SFL 221 DAP #6

DAP #6
“As originally conceived, kindergarten was a preparatory year of schooling, designed primarily to support children’s social and emotional adjustment to group learning. However, the increased number of children attending preschool and child care programs at younger ages, combined with the increased academic demands of the early years of school, have greatly transformed the role of kindergarten. More than a preparatory year – about 95 percent of kindergarten age children in America are enrolled in some type of kindergarten program -kindergarten is now generally considered the first year of school.”

Read pages 187-253 of the DAP book and respond to the following questions:

1. What are three things teachers and schools can do to promote physical development in kindergarten? (2 points)
a. have usable equipment for recess such as balls, jungle gym equipment, or side walk chalk. “they throw and catch with increasing involvement of their whole body, shifting their weight with the release of the ball and varying the force of their throw in accord with where they want the ball to land” (189)
b. in the classrooms provided child with a variety of items that they can chose to use which will allow them to develop various motor skills such as scissors, differently sized crayons, or stringing beads. (191)
c. a large space such as a gym were children can kick balls, run, skip, and jump in order to develop gross motor skills (191)

2. What are three things teachers and schools can do to promote social/emotional development in kindergarten? (2 points)
a. keep rules simple; “they do best with following rules and showing cooperative behaviors in environments with clear and simple expectations and consistent rules and consequences,” (193)
b. remain positive when critiquing work; “positive messages from adults about their growing knowledge, skills and pro-social behaviors, as well as respect, warmth, and positive guidance, enhance children’s self-concept.” (195)
c. set ‘stage’ examples of social problems and help students to discover a solution for the problem; “some indirect methods of monitoring peer interaction include “stage setting” (providing time, space, materials, and arrangements of materials for positive and appropriate interactions? And “coaching” (suggesting positive social interaction and problem-solving strategies as needed in the context of ongoing interactions between children)” (197)

3. What are three things teachers and schools can do to promote cognitive development in kindergarten? (2 points)
a. well structured classroom; “Kindergartners in well structured and supported classrooms can often work for 15 to 20 minutes at a time on a quite, seated activity.” (204)
b. Ask students to draw a picture of what they did at recess, write down what they did at recess, and tell a friend what they did a recess helps children to learn to remember and record information; “encourage children to record and document their knowledge by using various representational methods, such as words and gestures, writing, and drawing and by making diagrams, graphs, and models.” (205)
c. ask students to read a book together or to draw a map of the classroom together; “teachers greatly promote kindergartners’ cognitive development by recognizing the value of peer interactions for kindergartners’ cognitive growth and by designing learning environments and planning experiences that encourage children to interact and collaborate.” (206)

4. In a kindergartener’s social and emotional development, describe the concepts of “pro-social behavior”, “sociability”, “self-concept”, “emotional understanding and empathy”, and “self-regulation of emotions”. (5 points)
Pro-social behavior: a pattern of behavior that allows children to interact well with peers, adults, and even themselves in a positive manner that encourages relationships depended on mutual trust. “Pro-social behavior includes cooperating, resolving conflicts with peers in peaceful, positive ways, following classroom rules and adult requests, and other helpful actions” (192)
Sociability: a learned ability to communicate to people through social interactions “as children’s interest in friendship building intensifies throughout the kindergarten year, their communication skills and understanding of other’s thoughts and feelings improve, and thus, their skills in interacting with other children improve.” (194)
Self-concept: how one perceives themselves formed through social interactions and society contexts “occurs within the context of children’s maturing awareness of the social environment. Kindergartners develop their emerging self-concept in part by comparing themselves with peers, usually comparing against one classmate at a time…typically focus on observable characteristics,” (195)
Emotional understanding and empathy: as children begin to understand that other people’s actions affect their own emotions they began to develop an understanding that their actions can affect other’s emotions; they also realize that not everyone is feeling exactly what they are feeling at any given moment. “thinking of ways to relieve others’ negative feelings, such as giving a hug to comfort someone or sharing a favorite toy when someone is sick,” (196)
Self-regulation of emotions: the ability to monitor and control emotional responses in order to obtain tranquility. “making themselves do something even when the desire is not there, such as stop playing and clean up the puzzle pieces.” (196)


