More Than Letters, Standards Edition

Author Sally Moomaw has a great sales record. The first edition of MORE THAN LETTERS sold more than 20,000 copies, TEACHING STEM IN THE EARLY YEARS sold more than 18,000 copies, and LESSONS FROM TURTLE ISLAND: Native Curriculum in Early Childhood Classrooms sold more than 10,000 copies.

Brenda Hieronymus is an award-winning educator. She was named Teacher of the Year by the Ohio Association for the Education of Young Children (OH-AEYC) in 1999.

The more than 260 activities are organized into activity series by topic. The main standards that align with the activity series are listed.

MORE THAN LETTERS, Standards Edition includes new activities that target specific concepts included in national literacy standards, two new chapters that specifically focus on developing the skills needed to decode literature and informational text, and new photography.

This book is for early childhood professionals, teachers, family child care providers, child care centers that teach literacy to preschool- and kindergarten-age children (36 years old). The activities can enhance storytimes at libraries, and the book is appropriate for course adoption, as it connects theory, research, and literacy information to developmentally appropriate activities.

Over 100 photographs included to illustrate activities in action.

An example of a preliteracy activity is using a cumulative storya special type of predictable book; each time a new character enters or a new event occurs, the entire list of characters or events are reviewed. This creates a pattern that helps children build memory and sequencing skills. The authors use the children's book THE NAPPING HOUSE by Audrey Wood as an example of this type of predictable book. In this story, a sleeping granny is joined by a series of progressively smaller characters until a flea disrupts the napping of all.

Activity: Begin by reading The Napping House to the class. On the second reading, as each new character appears and as the list of characters repeats, pause and point to the illustration so children can add the words for the characters. This focuses their attention and helps them build memory skills.

Introduce the interactive chart. Children can add name cards to the chart and see how this alters the text. This helps them learn to read their names and the names of their friends. Children can return to the chart during choice time to switch names and read the text. After children have become familiar with THE NAPPING HOUSE, introduce THE FULL MOON AND THE NAPPING HOUSE. Ask children for similarities and differences between the two books. Help children recognize that although both books focus on sleeping and share the same characters (with the exception of a cricket instead of a flea in the second book), in The Full Moon at the Napping House the characters are having trouble going to sleep.

On a subsequent day, read THE NAPPING HOUSE again with the children. Pause after each page and ask them to recall the word that indicates the character is sleeping. List the characters and the sleeping words in the appropriate columns on the chart. On the following day, read THE FULL MOON AND THE NAPPING HOUSE. As each character is introduced, ask the children to recall the word that indicates that the character is not sleeping. Add those words to the column labeled "awake words."

Throughout THE NAPPING HOUSE activities, place a basket with the story props and a copy of the two books in the book area. Children can use the props to help them retell the stories as they look at the books.

The Common Core standards covered in this activity series are "Reading Standards for Literature," "Reading Standards: Foundational Skills," "Speaking and Listening Standards," and "Language Standards."

Dettagli