QUERY: KINDERGARTEN CURRICULUM ACTIVITES.

[Paula Neale <PLNeale@AOL.COM>]

Colleagues,
I hope that those of you online during the summer will bear with me here.  My
task is to write an Information literacy curriculum specifically for
kindergarten.  The state of Missouri is implementing a state assessment tool
based on 4 general goals and 35 standards within those goals.  I am to
generate a library related activity to address each of those standards along
with a list of resources and a suggested assessment.  I am finding it
difficult, mainly because I think the main function of the library in
kindergarten should be to introduce the students to lots and lots of stories.
 I do pay attention to elements of fiction and especially to relating the
story to their own experiences, but I don't think they are developmentally
ready to tackle some of the higher order skills I am to address, and I think
it's painful for both the kids and me to try to force them to do so.
However the curriculum has to be done within the next week, so...
Here are some standards I am struggling with getting down to k level:
GENERAL GOAL: ACQUIRE THE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS TO SOLVE PROBLEMS.
Specific objectives where I could use your creative ideas.

1. Evaluate the processes used in recognizing and solving problems

2. Reason inductively from a set of specific facts and deductively from
general premises

3. Examine problems and proposed solutions from multiple perspectives.

4. Evaluate the extent to which a strategy addresses the problem

5. Assess costs, benefits and other consequences of proposed solutions.

What I am asking you for are suggestions of specific titles you can think of
which would be accessible as read alouds for kindergarten which could be used
to address these objectives.  I would like books where there is a specific
and simple problem which the characters try to solve in several ways until
success is finally achieved.  Some I have thought of which don't quite fill
the bill are

Harold and the Purple Crayon
Bunny Cakes by wells
Bread and Jam for Francis

I have a lot of animal stories and folktales in this 'curriculum' already. I
am thinking I need some realistic stories with real children.  I am trying to
avoid the Arthur books as they are used so extensively in the classroom.



Of course if you have any specific activities to recommend that would be
great as well.

Here are c couple of examples:
For the standard "Develop and apply strategies based on ways others have
prevented or solved problems".  My activity is to read and view several
stories about characters who get lost.  --Cohen's Lost in the Museum, Sauer's
Mike's House, Angus Lost from Good Times Video, Shelia Rae the Brave, etc.
After this the students would get in a circle and pass a "talking stick" to
tell about times they have been lost and what they did or to tell how they
could use the same strategy used in the story if they were lost in a
particular place.  Eventually they would draw a picture illustrating one
strategy.

For the standard "Develop and apply strategies based on one's own experience
in preventing or solving problems,"  my activity is to use the video "The
Magic Book" and then to send the students home with a letter to be discussed
with their parents and signed by them and their parents specifying a safe
place at home to keep their library books.

Thanks in advance for any marvelous ideas you may have.  I have a huge list
of websites where there are lesson plans and also several books including
Mike Eisenberg's Curriculum Integration, Alice Yucht's Flip it, and the Iowa
City Guide from Neal Schuman, so I don't need suggestions along those lines.
My problem is too much information to get through in the time I have to get
this job done.  I don't know  how I'm going to teach the kids to filter
information efficiently if I have so much trouble doing it myself.

Paula Neale, LMS
Ingels Elementary School
Kansas City, MO  64134
816-761-4343
plneale@aol.com

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