Introduction to CKLA for PreK: Session 5 – Listening &
Learning
Sequence of Sessions
Overarching Objectives of this February 2013 Network Team Institute
This session is the first training for CKLA-PreK. At the conclusion of this session,
1.
All participants will be able to accurately identify the instructional and support materials (e.g., cards, posters) required for
implementation of Preschool CKLA.
2.
Participants will be able to identify areas of the daily routine employed by CKLA-PreK.
a. Preschool educators will be able to identify adjustments / shifts that can be made to their current practices, routines, and
schedules to support Preschool CKLA.
b. Administrators will consider additional program level shift that will support classroom educators as they make
adjustments / shifts at the classroom level.
3.
All participants will learn and practice language stimulation and support strategies to support high-quality adult-child
interactions within implementation of Preschool CKLA.
High-Level Purpose of this Session

The purpose of this session is to orient partcipants to the CKLA-PreK materials, portions of the day, and best practices for implementation.
Related Learning Experiences

This is the first PD for the CKLA-PreK program. Participants can prepare for this session by viewing the CKLA-PreK Overview Webinar.
Session Outcomes
What do we want participants to be able to do as a result of this session?
Session Objective(s): (Teachers and Principals)
1. Participants will gain familiarity with the structure of the "Listening & Learning" portion of the CKLA-PreK daily
routine
2. Participants will gain familiarity with the scope and sequence of the Listening & Learning strand, including key
concepts of domain based instruction and support for coherence within and across grades.
3. Participants will describe how the read-aloud and picture talk work together to support language and concept
How will we know that
they are able to do this?
In-session activities
development.
Session Description: Participants will learn the design principles behind the Listening & Learning strand and begin to
develop an understanding of how a content rich curriculum supports language and literacy development. Participants
will consider the general pacing and scope and sequence of Listening and Learning lesson types for Preschool CKLA.
Participants will focus deeply on two lesson types (read-aloud and picture talk) and will gain practice of key
instructional strategies used within varied lessons. Participants will also consider how adjustments may be made
within current practices to support Preschool CKLA.
Session Overview
Section
Time
Overview of the
lesson format
10
Importance of
Vocabulary
15
Model Reading
20
Additional
Vocabulary
Supports
40
Session Roadmap
Overview
Prepared Resources
CKLAPreKListening&Learning.ppt
In this section, you will present
the layout of the listening &
All About Me Teacher Guide
learning lesson type.
(participants are to have brought this)
In this section, you will present
CKLAPreKListening&Learning.ppt
background on vocabulary
development and how some
All About Me Teacher Guide
vocabulary is addressed in CKLA- (participants are to have brought this)
PreK.
In this section, you will present a
model L&L reading and discuss
CKLAPreKListening&Learning.ppt
how the reading supports
vocabulary development based on All About Me Teacher Guide
(participants are to have brought this)
what was learned in the last
section.
In this section, you will present
additional ways that L&L supports CKLAPreKListening&Learning.ppt
vocabulary development and
All About Me Teacher Guide
provide participants with an
opportunity to practice the Picture (participants are to have brought this)
Talk.
Facilitator Preparation
Section:
Time:
[10 minutes] In this section, you will present the layout of the
listening & learning lesson type.
Materials used include:
CKLAPreKListening&Learning.ppt
All About Me Teacher Guide (participants are to have brought this)
Time
Slide #/ Pic of Slide
Script/ Activity directions
Key Points:
1. A main focus of CKLA Preschool is developing young students’ oral language skills,
including their vocabulary and narrative skills. Oral language skills are the foundation for
listening comprehension during the preschool years and reading comprehension in the
later grades.
2. In CKLA Preschool, oral language skills are modeled and practiced as teachers read
aloud to students and engage them in rich, content related discussions. Students build
content knowledge and vocabulary by listening to developmentally appropriate texts that
build in complexity across the preschool year.
3. Students are also given the opportunity to practice using the language they are hearing by
participating in meaningful content-related activities and discussions throughout the
school day.
