Professional Task Literacy Experience Plans

PART 2: Planning emergent literacy experiences for small groups of children in early childhood education services.

Book One

1. Book title, author, illustrator. Your rationale for why you chose it. Full referencing details/link to YouTube book reading if available.

Kates, A. B., & Mathieu, J. (1992). We're Different, We're the Same (Sesame Street). Random.

This book was selected from Category A as one book supporting diversity and inclusion for children with a focus on multi- cultural inclusion. This book is appropriate for children aged 4 to 5 years. This book specifically aligns with the EYLFs guidelines for promoting diversity and inclusion for children in the section Respect for Diversity (2022). For instance, the EYLF emphasizes that all children are born into specific cultural contexts that are shaped by longstanding traditional practices, heritage, ancestral knowledge, and individual family and community values.

This book also leverages the popularity and childrens familiarity with the world-famous Sesame Street characters to examine the concepts of diversity and similarity in ways that young children can understand. For example, Kates describes different physical features (e.g., noses, hair and skin) to demonstrate how these attributes vary between people in ways that make them different yet still their fellow humans. This aspect of the book helps to minimize the stereotypical others categorization that plagues modern civilization.

To her credit, Kates also relates how such universal physical differences also relate to the manner in which people mutually understand the world around them through shared feelings, laughter and the overarching need for humans to love and be loved while celebrating and embracing their individual differences. In this regard, the books publishers point out that, Elmo and his Sesame Street friends help teach toddlers and the adults in their lives that everyone is the same on the inside, and its our differences that make this wonderful world, which is home to us all, an interestingand specialplace (Were Different, Were the Same, 2024). In sum, this book is a good selection for this category because it encourages children to appreciate diversity while recognizing their shared humanity.

Therefore, respecting diversity among children requires educators to integrate relevant cultural practices, values, and beliefs within the early childhood curriculum as well as recognizing the complex nature of families unique lives, including their histories, languages and traditions as well as their religions and spiritual beliefs. These are especially important considerations when teaching minority or indigenous populations which are routinely if inadvertently subjected to Western ethnocentricity in childrens literature.

2. What language/literacy skill or understanding do you want the children to learn/practise?

This well illustrated book helps children prepare for and engage in the actual reading process by learning new words by sight and understanding that words have different meanings. Likewise, this book can help improve young childrens comprehension of the inevitable similarities...

This learning objective will also provide a valuable opportunity for young children readers to improve their reading skills through the highly relevant aspects of the storyline which have universal applicability.

3. One Language and literacy learning experiences linked to the book.

Introduction how will you introduce the book to the children? Give an example of what you will say. The learning experience for Were Different, Were the Same begins with the teacher introducing the book and conducting a read-aloud session, with appropriate pauses to ask questions and highlight key words.

Will you plan some interactions/prompts while you are reading the book? Or after the book? Give examples. The next event in the sequence involves the teacher facilitating a discussion concerning the...

…discussing it including them to make predictions about the story based on what they see.

Will you plan some interactions/prompts while you are reading the book? Or after the book? Give examples. Throughout the read-aloud, the teacher uses highly expressive voices and gestures, pausing to explain new vocabulary words and asking open-ended questions to stimulate childrens imagination.

Describe the learning experience for the children. What will you do and say? What will the children do? After reading, the class engages in a group discussion about Maxs exciting adventure, feelings, and the wild things. The teacher then guides the children in creating simple Wild Thing masks using paper plates, markers, and craft materials, encouraging descriptive language as they work. Once the masks are complete, the children participate in a dramatic play session, taking turns being Max or the Wild Things, and acting out scenes from the book.

How will you conclude the experience? To conclude the Wild Things experience, the teacher encourages children to use their new vocabulary and create their own dialogue, extending the storyline into new territories.

What questions will you ask yourself to evaluate whether the experience was successful for childrens learning? The first thing to consider is how well engaged thechildren were during the introduction and read-aloud, noting their reactions to the expressive storytelling and their responses to open-ended questions. For instance, did the children demonstrate curiosity about new vocabulary words and enthusiastically participate in predictions and discussions? In addition, an assessing concerning the childrens comprehension of the storys themes and emotions would be appropriate, observing how well they articulated Maxs feelings and adventures during the group discussion. Finally, the mask-making activity would provide insights into their creativity and language development, including vocabulary additions, as well as an evaluation concerning how well extended the storyline with their…