ECE 0960 - Preschool Language and Literacy Curriculum I

Fall 2011 (Section #7036)

Online Course Information Page

Instructor: Kate Ashbey
Phone: 530-953-8984
email: ashbey@siskiyous.edu

This course is offered completely online

Registered students: The course will be available beginning Monday, August 15, 2011. To access the course follow these instructions exactly:

Go to: http://myetudes.org/portal and login using your user id and password.

Instructions how to log into Etudes can be found here:
http://www.siskiyous.edu/online/etudes/

Wait list students: The college will notify you via your COS e-mail if a space becomes available. You will have 48 hours to verify your enrollment, so check that account frequently!
http://www.siskiyous.edu/apply/waitlist.htm

Required materials:

Computer with Internet, e-mail account, camera and photo editing software, plus Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Students must have access to a preschool age child at least 3 hours per week. Parents at home with a child age 3-5 will be fine. 

Those without preschoolers at home and NOT currently employed or volunteering are encouraged to add ECE 58 (1-3 unit lab class). Please contact the instructor to arrange for placement with a Mentor Teacher in your area.

Course Content
This course is designed to expose students to three aspects of effective literacy instruction for pre-kindergarten children: 1) preparing the social and physical environment; 2) enhancing word knowledge and; 3) increasing phonological awareness. Students will read research and application literature regarding children’s development, respond to discussion topics, plan and implement activities and reflect on these activities in writing.

The emphasis in this course is on applying early literacy research findings to daily interactions with young children. Each of the three sections includes three types of assignments: planning, doing, and reviewing. Students will have a chance to explore these assignments in weekly discussion forums with the instructor and fellow students.

During planning, students will observe, document their practice, and come up with specific steps to better align with the research or enhance a child’s skills. Students will then put their plan into action, documenting their work with photos and children’s work samples. During review, students will conduct assessments and reflect on future practice.

Students will be required to select a child for a Learning History project.  The child should be willing to engage in fun, informal games and activities with minimal prodding. Parents at home should choose their own child, teachers in classrooms or group settings should consult the child’s parent or guardian to obtain permission. Students are required to document their activities with photos and work samples, names can be omitted or changed. This information will never appear in a publication or on the Internet and will only be viewed by the instructor.

For the final project, students will complete a Portfolio. This portfolio will consist of selected discussion topics, photos, work samples, assessments, reflection essays and the Learning History.

The Portfolio will be mailed on disc or in a binder at the end of the course. 

This course focuses on three critical areas of preschool literacy and language development:
1. Getting Ready for Literacy, which includes:

  • Understanding and implementing strategies for setting up the environment, such as rules, routines and use of time and space;
  • Handling and reducing conflict;
  • Handling and reducing behavior problems;
  • Creating a warm and supportive community of learners;
  • Encouraging children’s independence;
  • Creating environments that are playful and purposeful;
  • Individualizing activities and routines to meet the needs of children.

2. Focusing on Words, which includes:

  • Techniques for creating a language-rich setting, implementing theme-based vocabulary instruction, and supporting children’s language and vocabulary development.
  • Choosing rich themes, identifying vocabulary words, providing repeated exposure to vocabulary words, creating a vocabulary-rich and print-rich environment.
  • Providing a variety of playful, planned, purposeful activities within which children can build a context for new vocabulary words through multi-sensory experiences.
  • Actively reflecting on the effectiveness of both the vocabulary instruction and the related activities conducted throughout the day and week.

3. Focusing on Sounds, which includes:

  • Techniques for teaching phonological awareness.
  • Focusing children’s attention on listening, rhyming, alliteration, words in a sentence, syllables, onset-rime, and individual phoneme blending and segmentation.
  • Implementing strategies throughout the day, during transitions, read alouds, center times, large and small group times, to maximize children’s awareness of sound.
  • Using specific tools to develop competence in phonological awareness for all children, even those with special needs or learning delays.
  • Supporting children’s development of phonological awareness in ways that are appropriate for young children.


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