Key Points:
1. <click>At-a-Glance chart for listening & learning indicates the parts of the lesson
<click>, the group format <click>, the pacing <click>, and the materials needed.
2. <click>Each interactive read-aloud is preceded by a brief introduction to the content that
will be addressed in the text.
3. By intentionally introducing the read-aloud, teachers help students make connections to
things they already know, introduce words or ideas that might be unfamiliar, and help
students make predictions.
4. <click>Teachers always end the introduction by giving students a specific purpose for
listening to the read-aloud.
GROUP
Key Points:
1. Teachers present read-alouds <click> to the entire class by reading the text from the
Teacher Guide and showing the accompanying images in the Flip Book <click>.
2. Preschool read-alouds are designed to be interactive—meaning that teachers engage
students in a conversation about the text, as the read-aloud is delivered.
3. Teachers conducting interactive read-alouds pause frequently to allow students to
‘interact’ with the text by sharing their own ideas, answering questions, or moving their
bodies.
4. You’ll find ideas for interactive reading supports in the gray boxes under the text.
5. We will learn more about these later today.
6. Teachers present trade books by reading from the book using the Teacher Guide as
support.
Section:
Time:
Key Points:
1. After each interactive read-aloud or trade book reading, there are two or three teacher-led
activities designed to help students engage with the core content of each text. Typically,
these activities progress from less to more difficult by requiring students to first use
receptive language skills, then expressive language skills, and finally to refer back to the
text to respond.
2. These activities provide excellent opportunities for teachers to quickly gauge whether
students have grasped key concepts of the text they just heard.
3. The Big Idea provides an opportunity to discuss the read aloud.
4. <click> Some questions review content, and <click> some review vocabulary.
Key Points:
1. Extension activities provide opportunities for teachers to reinforce and for students to
apply content knowledge presented in the read-alouds.
2. These activities are designed to be conducted by the teacher or classroom aide during
Learning Center time across a period of 3–5 days.
3. Since these activities cover certain Core Content and Language Arts Objectives, it is
important that every student have an opportunity to participate in each activity.
4. Teachers are active facilitators of extension activities in that they provide the appropriate
materials and model and facilitate the language needed to complete an activity.
Nevertheless, these activities are intended to be primarily child-led.
5. That is, once the general instructions have been explained, the teacher strategically
supports students’ learning by a) following the students’ lead, b) scaffolding their
language, and c) providing content-related information.
Key Points:
1. The extension activity on p. 63 illustrates another feature of CKLA-PreK.
2. There are notes in the margins that document opportunities to use the language support
strategies we learned earlier and provide guidance on setting up learning centers to
reinforce the concepts in the read-aloud.
3. You will also find a variety of other “teaching tips” in the margins.
Key Points:
1. Finally, remember, the core content and language arts objectives are located at the
beginning of each day’s lessons.
2. Understanding the objectives will allow NYS educators, who know their students best, to
make sound decisions about adaptations, extensions, and supports.
Section:
Time:
[15 minutes] In this section, you will present background on
Materials used include:
CKLAPreKListening&Learning.ppt
vocabulary development and how some vocabulary is addressed in
CKLA-PreK.
All About Me Teacher Guide (participants are to have brought this)
Time
Slide #/ Pic of Slide
Script/ Activity directions
Key Points:
•
Vocabulary learning takes place primarily through implicit exposure rather than
explicit instruction.
• This example serves as an expedited model of how word learning occurs.
Presenter’s Notes:
1. Ask participants if they can read the word on the screen.
2. Many of them will be able to decode the word, but how many of them know the
meaning of the word?
3. Demonstrate how word learning occurs through repeated exposure using the following
examples:
• To calculate fuel efficiency, the aerospace engineers needed an accurate
estimation of excrescence drag caused by the shape of plane’s cabin.
GROUP
•
Excrescences on the valves of the heart have been known to cause a
stroke.
• The wart, a small excrescence on his skin, had made Jeremy selfconscious for years.