5. Assume you are substituting in a kindergarten classroom. Find two activities that would help promote their social development and two activities would help promote their emotional development. (3 points)
Social development: have the children all roll a dice, and if they roll a six they are in group six, and if the children roll a five they are in group five, and so on. Once the children are in their groups ask all of the members of group six to hold on to one piece of rope, all of the children in group five to hold onto another piece of rope, and so on. Once the children are set into their groups have them complete various rally races across an open field or through the play ground equipment.
Social development: have all of the children pick a partner, and then line the children teams shoulder to shoulder. Then teach the children how to play pate cake with their partner. Once the children have learned how to play the game, put on music. When the music stops all of the children have to find a new partner to play pate cake with, the last students to partner up are eliminated from the next round. Continue to play until there is only one matched pair left.
Emotional development: Talk to the children about rules and rulers. Then ask one of the students to pretend to be the king and have them come to the front of the classroom and sit in a special chair. The elected King student then tells the class one thing that they have to do, such as bark like a dog, or jump up and down three times. After completing the task have the students who liked the new rule sit on one side of the room and the students who did not like the rule sit on the other side of the room. Ask the students why they did not like the rule; and the other students why they did like the new rule. After chose a new student to be the king and repeat the game.
Emotional development: Ask children if they have any pets. Then talk about pets and the different things that pets need such as food, water, shelter, and play time. Help the children to cut out paper masks one that is happy faced, and one that is sad faced. Then ask the children to draw their pet dog happy for example when they remember to play catch and on the other sad face have the children draw a picture of their pet fish sad for example when they have no clean water in their fish bowl.
5. In cognitive development of Kindergarteners, what is “flexible thinking”? (1 point)

6. Explain why children need to have choices as stated by the authors. (1 point)
It is important that children have choices because it helps children to develop confidence in exploring new things and hopefully helps the to recognize preferences which will help them to develop talents. “offering a variety of tasks , material, and learning centers helps children practice specific skills and learn to use different types of size of equipment… Teachers who foster a sense of community, emphasizing that everyone can participate and has strengths, will find delighted responsiveness form most children.” (191)


7. What 5 key literacy components happen in Kindergarten? (3 points)
a. book and print awareness: print on the page represents words
b. phonological awareness: sounds of spoken words
c. language, comprehension, and response to text: background information gives meaning/context
d. letter recognition, decoding, and word recognition: sight words, alphabet
e. spelling and writing: ability to create words instead of relying on simply pictures for communication

8. List 4 key elements to help insure successful transitions for young children and their families. (2 points)

a. communication is critical: show an interest in each student’s unique culture and allow them to talk to you about what is expected from them at home as well as communicate what is expected of them at school, but keep in mind that what ever the expectations are at school there should be a genuine respect for the home expectations.
b. allow children to bring show and tell items from home that represent them, or let them explain to you why they chose the back pack they chose, “they experience easier transitions and feel more successful when the skills, abilities, and understandings they construct in their family and community are congruent with the expectations of the classroom.” (213)
c. invite old preschool teachers, head start teachers, and most importantly parents to com and visit the classroom and ask questions about the program or simply to observe if that is all they want to do
d. check with the administration to make sure that the preschool is teaching a curriculum that prepares your students for the kindergarten curriculum, and adjust your curriculum to prepare your students to enter the 1st grade one.

9. In the “Examples to Consider” section (pages 217-253), each age break down is addressed with accompanying ”developmentally appropriate” and “in contrast” examples of how children develop and learn. Indicate here if you completed the reading (or how much you completed) to receive your points for this question. (5 points)
I did all of the required reading!