Background: The New York State Migrant Education Program Technical Assistance & Support Center (NYS-MEP TASC) conducted two (2) years of an Item Analysis of the NYS-MEP Early Childhood Academic Tool (ECA) used by Migrant Education Tutorial and Support Services (METS) program centers. This process identified six (6) persistent areas of challenge:
- Emergent Reading
- Counting
- Identifying Shapes
- Emergent Writing
- Scissors Skills
- Use of Prepositions
NYS-MEP TASC met with experienced Early Childhood Educators from the METS program centers to brainstorm their routines, activities, and literature themes they use to engage preschoolers and their parents. Everyone agreed that
- there isn’t time to focus on every skill in one lesson; and
- every lesson must have a story and a focus on emergent reading skills.
The Sample Lessons follow a template and provide core lessons and resources an Educator can use to start with, and build upon as gaining experience.
RESOURCES:
Introduction to Planning for Early Childhood Lessons – This document starts with guiding principles for building an early childhood lesson plan. Then puts these guiding principles into a lesson plan format, walking the reading through the real-life examples from the experienced Early Childhood Educators from the METS program centers.
Early Childhood Templet for 30-Minute Lesson: NYS-MEP TASC uses this template in each sample lesson. Educators can use the blank template for planning additional lessons. This fillable form can be printed and written on or filled in from the computer first.