• At the far end of the bay was what, at first glance, I thought was a huge
domed building but then saw was an excrescence from the cliff itself.
4. The typical 4-year-old has a vocabulary of 1500-1600 words. A typical high-school
student graduates with vocabulary of about 40,000 words.
5. So, how do children learn those 38,000+ words between PreK and college?
Key Points:
•
•
•
Repetition is key to vocabulary learning
Learning words in context makes word learning more efficient.
Staying on topic, as the Listening and Learning strand does, facilitates word
learning.
Presenter’s Notes:
1. Research tells us a great deal about efficient vocabulary learning. For instance:
2. Most vocabulary is learned implicitly.
3. Word learning is most efficient when the reader (listener) already understands the
context well.
4. Tiny gains on a dozen words is more efficient than large gains on just one word at a
time.
5. Staying on topic provides the context and repetition that fosters implicit learning of
vocabulary. Staying on topic brings with it the language and vocabulary associated with
the topic.
Key Points:
1. Core Vocabulary words and definitions are included in each Teacher Guide and are
intended to provide teachers with child-friendly ways to teach key words to young
children.
2. Teachers might use these words and definitions in a variety of ways. A teacher might
refer to them when planning interactive Read-Alouds, and telling students the given
definition as she reads aloud. If teachers are unsure how to define particular words in a
child-friendly way, the core vocabulary definitions give examples of how to do so. If
there are other words not included in the list that students need to learn, teachers might
model their own definitions and example sentences after those given in the Teacher
Guide.
3. Teachers are not expected to define every word that they think may be unfamiliar to
students, or even every word included as Core Vocabulary. Teachers should define words
that are central to the meaning of a particular Read- Aloud, particularly as that word
relates to Core Content addressed in the domain. In this way, students’ vocabulary
knowledge is built in a systematic way centering around domain-related content.
4. It should be noted that the inclusion of the words on this list does not indicate that
students are expected to use these words on their own. Repeated exposure throughout the
day, in activities such as Read-alouds, nursery rhymes, and Picture Talks, will provide
students many opportunities to hear and understand these words. Encountering these
words throughout the day will provide the contextual experiences students need to add
words to their own vocabularies.
Key Points:
•
•
Words about a topic are connected in a network.
Connections among words are facilitated by materials, like the Listening and
Learning strand, that are written explicitly to tell a story for the purpose of
knowledge and vocabulary building.
Presenter’s Notes:
1. When I read a passage or hear text, the words begin to connect. One word made me
think of other related words.
2. What we are doing here is visually showing how networks or webs of words begin
building. Obviously we are not showing every word we can. These are the Core
Vocabulary Words for All About Me.
3. Nor are we showing how the words that are ‘activated’ in your brain when you hear a
story or paragraph also link to other words in your brain.
4. But we want to give you a flavor of how connections among words are facilitated by
materials that are written explicitly to tell a story for the purpose of knowledge and
vocabulary building.
5. The network of words grow fast and are intensely interconnected.
Transition: Let’s demonstrate more by reading from I Am Special.
Section:
Time:
[20 minutes] In this section, you will present a model L&L reading
and discuss how the reading supports vocabulary development
based on what was learned in the last section.
Materials used include:
CKLAPreKListening&Learning.ppt
All About Me Teacher Guide (participants are to have brought this)
Model Reading from I Am Special (p. 54)
SHOW FLIP BOOK PAGE 1-1: Cross-legged girl and boy
Girls are special. Boys are too.
Sisters and brothers; friends like you.
Have students raise hands to show whether they are girls or boys, and whether they have sisters
or brothers.
“Raise your hand if you are a boy. Raise your hand if you are a girl.
Raise your hand if you have a sister. Sisters are girls.
Raise your hand if you have a brother. Brothers are boys.”
SHOW FLIP BOOK PAGE 1-2: Three different families
Moms are special. Dads are too.
Aunts, uncles, grandparents, too.
Point to the mother in the picture.
“This is a mom. Are moms girls or boys?”
