Foundations for Reading--Teaching Strategies for Preschoolers
1. Provide and share fiction and non-fiction books that stimulate children’s curiosity.
2. Create comfortable and inviting spaces in different parts of the classroom for children to read; stock these reading nooks with a variety of reading materials.
3. Provide time when children are encouraged to look at books on their own.
4. Promote positive feelings about reading. Allow children to choose books they want to read. Reread favorite books.
5. Make multicultural books and materials available to help children see their home culture and learn about other cultures.
6. Create a connection between home and school through such means as developing a take-home book program, sharing books from home, engaging families in literacy experiences, holding workshops, or creating a newsletter for families. Make sure you send books home in the family language.
7. Provide multi-sensory approaches to assist reading (e.g., tape players, computers, and assistive technology).
8. Point out authors and illustrators; discuss what makes a book a favorite book.
9. Provide children with materials they can use to act out and retell stories (flannel board cutouts, puppets, dolls, props, pictures, etc.).
10. Respond to children’s observations about books and answer their questions.
11. Reread books multiple times, changing the approach as children become familiar with the book. On occasion, ask questions that tap their understanding of why characters are doing things and talk about the meaning of unfamiliar words.
12. Make books available in children’s home languages. Help children identify the language of the book and point out to children the differences and similarities in script.
13. Make available books that reflect children’s sociocultural experiences at home and their communities.
14. Include strategies for promoting phonological awareness, print and alphabet knowledge within daily conversation, activities, and routines.
15. Discuss letter names in the context of daily activities (as opposed to teaching one letter per week) and provide opportunities for children to hear specific letter sounds, particularly beginning sounds.
16. Introduce a new book in the children’s family language first before reading it in English. If you do not speak the language, ask a family member or community member to read aloud.
17. Ensure that Dual Language Learners can participate in reading aloud even if they do not have the English proficiency to do so. For example, ask them to point to pictures, make gestures, repeat words and phrases, etc.
Foundations for Writing--Teaching Strategies for Preschoolers
1. Give children frequent opportunities to draw, scribble, and print for a variety of purposes.
2. Provide a variety of tools, such as markers, crayons, pencils, chalk, finger paint, and clay. Provide adaptive writing/ drawing instruments and computer access to children with disabilities.
3. Promote literacy-related play activities that reflect children’s interests and sociocultural experiences by supplying materials such as telephone books, recipe cards, shopping lists, greeting cards, and storybooks for use in daily activities.
4. Provide a variety of writing tools and props in centers (e.g., stamps and envelopes for the post office; blank cards, markers, and tape for signs in the block center).
5. Help children use writing to communicate by stocking the writing center with letters and cards that have frequently used and requested words (e.g., “love,” “Mom,” “Dad,” and children’s names with photos).
6. Show step-by-step how to form a letter on unlined paper when a child asks.
7. Encourage children to retell experiences and events that are important to them through pictures and dictation.
8. Write down what children say and share those dictated writings with them.
9. Think aloud (or describe step-by-step what you are doing) as you model writing for a variety of purposes in classroom routines (e.g., thank-you notes, menus, recipes).
10. Assist children in making their own books and class books.
11. Display children’s writing and comment on their successes.
12. Discuss letter names in the context of daily activities (as opposed to teaching one letter per week) and provide opportunities for children to hear specific letter sounds, particularly beginning sounds.
13. Usually use unlined paper for children’s writing so they will focus on letter formation instead of letter orientation but provide lined paper on occasion.
14. Provide multiple opportunities for children to experiment writing their name (e.g. sign-in list, waiting list, labeling pictures, graphs, etc.).
15. Encourage children to write without an adult model for a variety of purposes (e.g. label their drawings, leave a note to a friend, shopping list, etc.).
16. Ask children if they have written in English or in another language to help them begin to understand that writing in one language is different from writing in another language.
Learning to Communicate--Teaching Strategies for Preschoolers
1. Use facial expressions, gestures, and a rich and varied vocabulary when speaking and reading with children.
2. For Dual Language Learners, repeat common phrases frequently, slowly, and clearly.
3. Introduce new words and concepts by labeling what children are doing and experiencing.
4. Before reading a book or introducing a new concept, determine which words the Dual Language Learners in your class might not know that are important to understand the book. Plan strategies to teach these words. For instance, say the word in their home language first before introducing it in English and/or use pictures or objects to illustrate what the word means.
5. Use the new words you have introduced in a variety of contexts during the day. Be intentional in your use of new words and phrases so children, especially Dual Language Learners, are repeatedly exposed to these words and phrases.
6. Learn new words in the child’s family language and use them when introducing new concepts.
7. Give children clear instructions that help them move from simple directions to a more complex sequence. State directions
positively, respectfully, carefully, and only as needed.
8. Use visual cues such as props, demonstrations, and gestures to help children understand instructions, especially children who are just beginning to learn English and children with disabilities who have limited language skills.
9. Engage children in conversations in small groups so you are able to monitor their understanding and they have more opportunities to express themselves than in the large group.
10. Engage children frequently in one-on-one conversations; listen and respond to what they are saying. Show interest by sitting face to face at the child’s level and maintaining eye contact.
11. Help children discriminate sounds in spoken language through rhymes, songs, and word games, using various media (e.g., CDs and tapes of music and stories).
12. Model good conversational skills and encourage children to use them (e.g., encourage children not to interrupt others, help children to clarify what they are saying when they feel misunderstood).
13. Model and provide opportunities for children to communicate in different ways (e.g., home languages and also manual signs, gestures, pictures, and devices).
14. Encourage opportunities for Dual Language Learners to interact with peers. Help them communicate with English speaking peers by offering words, showing them how to use gestures, etc.
15. Encourage children to describe their family, home, community, and classroom. Expand on what they say by adding information, explanations, and descriptions.
16. Help children remain focused on the main topic of conversation by redirecting and restating current ideas.
17. Ask open-ended questions that encourage conversation and stimulate children’s creativity. Take into consideration Dual Language Learners’ process of second language acquisition when asking questions (see section on DLLs). Even if they cannot respond to open-ended questions in complete sentences in English yet, they might be able to respond with a familiar word.
18. Allow enough wait time for children respond to questions.
19. Make the value of bilingualism explicit in the classroom. Reinforce children’s use of another language
20. For children who are receiving support services such as speech therapy or special education, all adults should work together for consistency, particularly for modes of communication.
21. If a child uses a specific communication technique, the teacher take special care to facilitate peer-to-peer communication to build classroom community.