by Jolanta Maria Nitoslawska-Romer, M.Ed.
International Director of Academic Affairs, BE+Live
In my previous blog about online classes for preschool children ( Oct 2, 2020), I offered some tips about synchronous learning. Today, the focus will mainly be on asynchronous learning.
There are daily Zoom classes in many preschools where most children and a parent or tutor log on, and the whole class meets together. Then several things can happen, depending on the school.
In some cases, online whole class sessions continue for an hour or two. Unfortunately, this is not the best option, despite some pressure from families to have the children watching and listening, as well as “doing things” with the teacher for a good portion of the morning. Research does say that screen time should be kept to a minimum in preschool and that the focus should be on movement, play, and hands-on activities.
In most cases, preschools know that it’s best to have a short session to connect with the children, and then show them what to do, get them up and moving and then check back, in small groups, so that the kids have space and time to share with one another or with the teacher. Towards the end of the “school day”, the teacher and kids may get together one more time to have a sing-along, or a story read, or some kind of closure activity. This all depends on the school and the parents.
Other preschools feel that checking in three times a day: morning meeting, small group, and good-bye sessions is too much for many parents or home care-takers. They prefer two or three weekly whole class meetings, daily small group check-ins and some kind of parent lists or instructions of what to do with the children each day. Some schools also have weekly storytimes or sing-alongs for one or two classes, which seem to be very popular. Quite a few schools have prepared home activity kits with flashcards, laminated work mats, and some sensorial or fine motor materials, and have had them delivered in some way to each child’s home.
Much is being written, and most articles agree that keeping screen time to a minimum is best for this age group. Schools want to make sure that they are supporting parents and making it as easy as possible for them to help their youngest children remain engaged and learning as much as possible. Many parents are also realizing that it’s not that easy to keep the little ones engaged and focused and are reevaluating the roles that preschool teachers have always played.
So what about asynchronous learning? In this category, many schools include a variety of thoughtful, educational videos, printable lessons, and activities to support ongoing learning. Storybook reading, gross-motor activities (for small spaces), science, math, music, art, movement, and other skill-building activities are all included in some kind of asynchronous resource library which can either be housed in a teacher’s Google or One-Drive, in a school’s LMS site or e-mailed to all parents. There are many possibilities.
The best short educational videos for preschool quickly model activities that children can then continue doing for a longer period of time. Since the video can be watched over and over again, the modeling of the activity should be short, clear, and to the point. This is not about doing it together with the child who is watching, but rather, showing them what to do and then sending them off to do it and to practice. You may then focus on a finished product such as an illustrated poster of vocabulary words, or a booklet of ten-frame math problems or a series of pictures or photos of a science experiment. It can also be a booklet of favorite sentences from several stories, or a timeline of family members. Showing them an example or two of a finished product may be the way to go, as long as it’s clear that you do not expect them to copy it, but it can give them and their parents an idea of how to go about it. The main thing is to engage the children, get them moving, thinking, and learning as they play.
One of the hardest things is to balance the fun aspect with real learning outcomes. How do I set goals and then “measure” learning? In my mind, it is important to be clear about the learning objectives, not for every video, but to be aware of the progression of skills in the learning process. Each child learns at a different rate and even in a different way, so the advantage of an asynchronous video is that families can watch it and move on faster or slower depending on the pace of their own child. This is why focusing on a product is always important, but also allowing the child to figure out and change it, and be creative about it. Please! No more, “This is the way you need to do this!” . For teachers, as well as for parents, simple rubrics or checklists can be helpful for showing progress.
Yes, schools can also provide instruction sheets, printable lessons with photos for asynchronous learning. Think about lists and links to generic activities such as read-alouds or sing-alongs on many web sites. Scholastic is one publisher that is allowing for their books to be read aloud to students during this time. Click here to check out their website for all of the details. Penguin Random House is another publisher allowing for virtual read-alouds. Click here to check out further guidelines from Penguin Random House. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers is no exception to the virtual read-alouds. Click here to check out the full set of guidelines from LBYR.
Yet, it seems to me that personalized short videos or longer ones with two or even three activities will interest children more, as they are made by THEIR OWN teacher, especially for them. So do take the risk of making your own videos. Instead of reading a book, though you can do that too, retell the story in simpler words, looking at the pictures. Use some key vocabulary words from your BE+Live program and show them how to make their own picture dictionary. Sing and act out a song: they can then practice on their own. Afterward, you all do it together in a whole class session. Ask them to send you pictures with words or sentences – it can be invented spelling- about the topic you are studying together. Model a science experiment, solve a math problem, and ask them to invent others and send you the evidence. Think of what they can do on their own!
And let us know how you are doing, share some videos with us, and tell us what you would need to be even more successful with your online preschool classes.
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Some references and resources:
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