Play-based learning is the intentional
use of engaging students actively in their learning experience. It's a deeper learning experience
for children, in which they are actively engaged, and also starting to make meaning of ideas. There are particular things we
want kids to learn, and yet, we want it to be playful
and interesting and involving. Those, to a lot of teachers, I think, seem like they're going in totally
different directions. And I don't think that's the case at all. We know play-based learning, it
actually encourages children's spatial and mathematical capacities, as well as their early literacy skills, such as the ability to tell stories
in a logical fashion. We also know that it's a key element in building executive functioning skills, or
self-regulation, and being able to monitor their
own behavior, and engage with their peers in
a meaningful way. And having teachers model that for them and support that - scaffold that engagement is really helpful in pushing that
brain development. Your standards and your student
outcomes are at the forefront of any lesson design, and you can
achieve that without worksheets. You can achieve that through play-based instruction. A play-based approach, overall,
needs to have a strong emphasis in social skills, as well. That requires a child to know how
to share, know communication skills, make eye contact when they're connecting
with their peers. It's safe. So, the safer the learning environment, the bigger the risk the child is
willing to take. Play-based learning really allows
teachers to become much more familiar, and build stronger, more positive relationships with
their students, and that they're engaging them and pulling that
experience into the classroom. Once you get past the first few
months, and you really know your students, you understand their
background, that is something that can be built into the connections
that you're making. It is important for kindergarteners
to have that hands-on activity. It's key for them to feel motivated and excited. It's important that we recognize
that four- and five-year-olds don't have the same attention spans, ability to sit for long periods
of time, ability to concentrate. You have to plan accordingly, and
that might mean something as simple as changing
the activity more often. Instead of that 20 minute lesson, maybe it's four five minute lessons
throughout the day. Just think, as a five year old,
what you would like to do is, you would like to have some fun,
some motivated learning experiences. And through the play-based literacy
centers, you will provide those. When I plan my lessons, I need
to look if I wanted to teach syllables, or letter sounds, how I'm going to transfer that into something that makes sense. They feel motivated, and they feel
fun, because the activities need to be prepared for them to feel that, to include that into their learning. We need to make sure that children, early on, learn letters and start to understand the phonological system of our language. When you're three, or four, or
five, and you're at a stage of life where you're learning dozens of
new words, every single day, as you develop from toddlerhood
to going off to school, this great explosion of vocabulary
that happens with young kids, you're not hearing - you're not
perceiving the individual sounds as much as you're focused on the
words themselves. And so, being able to get kids to focus on the sound, separate
from the meaning. I for itch, i-, i-, i-,
J for jump, j-, j- j- j- j-. You try to make it playful. You
try to make it about song and language, and so on. The research says teaching phonics
is effective with young children. And that it not only helps them then, but it continues to be beneficial. It's been measured right through
middle school and high school. The ultimate goal is, the youngster
has to be able to hear the sounds and distinguish them. I mean, when kids are first starting
out, it isn't even the phonemes. It's not those individual sounds
you hear within the word. It's the words themselves: can
you separate them out? Now, I want you to use your bubble gum and stretch all the way to the
end of the word. What is at the end of the word:
bug? Talk to your partner? The end? What's at the end? B-U-G.
What letter is that one? G! It is G. Oh, man. Students got
another point. Alright, last letter. We're listening
for the middle sound. Show me your roller coaster, remember? We're going to go middle, up, and then down. Okay. So, here's B, that's first. B-U-G - turn to your partner, what
is in the middle? Turn to your partner... Oh! What did I hit? I hit "am", so I get to come over
with my pencil. I want you to do at least the front page. So, when you're at the library, you can help tell the story of the mitten. The first animal is that brown one. It has an M for its name, it's the mole. You can find the mole and put him in. You can find - here he is. You can find the rabbit and put
him in the mitten. Readers are able to explain it
and talk about the characters, the setting, the main events in the text, which is what we saw students doing today. You know, go back and retell that
familiar story. You might have puppets or things
that came from, you know, a store, or maybe you just draw
them yourself. You have your kids draw them. You
put some things on popsicle sticks. And that's, you know, a way that
students can act out a story. Think of a young child who's listening to stories being read to him by his kindergarten teacher. And the teacher wants him to do something like retell the story later. How do you remember that? How do
you hold all those facts? Well, if you have an organizational structure, if you either can tell what it
was in the original story, or you can impose your own on it,
you're more likely to remember it. They were able to use the book
to help guide them through, and use the puppets to help retell the story and comprehend what was going on
in the actual story. You know, every couple of weeks,
we'll have a new book with a character, so that keeps
the library kind of interesting, and keeps them like, wanting to
learn and engage. With that young child, starting
to teach them that stories have certain kinds of structural components to them. There's always going to be a setting
there of some kind. That is, the author's going to
tell you when this happened, where this happened, that kind
of information. They're going to place it in time
and space. You can remember that. There's usually going to be a main character. You can remember who that character is. That character is usually going
to face some kind of a problem. And so, if you know those kinds of parts, you can start to summarize and
remember and retell, and use the information to do what
you want to do with it. Trenton, does your story have a title?
