In a full day workshop for our Providers at City View Home Child Care they learned about the Early Learning for Every Child Today framework before participating in activities while connected them to E.L.E.C.T. principles, root skills and domains. Through hands on activities and hand outs we encouraged them to embrace E.L.E.C.T. and think about the everyday things they do with the children and how it relates to E.L.E.C.T.. The Providers came up with many of their own ideas and activities and connected them to E.L.E.C.T. as well.
Going forward, we will be handing out new additional activity sheets on a regular basis and going over them with the Providers during our home visits. It is our intent to also hold evening sessions this fall for those who could not attend the Saturday session.
Activities are divided amongst age groups, then one activity for each domain was done with the Providers at the Saturday workshop. Here is a sample of one activity sheet we distributed and did with them:
Early Learning for Every Child Today
City View Centre for Child & Family Services Home Child Care
Provider Activity Sheet
AGE: 3 to 4 years of age
DOMAIN: COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE & LITERACY
ACTIVITY: First Letter Boxes
Items needed: Small boxes (shoe box size) labelled for a particular letter of the alphabet, small items that start with the letter on the box. For example: The letter "P": purple crayon, plastic pickle, toy pig, play dough, princess doll, toy pots and pans, toy pirate etc.
DOMAIN SKILL: LETTER RECOGNITION (3.11)
INDICATORS OF THE SKILL: (Look for these things children may do). Child will identify (recognize) the letter that begins their names and it's sound. Children will pick out other words that begin with the same letter or sound as their names. Children will begin to identify (recognize) a few consonant letter-sound correspondences in words in familiar rhymes.
INTERACTIONS: (This is what to do and what happens when you do this activity repeatedly-over and over again). Give the children 2 to 3 boxes at a time, using the letters that are the same as the letter that starts with their name. let them explore the contents. Ask them questions about what is in the box, what sound does it start with, what else starts with that sound?
OBSERVATIONS: (Ask yourself) What happened when you did this activity with the children? What happened when you did this activity repeatedly (over and over again) with the children? What other activities can you think of that would help children increase their ability to recognize letters & letter sounds?
PROVIDER NOTES: (space is provided at the bottom of each activity sheet for the Provider to add notes or ideas if they wish to).
