Prekindergarten Building on
Patterns: Lesson Learned
Getting In Touch With Literacy
Presented by:
Luanne Blaylock, Jo Ellen Croft,
Kate Dilworth, Kay Ferrell, Cay Holbrook,
Cathy Senft-Graves, Susan Spicknall,
Anna Swenson, Robin Wingell
Agenda
Introductions
Plans and Support for the Revision of the
Building on Patterns (BOP) Curriculum
Research that guides decision-making on
BOP
Program Components and Lesson Examples
from BOP Pre-K
Building on Patterns
 Only “basal reading series” for teaching braille
reading and writing
 Building on Patterns Team
 External Writing Teams from Arkansas,
California, and Oregon (All members of the
writing teams are experienced teachers of
students with visual impairments.)
 APH Staff
 Consultants to the program
Building on Patterns Revision
 2nd Revision began immediately after
completion of BOP 2nd Grade (original
Patterns went through 3rd grade)
 Original intent to begin revising BOP
Kindergarten
 Writers and consultants determined a need
for Prekindergarten BOP to lead into
Kindergarten based on state standards and
checklists for Kindergarten entry
Building on Patterns
UEB Teacher Supplements and
Updated Student Materials
 Student textbooks and worksheets in UEB
 Posttest materials for First Grade and
Second Grade in UEB
 Free, downloadable supplements for the
existing teacher’s editions with information
on what changes need to be marked in the
teachers manual to comply with UEB
Current BOP-K Survey
 Online survey conducted 11/14/12 –
12/20/12
 75 respondents from 22 states and the US
Virgin Islands
 97% of respondents TVIs
 Participants were asked:
 What is taught in BOP-K that should be
taught in a pre-kindergarten early literacy
program?
BOP-K Survey Results:
Teach Before Kindergarten
 When asked what is taught in BOP-K that should be
taught in a Pre-K emergent literacy program, the top
three responses were:
 phonemic awareness and phonics
 the alphabet, or an introduction to the alphabet
contractions
 at least the first 12 lessons of
earlier.
BOP-K should be taught
BOP-K Survey Results:
Teach Before Kindergarten
Other specific skills that received multiple mentions:
 Spatial awareness/
 Tracking, reading
directionality: left to right;
with both hands
top, bottom, middle
 Rhyming
 Concepts/concept
 Introduction of
development
braille cell
 Tactile identification as fun
 Capital sign
activities
 Period
 Listening comprehension
 Vocabulary
The “New” Kindergarten
 Standards have pushed skills needed at
kindergarten entry
Supporting Research
 National Early Literacy Panel Report
 Common Core and Pre-K State Standards
 National Association for the Education of Young
Children (NAEYC) Early Learning Standards
 Quality Literacy Instruction Study
 Current BOP-K Survey
NELP Variables for
Literacy Development
 Alphabet knowledge
 Phonological awareness
 Rapid Automatic Naming of letters or
digits
 Rapid Automatic Naming of objects or
colors
 Writing or writing name
 Phonological memory
Kindergarten Entry Standards
 Language: Understands and expresses needs
and ideas; engages with a variety of texts (e.g.,
stories, informational text, poems)
 Print/Braille concepts: Understands how text
relates to speech; demonstrates book handling
skills; understands print/braille conventions.
 Phonological awareness: Identifies rhyming
words; discriminates same/different sounds;
blends onsets & rimes
Kindergarten Entry Standards
(continued)
 Letter/word recognition: Recognizes some or
most letters of the alphabet; recognizes name
 Phonics: Begins to understand the alphabetic
principle; matches name and sound of some
consonants to their written letter
 Writing: Writes most or all of first name;
participates in developmentally appropriate
writing using letter-like shapes, letters, and/or
words to convey meaning; begins to match initial
sounds with letters in writing.
Quality Literacy Instruction Study
Skill Areas
Emergent Braille
Literacy Skills
Consistency
Total
Time Span
Time/Day
Duration
1 to 5
days/week
1/2 to
1 hour
Infancy to
Preschool
At least one
school year
Early Formal
Literacy Skills
("prebraille")
Daily
1/2 to
1 hour
PreschoolK
At least one
school year
Beginning Braille
Literacy Skills
Daily
1-2 hours
per day
K-Grade 3
At least one
school year
Beginning Literacy
Skills in Dual
Media (Print and
Braille)
Daily
1-2 hours
per day
KGrade 3
At least one
school year
Project SLATE /Framework for Braille; Professional Consensus on Instructional Considerations for
Students in Braille Literacy Programs Koenig, A. J., & Holbrook, M. C. (2000). Assuring quality literacy instruction
in braille literacy programs. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 94(11), 677-694.