Point to the father in the picture.
“This is a dad. Are dads girls or boys?”
SHOW FLIP BOOK PAGE 1-3: Eight different children
What makes you special?
What makes you, You?
Point to the children in the pictures as you describe what makes them special.
“There are a lot of children on this page who are all special because they are different. This girl
is special because she has beautiful red hair. This girl is special because she is missing her front
teeth! What else is special about the children on this page?”
Talk about eye color, hair color, clothing, etc.
SHOW FLIP BOOK PAGE 1-4: Baby
Every baby is different. Each one is brand new.
Babies are humans; preschoolers are too.
Humans are people like you and like me.
But no two are the same, as you shall soon see.
Explain the meaning of the word humans.
“We just heard that preschoolers are humans—just like babies. Humans is another word for
people.
Raise your hand if you are a preschooler.
All preschoolers are people, right? Humans is another word for people.
So raise your hand if you’re a human.”
SHOW FLIP BOOK PAGE 1-5: Five different people
All humans are special; each one of a kind
Each human thinks with his very own mind
All humans have bodies, from head down to toe.
But each one looks different, isn’t that so?
Some old. Some young. Tall, short—in between.
Some bending. Some straight. And some with a lean.
Point to baby in green shoes.
“This Baby is young.”
Point to woman with walker.
“This woman is older.”
Point to other people and describe them.
Key Points:
1. Look at the Interactive Listening Supports.
2. What were some of the ways that vocabulary was introduced or reinforced during the
reading?
3. In CKLA-PreK we use a variety of techniques to draw children’s attention to vocabulary
during the reading.
4. Sometimes we introduce new words, like “human”
5. Sometimes we clarify word meanings and concepts, like “special.”
6. Sometimes we make picture-to-word connections like “old” and “young.”
Key Points:
•
•
Words about a topic are connected in a network.
Connections among words are facilitated by materials, like the Listening and
Learning strand, that are written explicitly to tell a story for the purpose of
knowledge and vocabulary building.
Presenter’s Notes:
1. When I read that passage, the words began to connect. One word made me think of
other related words.
2. Again, what we are doing here is visually showing how networks or webs of words
begin building. Obviously we are not showing every word we can. But now in addition to
the Core Vocabulary, we have added other related words from the story.
3. The network of words grew fast and is intensely interconnected.
Transition: Let’s look at some of the ways CKLA-PreK facilitates this growth.
Key Points:
1. The intentionality of vocabulary support continues across domains.
2. <click> If you look at a few of the Core Vocabulary words from the “Family” domain,
you see some places where these words might connect to the All About Me web.
3. <click> If you look further at the “Animals” domain, you see more opportunities to
connect and expand the web,
4. <click> And so on with the “Plants” domain,
5. Creating a connected, rather than random, vocabulary experience.
6. Learn new words, take on new concepts, dig more deeply—take from familiar concepts
with words they know and look into the broader world to build larger understanding.
This is how we go from all about me to the connections in the larger world, by
strengthening the web and creating connections that allow them to think more deeply
about the larger world and more abstract concepts.
7. Incrementally, strong, relationships
Section:
Time:
[40 minutes] In this section, you will present additional ways that
L&L supports vocabulary development and provide participants
with an opportunity to practice the Picture Talk.
Materials used include:
Time
Slide #/ Pic of Slide
Script/ Activity directions
CKLAPreKListening&Learning.ppt
All About Me Teacher Guide (participants are to have brought this)
GROUP
Key Points:
1. Take a look at pages 61-62.
2. How are the Big Idea discussion questions providing additional opportunities for
vocabulary learning?
Key Points:
1. Another way that CKLA-PreK provides repeated exposure to vocabulary (and content) is
through Picture Talks.
2. Picture Talks are presented the day after students hear original Read- Alouds. They
provide opportunities for repeated exposure to vocabulary and content that students heard
during interactive group readings.
3. Although Picture Talks are designed to be facilitated by the teacher, they are also meant
to give students many opportunities to use the vocabulary and talk about the content that
they heard the day before during the interactive Read-Aloud.