- Uh, yeah. What's the title of your story?
- Uh, a panther. A panther. The title is, "A Panther". The children are really learning a lot of great comprehension skills when
they act out a story. The author of the story is having
to think about the narrative structure and sort
of how it will progress. And as I take the dictation, I
can help him sort of structure his story so that it makes sense. I can ask questions and clarify
a little bit so that he gets his ideas clear, and we can make
sure the story makes some sense. So, Jacob, why don't you scoot over here so you can be part of the audience.
- Do we need a setting? Do we need the setting? Oh. Where does it go? He just goes - I don't know.
- He goes on vacation. And trampoline!
- And a trampoline park. We have two settings. The actors that are the children
that are portraying the characters in the story really
have to infer the meaning when they're acting it out. So, they have to make some assumptions as they go, and infer where the author was
going with his story. Now, he bumps his head. And he goes to the doctor. Okay, did the doctor check him out?
- Yeah. Okay, what happened?
- And he just goes on the vacation. The panther did? He just go on vacation. Okay, fly together to vacation.
- The audience, too, has to derive meaning from the
story as they're listening to it. And they're helping each other,
if an actor kind of freezes up in his character role,
the audience is jumping in and telling him what he should do next, and helping him sort of follow
the plot of the story. He called out, red lion!
- Red lion! And the airplane crashed. And there was a fire. Crash, Aaron!
- What should you do? Look at - look at the author. He's giving you an idea. And there was a fire. And they come back to life.
- Who came back to life? An airplane.
- Oh. And the airplane came back to life! The end. Nice job. It is a piece of paper and a pen.
And a group of children. I have done this in the hallway
while we're waiting to get drinks. I have done it in the gym while
we're waiting for an assembly to end. It's an activity that you can do
at any time and at any place. That dramatic play has a huge increase
in literacy development, comprehension, vocabulary recognition, recall of events, sequencing of events. It also deepens their vocabulary
and thinking about using words, such as setting, such as the storyline, the author, and understanding the implications of that, and the different roles that people
have within each book. So, not only are we building their
cognitive capabilities, but also starting to build empathy, as well as other social emotional
skills, and engagement with peers, which is pivotal to early development. Play-based learning helps bring
literacy concepts to life through actually having children engage and tell their own stories, and
connecting it to their community, their families, their own experiences. So, asking children to act out
a story will actually show a lot of what they've experienced
and what they bring to the classroom, and how they actually are understanding
what's happening, and their comprehension of the
story in and of itself. I actually think about the play
driving the academics. We definitely have academic components
tied to state standards that we meet and we assess three
times a year. But for me, the play is really
the driving factor. This play is very intentional.
It's not just free choice, which is important, but it's also
very intentional of, here's what I want these students
to learn as a result of the standards that I must teach
for this grade level. But how can I get there in an innovative way? And that's play-based instruction. You always have to worry about
your audience. And so, if I'm teaching a group
of five-year-olds, they're going to be wiggling in
two and a half minutes. And so, I have to deliver it in a way that the audience is going to hear it, that the audience is going to gain from it. It doesn't always have to be some
esoteric, complicated, oh, it's going to take me a long
time to prepare for this lesson. It could just be as simple as,
how are you going to have the kids respond to the question, and that
could be very active, or playful, or funny, or silly, whatever. Kids need to get up, they need
to use their body. Like, I will often tell my students,
when we use our eyes, our mouth, our body, our brain,
we learn it better. One more thing that really helps
in having children play in meaningful ways is to model for them how to use the materials, and how
to use the centers. Playing demonstrates rule following, turn-taking, reciprocal conversations, interacting
with peers, helping one another. Those basic foundational skills
that we want our students to walk in the door having, play provides. I think a lot of teachers are hesitant
to try play-based learning, primarily because it means a release of control, or a concern about behavioral management. But what actually occurs is, as
children get used to the idea of play-based learning, and the
modeling is happening with teachers, there's actually a decrease in
disciplinary issues. In all honesty, you just need the
resources that you have in front of you, and it's thinking
about approaching it differently. Taking informal visits to their classrooms before and after schools, checking
out what we're doing, talking about it at lunch time,
sharing materials, sharing ideas. I'll walk in their classroom, like,
ah, what did you do for that? So, I kind of sometimes just look
in their room, and I'm like, that looks great. What did you do? Where did you get it? Like, how can I do it? The best thing you can do is go
and try some of these ideas out. Start slow. Take that chance, and
let go of control. Something new takes time for children
to adjust to. And so, I would give it a week,
give it a month, don't stop after the first day;
what you'll start to discover is, once those expectations become clear, there'll be the deeper understanding,
and you'll have children, at the end of the day, not wanting to leave. My advice is just to start. Don't be afraid. You will love it.
- If it fails, it's okay. You're never going to go wrong
when you're playing. Trust the kids, and follow their lead.
