults do you know in school and what do they do?
Connections to NYS Learning Standards
List Standard # and Key Idea #: Write out related Performance Indicator(s) or Benchmark(s)
ELA 1 – LANGUAGE FOR INFORMATION AND UNDERSTANDING
Students will read, write, listen and speak for information and understanding.
Students will:
- Gather and interpret information from the books “A Day in Pre-K” and The Kissing Hand.
- Ask specific questions to clarify and extend meaning to learn about Pre-K.
ELA 2 – LANGUAGE FOR LITERACY RESPONSE AND EXPRESSION
Students will read, write, listen and speak for literacy response and expression.
Students will:
- Listen to the story The Kissing Hand.
- Present personal responses to the story.
ELA 3 – LANGUAGE FOR CRITICAL ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION
Students will read, write, listen and speak for critical analysis and evaluation.
Students will:
- Discuss what Pre-K will be like and their role at school.
ELA 4 – LANGUAGE FOR SOCIAL INTERACTION
Students will read, write, listen and speak for social interaction.
Students will:
Listen attentively and recognize when it is appropriate for them to speak
Take turns speaking and respond to other’s ideas in conversation on familiar topics
Recognize the kind of interaction appropriate for different circumstances, such as Pre-Kindergarten, group discussions and one-on-one conversations
HPEH 2 – A SAFE AND HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT
Students will acquire the knowledge and ability necessary to create and maintain a safe and healthy environment.
Students will:
- Listen and discuss safety rules of the classroom and the playground
- Discuss and maintain personal health (ie: washing hands, blowing nose, etc).
CDO 1 – CAREER DEVELOPMENT
Students will be knowledgeable about the world of work, explore career options and related personal skills, aptitudes, and abilities to future career decisions.
Students will:
- Look at and discuss the “My helpers at School” booklet to learn about staff within the school and their jobs.
Initiating Activity
Hook! – A parent and child project is mailed to the child’s home before Pre-K starts. The project will consist of a piece of paper decorated with a Handprint design that will be carried over into the classroom decorations. The main project deals with the child’s handprint. The parents will be asked to trace their child’s hand on the colored construction paper. The child will then cut it out and attach it to the printed sheet. They will then attach a picture of the parent and/or family. They will be asked to bring this project to school on the first day of Pre-K.
Learning Experiences
In chronological order including acquisition experiences and extending/refining
experiences for all stated declarative and procedural knowledge.
Lesson 2 Declarative We will use the KWL strategy to introduce Pre-K to the child at the home visit held before school begins. The child will visit with the teacher and will be asked about their concept of Pre-K. The picture book, “A Day in Pre-K” will then be introduced and discussed between the teacher and the child.
Lesson 3 Declarative On the first day of school, the children will be brought to the room and they will be asked to sit on the rug. The parent project the children bring to school will be hung in the room, tying in with the story being read. We will “launch” our activity with the story, The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. The story will be read to the children with a discussion throughout the story about going to school, missing home, doing new things, etc. (The children will be able to see a picture of their parents and/or family in the project they brought from home throughout the day, if they want to.) We will then proceed with their first day of school.
We will end the first day of Pre-K reviewing the story with the children. We will then send home a note for the parents giving them a summary of the story read in class. A heart sticker will be sent with the note. We will ask the parents to put the sticker on their child’s palm and give them a “kiss” on the sticker before their child gets on the bus the next morning as in the story The Kissing Hand.
Lesson 4 Declarative At the beginning of the second week of school, the children will look at and discuss the “My Helpers at School” booklet. They will then be introduced to the staff over the period of a week. We will discuss each staff member’s job and the children will have an opportunity to ask questions and talk with each staff member. We will also visit each staff member’s location at school so the children will be able to find their way there.
Lesson 5 Procedural The procedures of the classroom – these procedures of the daily routine of the classroom will be demonstrated and explained until the child can perform them successfully on their own.
Culminating Performance
Include rubric(s)
This rubric is used for a culminating activity using pictures from the “A Day in Pre-K” booklet to classify and sequence. These pictures will be scanned, enlarged and laminated to use as a manipulative activity for the children. They will sequence the pictures into the routine order of the day. They will also classify the pictures into the procedures of the day.
| Able to do all of the task | Able to do some of the task | Unable to do task | |
| Sequence a day in Pre-K | |||
| Classify a day in Pre-K | |||
| Routine in the classroom |
Teacher observations are very important, for assessment at this level.
Pre-Requisite Skills
None
Modifications
One-on-one assistance for the students will be provided by the teachers as needed.
Parents will be contacted to provide the parent and child home project, if it is not sent in on the first day.
Unit Schedule / Time Plan
Total unit – 3 weeks
Technology Use
Two of the books for this unit, A Day in Pre-K and My Helpers at School, were developed on the computer. Pictures were either scanned and transferred or taken with the digital camera to make the picture books to be used to introduce the children to Pre-K and the staff.
A letter for the parents was designed and printed on the computer.
Pictures from the story read for the third lesson, The Kissing Hand, were scanned and used in the picture books and the letter, to coordinate the activities.
The internet was also used for ideas and information, while developing this unit.
Links
Resources
Book: The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
Cassette for listening center: The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
Materials for the classroom: Name tags, note paper – ½ page and whole page, bulletin board trim, stickers – Handprint design obtained from School Daze, Watertown, NY and Instructional Fair Group.
Small red heart stickers
Raccoon Puppet to accompany the story – Constructive Playthings
Further reading: How to Write a Lesson Plan: 7 Steps