4. Teachers are encouraged to respond to and elaborate on any ideas that students contribute
during a Picture Talk.
5. During a Picture Talk, teachers present a sub-set of the original Flip Book images that
students encountered during the interactive Read-Aloud. The chosen images are designed
to focus teachers’ and students’ attention on the central content or to review more
challenging vocabulary from the original text.
6. For all Picture Talks, suggested language is provided so that teachers can create
opportunities to enrich students’ understanding of the original text. Additionally, teachers
are requested to re-read particular passages from the original text and guide students’
understanding of these passages.
7. Like the interactive group Read-Alouds, it is imperative that teachers read the Picture
Talk and become familiar with the prompts used to engage students before conducting the
Picture Talk.
I Am Special
Note: Not every Flip Book page is shown during the Picture Talk. You might find it helpful to use
sticky notes to flag the pages of the Flip Book that are shown.
The Picture Talk is an opportunity for students to remember and practice using the language and
vocabulary they heard during the previous read- aloud. As you show the Flip Book pages and read
the prompts below, encourage students to talk about the pictures and share information.
Remember the following Language Support Techniques (see General Overview) as you support
students in participating in the Picture Talk: Comments, Self-Talk, Labels and Object
Descriptions, Open Questions, Parallel Talk, Expansion, and Expansion Plus.
Å SHOW FLIP BOOK PAGE 1-1: Cross-legged girl and boy.
• Have students share things that make them special, like their hair color or the language they
speak.
“We are going to talk about the pictures you saw yesterday and the things you remember hearing
about the pictures. Remember, this read-aloud is about all the things that make us special or
unique. What are some things that make you special? Think about the things we talked about. You
could share about the color of your hair, the things you like to do, or your favorite food.”
Key Points:
1. Select a partner.
2. Work in pairs, to practice the Picture Talk, alternating the “teacher” role at each change
in flip book page.
3. If the “teacher” creates an opportunity, the partner should respond as a “child” might.
4. Challenge each other to use at least one language support strategy per turn.
Key Points:
1.
Debrief with participants to see how it went and which language support strategies they
were able to use.
Key Points:
1. Vocabulary support continues after each Picture Talk, as students receive explicit
vocabulary instruction designed to deepen their understanding of a particular word or
group of words. This explicit vocabulary instruction is in addition to the rich, implicit and
explicit vocabulary instruction embedded in the Read-alouds and Picture Talks.
2. During Deepening Understanding, teachers remind students of a word they heard in the
Read-Aloud, give a definition of that word, and then expand students’ knowledge of that
word. Finally, students have the opportunity to use the word themselves in a meaningful
context.
3. Students’ vocabulary knowledge is intentionally expanded by introducing related words
or concepts that students did not necessarily encounter in the Read-Aloud, but are
beneficial for students’ understanding of Read-Aloud content or of a particular word.
4. For example, students might have heard the word inside during a Read-Aloud, and they
might learn its opposite (i.e., outside) during Deepening Understanding; or, students
might learn the word shelter during a Read-Aloud, and then learn words related to shelter
(e.g., protect, temperature, weather, live, safe, bed, house, igloo, etc.) during Deepening
Understanding.
Key Points:
1. As we mentioned earlier, our primary goal today is to build your knowledge of the
CKLA-PreK program so that you can make informed decisions about how you will use
the program.
2. Let’s take a break to reflect on your current read aloud time, shifts that may be required
to incorporate the elements of CKLA-PreK Listening & Learning, and challenges or
constraints to implementation.
3. If you are an administrator, or preschool director, please approach this reflection from a
program level. What should you notice when you observe an L&L read-aloud in action?
How will you support teachers in mastering and using language support strategies during
read alouds?
Use the following icons in the script to indicate different learning modes.
Video
Reflect on a prompt
Turnkey Materials Provided

See handouts
Additional Suggested Resources

none
Active learning
Turn and talk