My ECE Assignments : Language Arts

"My ECE Assignment" series is meant to demystify ECE and make it a more pleasurable endeavour for those of us who are willing to commit to it :

Module : Language Arts
Individual Assignment : Learning Goals of an Integrated Literacy Learning Experience

Integrated Literacy Learning Experience

(A) Class : N2 Class size: 12

(B) Goals:
1. to teach the children to listen to the 3-letter words of “Boy”, “Man”, “Cow” and
“Axe”.
2. to encourage the children to speak these four words.
3. to have the children read these four words written on the whiteboard.
4. to have the children write these four words on their own piece of paper, together
with a drawing and colouring exercise to round off this learning experience.

(C) Activity Steps to achieve these Goals:

1. The N2 children will be asked to put on their shoes, and prepare to be taken out of the Centre, in an orderly fashion of 2 rows.

2. The class teacher will be bringing along a large canvass mat for the children to sit on.

3. All the children will be seated in front of the Centre’s side-wall painting, under the shelter of a walkway.

4. The class teacher will initiate the beginning of a story-telling session, the story being “Jack and the Beanstalk”. The children will see the character of Jack ‘coming alive’ when the teacher points to the wall-painting. As the teacher talks through the story, both the pictures in the book and on the wall painting will be used to stimulate and capture the interest of the children.

5. When the first run of the story-telling finishes, the teacher will now ask the children to listen and pick out the words “Boy”, “Man”, “Cow” and “Axe” from the second run of the story-telling.

6. This time, as the four words are told as part of the story (and emphasized by the teacher for each word), the teacher will write these words on the whiteboard by her side.
The children will be asked to say aloud these four words, as the teacher points to them, thus enabling speaking and reading.

7. The teacher will then ask 2 boys to stand by his side at the front. The teacher will ask one boy to put on a large man-sized shirt to show he is a man, while the other boy puts on a boy-sized tee-short to show that he is a boy. Laughters and giggles from the children will show their enjoyment of this little activity to help the children remember the word, “Man” and “Boy”. Both the cow and axe pictures will be shown from the storybook.

8. To round out this learning experience, the children will be asked by the teacher to write these four words on their own piece of paper. Each child will be encouraged to draw and colour their favourite part of the story on the bottom half of their paper.

(D) Time:

Total of 40 minutes, comprising :
5 minutes for the children to put on their shoes, and walk to the side-wall area.
20 minutes for the story-telling, writing of the 4 words on the whiteboard and the Man/Boy activity.
10 minutes for the children to write, draw and colour.
5 minutes to gather themselves and return to their classes in the Centre.

(E) Materials :

1. Large canvass mat
2. Portable whiteboard
3. “Jack and the Beanstalk” tall-book.
4. Large man-sized short and boy-sized tee-shirt
5. Blank paper, pencils and colour pencils for each children

(F) Space/Environment :

This learning experience will be held outside the Centre, in front of the side-wall with the “Jack and the Beanstalk” painting. The area is quiet between 10.00am and 11.30am, even though it is part of the common corridor/walkway.

(G) Documentation :

The paper/work sample used by each child will be the basis of the documentation for this learning experience. It will document:
(i) the child’s ability to listen (thus identify) the four chosen words
(ii) the child’s ability to write these four words
Adding to this is the child’s drawing and colouring of his favourite part of the story that he was listening to, which will thus enhance his connection to these four words.