Need for BOP Pre-K
 BOP-K survey confirmed a need for Pre-K braille
literacy material
 Pre-K will be a separate curriculum as is
available in general education programs
 Maryland Common Core State Curriculum
Frameworks for Braille includes Pre-K skills
 Keeping pace with peers: many entering
kindergarteners recognize letters & numbers,
read and write their names
Selected BOP Principles
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BOP will be a part of a comprehensive program
Importance of consistent literacy instruction from
qualified TVI
Service delivery is diverse
Literacy instruction should be evidence-grounded and
on-going research should be conducted
Value of authentic literature
Concept development through literacy instruction
Connections to the ECC
Students have individual needs, likes and dislikes
Components of BOP Pre-K
 Reading and Writing Braille Letters, Numbers
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and Some UEB Math Symbols
Reading and Writing Simple Continuous Text
Interactive Read-Alouds with Authentic
Literature
Comprehension and Vocabulary
Phonological Awareness and Phonics
Knowledge and Concept Development
Tactile Skills, including Graphics
Fun, engaging activities
Pilot Field Test
 Feedback from Pre-K teachers on Lessons 2,

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3, and 4
Video examples of Pre-K children working
through parts of lessons
Length of lessons and activities within lessons
Information about service delivery impact on
completion of lessons
Sites in KY, NM, & FL; Center based and
itinerant, 7 teachers and 7+ children
Key Observations
 Stories (trade books) are interesting but some are
a little long; children responded more (and better)
to the second reading of the book
 Vocabulary words—good balance between simple
and challenging words
 Comprehension—these young children had some
difficulty with “open ended” questions and
questions that asked children to “personalize”
something in the story
Key Observations
(continued)
Children have difficulty producing written work on the
braille writer (Perkins) but teachers saw value in
ongoing practice to encourage finger strength, finger
isolation and span [writers are including consistent
practice in lessons]
 Largest issue was lesson length and consistency.
Writers have made major changes to plans for the
lessons that addresses these concerns
 Children liked songs and other enrichment activities
(The Wheels on the Bus; art projects)

Key Observations
(continued)
 Children liked the Tactile Storybooks
 Issues were discovered that needed to be
addressed in some way:
 Rhyming Words
 Comprehension Questions
 Introduction of the Swing Cell
 Enjoyment of tactile graphics symbols
 Teachers reported that even if their student has
trouble with some things (e.g., finger strength) it
is good to work on them
Pre-K Changes
Based on Field Testing
 BOP Pre-K writers have reviewed results of the pilot
field test and have worked to:
 Shorten and/or reduce the number of activities within
the lesson
 Decrease the length of the curriculum by shortening
the length of review and assessment lessons
 Attend to needed practice in areas of concern to
teachers
In Every Lesson
 Read-aloud of authentic literature story or
informational text
 Knowledge and concept development
 Listening comprehension and vocabulary
development
 Tactile storybook
 Phonological awareness and phonics
In Every Lesson
(continued)
 Letter recognition
 Recognition of common alphabetic wordsigns and
high frequency words
 Number recognition
 Reading continuous text
 Writing letters, words, and numbers using practice
exercises and a modeled/interactive technique
Benefits of Interactive Read-Alouds
Using Authentic Literature
 Children engage with the same books as their peers,
which promotes social interaction through shared
interests.
 Children learn concepts and vocabulary that cannot
be experienced directly.
 Children become familiar with the "book language"
they will be reading themselves later on.
 Children learn to use different strategies (e.g., recall,
predicting, inference) to think about the text as they
discuss it with an adult reader.
Benefits of Authentic Literature
(continued)
 Children develop an understanding of how fluent
reading sounds.
 Children learn that books contain appealing
stories and interesting information, which
contributes to a positive attitude towards literacy.
 Parents, teachers, and children gain the
understanding that reading braille is equivalent to
reading print.
Background Knowledge
 Types of background knowledge (Pearson & Liben)
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General world knowledge
Knowledge of relations among people
Disciplinary (Informational) knowledge
Knowledge of language (vocabulary; idioms; grammatical
structures)
 Young children acquire background knowledge through:
 Hands-on exploration with verbal explanation
 Oral language
 Social situations and role-playing
 Play (exploration, inquiry, & reinforcement of concepts,)
 Read-alouds
Background Knowledge
for You Be You (BOP Pre-K Lesson 4)
 Examination of real fish, model fish, & tactile graphic
 Activities relating fish body and movements to child‘s own body
 I'm a Little Fishy (Tune: I'm a Little Teapot)
I'm a little fishy, watch me swim. (Fishy Hands)
Here is my tail, here is my fin. (Point to where tail and fin
would be.)
When I want to have fun with my friends, (Point to others.)
I wiggle my tail and dive right in! (Wiggle and jump forward.)
 Fish puppet art; puppet used to practice opposites.
("Swim up/down, left/right, over/under.").
Background Knowledge
Developed with Paired Literary
and Informational Books
 Lessons 7-8
 The Very Hungry Caterpillar
 What's it like to be … a Butterfly?
 Lessons 19-20
 The Very Busy Spider
 What's it like to be … a Spider?
Additional Lesson Features
 Daily reading of alphabet
 Regular reading of numbers 1-10
 Enrichment: Music
 Other enrichment activities such as art,
movement, or sensory activities
 Parent Letter
 Letter Bank
 Integral to the content of each lesson is the
concept of play
Sample Lesson
Pete the Cat
and
His Four Groovy Buttons
by
Eric Litwin
Vocabulary
groovy: really cool; great; awesome
favorite: the one he liked best
popped: came off or fell off
buttonless: without buttons, no buttons
Tactile Storybook Cover:
Pete’s Buttons
Tactile Storybook Page
#a
3333 = 333 = 3333 = 333 = 33
3333333333333333 #d 33333333
333333333 pop 33333333333333
Fun Learning Activities!
Questions?
Please Consider Field Testing!
 APH uses the comments and recommendations
gathered from experts in the field to refine and
improve products before actual production.
 Complete form available at:
http://www.aph.org/edresearch/
 Contact Laura Zierer, Research Assistant,
lzierer@aph.org