Blogs 
Through a grant from the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Foundation, Teaching Channel and First 5 San Francisco teamed up to film six diverse preschools across San Francisco. The resulting video series focuses on early literacy, dual language learners, science, math, social-emotional learning, and strategies for early childhood education. We’re excited to expand our Teaching Channel library to include best practices for teaching this important age group.
Early Literacy
Interactive Read Aloud
Sandra Davis engages her students in an interactive read aloud, asking comprehension questions and explaining new vocabulary. Watch how students build understanding by engaging in a dramatic reenactment of the story.
Developing Literacy Skills Through Storytelling
Sandra Davis dictates her students’ writing as they tell the stories behind their art. As they work together, Ms. Davis develops her students’ phonological awareness by pointing out the sounds and letters that she is writing.
Dual Language Learners
Developing Literacy Skills With Dual Language Learners
Carmen Ngan builds her students’ expressive and receptive language skills through reading, writing, and speaking. Notice how Ms. Ngan grows her students’ vocabularies and helps them develop an understanding of the relationship between spoken and written language.
Frontloading for English Language Learners
Carmen Ngan teaches her students new vocabulary through literature, discussion, and movement. Watch how Ms. Ngan uses Total Physical Response to engage her students in learning new words.
Developing Language Through Thematic Learning
The preschool program at Mission Neighborhood Center features a teacher-based dual language model, where students learn from English and Spanish role models. In this video, we see students working on a thematic unit about community workers while simultaneously building language skills.
Science & Math
Reasoning About Garden Observations
This video showcases a student-led lesson guided by the teacher’s use of open-ended questions. Brian Silveira has his pre-K students work in the garden, where they hone their observation skills by looking closely at plants. When an apple falls down from a tree, Brian gathers the class together to observe the apple and reason about what would happen if the apple stayed on the tree longer.
Hypothesizing About Bugs
Nadia Jaboneta has her pre-K students make hypotheses about bugs and test their hypotheses in small groups. Nadia begins by having students share their previous observations about bugs and construct hypotheses. Notice how students test these hypotheses and use evidence to support their reasoning.
Making Playdough: Mix, Measure, Describe
Lanie Igtanloc teaches her students to make playdough by measuring, mixing, and describing. Though not an explicit science lesson, students experiment to discover the effects of using more or less of key ingredients. While experimenting, Ms. Igtanloc builds her students’ language skills by having them describe their observations.
Social-Emotional Literacy
Building Emotional Literacy
Jennifer Hawkins teaches students to identify and describe feelings by reading Go Away Big Green Monster and engaging in related activities. In the video, we see students looking at themselves in mirrors and developing an understanding of what different emotions look like when expressed on faces.
Identifying Feelings
Through a read aloud, Jennifer Hawkins has her students identify and describe the feelings of fictional characters. Jennifer reads the book No David and asks her students to hold up face puppets that show the emotions of the characters in the book. Notice how this lesson helps students to develop empathy.
Strategies
These short 1-2 minute strategy videos highlight routines and procedures that help preschool classrooms run smoothly.
Stop Sign: A Conflict Resolution Tool
Think Time and Collaborative Learning
P.S. Don’t forget to check out our list of resources for early childhood education. We have compiled a list resources including organizations to check out and free resources to use in your classroom.
