Learning Centers in Our Universal Pre-K Classroom

Most Precious Blood School UPK 

The Responsive Classroom (RC) is an approach to teaching and learning that fosters safe, challenging and joyful classrooms and schools. Developed by classroom teachers, it consists of practical strategies for bringing together social and academic learning throughout the school day. The Responsive Classroom approach helps create learning environments where students thrive socially, academically and emotionally.  We use RC in our classroom because these methods contribute to a safe and welcoming 

school community. 

One Component of Our Responsive Classroom is 

Our Classroom Morning Meeting. 

Our Morning Meeting is a whole group class meeting and consists of music, stories, and group discussion. During group discussion, we talk about things the children are interested in and wonder about. We talk about things they have noticed recently or things that have happened. We also have a daily literacy activity,  phonemic awareness exercise, math game, and science exploration activity. Literacy and phonemic awareness activities can be as simple as a game, a chart, puppet play, rhyming, or singing a song.  

Another Component of Our Responsive Classroom is Our Learning Centers.  

Our students learn to regulate the centers themselves through hands-on play and problem-solving. Many of the materials are open-ended, and students are allowed to use them creatively and decide how to use materials.
Examples of Our Learning Activities

These activities provide opportunities for your pre-k child to build academic skills that will prepare them for Kindergarten.

Reading & English Language Arts Alphabet Match-up Word Recognition Name Game Alphabet Puzzle People, Places, and Things My Name Connect-the-Dots Alphabet X's and O's Find the Letter Alphabet Play dough Alphabet Book Dictionary Name Game Make a Sentence Language Play             Math Food Count Number Fun Number Matchup Connect the Dots Bank on It Every Number Counts Kitchen Shapes Math Codes Secret Mathematical Formulas Shopping Math Counting Telling Time One, Two, Buckle My Shoe       In addition, I work on building gross and fine motor skills.  I have many sensory, dramatic pal, and art activities built into our daily learning centers.

 
 

Pre-K Common Core in Our Classroom

The Pre-K Common Core Standards support the existing belief that the pre-k classroom lays the groundwork for literacy, math and science through tactile learning experiences where children act on their environment to construct meaning. Our classroom supports social and emotional development and ultimately higher-order thinking skills. We do activities such as read-alouds, painting, working with clay and Play-Doh, table manipulatives and building with wooden blocks all that reflect our academic goals for our pre-k students.

 ELA Common Core Read-Alouds

Our read-alouds are planned oral readings of children's books that are listed on the required reading for pre-k in the common core standards. They are a vital part of literacy instruction in our classrooms. We use read-alouds to develop children's background knowledge, stimulate their interest in high-quality literature, increase their comprehension skills, and foster critical thinking. While reading, we model strategies that children can use during their own independent reading. 

We take the following steps with our read-alouds:

- Preview the book to build prior knowledge 

- Do a picture walk

- Read the book and stop frequently to ask questions and engage the students


For Example We read Jan Brett's, The Mitten and did a variety of activities that tied into the book.  We sequenced the story and made our own mittens. 

 

Here are some of the Classic Tales that we will be reading in classroom:

The Lion and the Mouse
The City Mouse and The Country Mouse
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
The Gingerbread Man
The Shoemaker and the Elves
The Little Red Hen
Thumbelina
How Turtle Got His Shell (Native American folktale)
Why Flies Buzz (African folktale)
The Three Little Pigs

Activity Board for The Lion and The Mouse:  

The Three Little Pigs Read Aloud

Pre-K Common Core Domains that will be discussed in our classroom: 

All About Me Unit

Read-Alouds

I Am Special - What Makes Me, Me! 

Parts Outside My Body, Parts Inside my Body 

We Use Our Senses to Learn 

I Am Growing and Changing 

I Am a Human Being!

 
Same of our dental health unit activities. 

Family Unit

Read-Alouds

All Kinds of Families 

Family Activities and Routines 

Family Celebrations and Traditions

Animals Unit

Read-Alouds

We’ve All Got Body Parts 

Animals’ Body Parts 

All Kinds of Animals 

Animals Protect Themselves 

Animals Have Needs

Plants Unit

Read-Alouds

Plants Are All Around Us 

Plants Have Different Parts 

Plants Grow 

Plants Have Basic Needs 

Plants Are Important in Our World

Habitats Unit

Read-Alouds

Woodland 

Pond 

Ocean 

Desert

Farm

Here are a few examples of what we did in the classroom while studying the Habitat Units:

 

 

 

Pre-K Common Core Math 

We will be learning many basic math concepts in pre-k.  We will learn to make patterns, learn about shapes, count to 20 and beyond, learn how to use ten frames to work on solving our math problems. We will also be learning about the math symbols such as greater than and less than.