NEWSLETTER
November 2016
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who
points out how the strong man stumbles, or where
the doer of the deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred
by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly…who at best knows in the
end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least
fails while daring greatly.
–President Theodore Roosevelt
Citizenship in a Republic (Man in the Arena Speech)
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n this month’s FOCUS on Young Children’s
Learning Newsletter our professional development
topic is the LETRS Training and effective practices
in literacy. We also feature the revised NM PreK/
FOCUS lesson plan. In our What’s in it for me?
section we provide hyperlinks to One Page
Resources from the NM PreK website for teachers
and administrators. Our Consultant Spotlight
features one of our new consultants, Kathy Bishop.
In the Bright Spots article there are stories from
the field of how inclusion is working for children
and staff in New Mexico preschool classrooms and
a hyperlink to the New Mexico Early Childhood
Guide for Inclusion Birth-5. We hope you enjoy
this issue of the FOCUS on Young Children’s
Learning Newsletter.
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In This Issue
Outstanding Educator Awards
LETRS Training Opportunity
Revised Lesson Plan
What’s in it for me?
Bright Spots
Consultant Spotlight
References
President Theodore Roosevelt’s message of
working hard to achieve something important
despite the critics and despite the hard work involved is as true today as it was in 1910. The NM
PED FOCUS chose President Roosevelt’s speech
as an inspiration for the type of educator we
wanted to recognize with The NM Public Education Department FOCUS Tiered Quality Rating
and Improvement System Outstanding Educator
Award. This year’s recipient is Ms. Rhonda Attaway, Principal at the Career and Technology
Education Center (CATE) in Farmington, NM.
This award recognizes exemplary public school
preschool programs in New Mexico. The award
plaque states: In Appreciation for Daring Greatly
to Provide High Quality Early Childhood Education and Inclusive Practices for All Children.
University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center/ CDD / University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service
Congratulations!
Mrs. Attaway is a seasoned special education
teacher and elementary and preschool administrator.
Her experiences taught her the value of inclusion
at all levels. When asked why she initially chose to
develop inclusion programs at the CATE Center
she said, “I knew what was possible. I felt uniquely
qualified to lead this initiative.” When talking about
children in her program with identified special
education needs, she is passionate
about her beliefs, “They are kids
first, you treat them like kids. You
may make changes in instruction
for their learning needs, but they are
kids first.” Rhonda Attaway attended
NM PreK administrator training
and was a participant in the NM
PED FOCUS Stakeholder meetings.
She is always quick to point out that
she has had tremendous support
from teachers, other administrators,
PED NM PreK and PED FOCUS in
this process: “When I went to the
FOCUS stakeholder meeting, I realized that our
district had already begun an inclusion program,
in a small way,” she said. She decided to build on
this work. Mrs. Attaway reached out to Farmington
Special Preschool principal, Bill Knight, to begin
an inclusion program. Rhonda Attaway continues
this collaboration with Andrea Garcia, the current
principal of the Farmington Special Preschool
(FSP). The FSP now funds a special education
resource teacher (Niklas Shepherd) at the CATE
Center to provide support to the NM PreK teachers
in meeting students’ special learning needs in the
general education setting. He states, “I can’t say
enough how great the teachers and educational
assistants are that I get to work with as the inclusion
teacher. They all bring a variety of different skill sets
to their classrooms and pour their hearts and souls
into it. Last year the amount of change and growth
I was privileged to see in the kids was remarkable.
There were kids who were extremely nonverbal
and by the end of the year they are providing us
with 5-6 word sentences without prompting. Kids
who had goals to initiate play with others were now
playing with 2-3 other children consistently. They
had opened up socially and we could really see their
personalities and interests.”
Mrs. Attaway began with just one pilot program
in the 2014-2015 school year at the CATE Center.
Teresa Jaquez was the teacher in the pilot program.
Mrs. Jaquez told me, “I would not trade one minute
of the time I have had with these kids. They have
added so much to my classroom and life! I will
never forget any of them and am truly grateful for
the experience of having these students in my class.”
Parents appreciate having their children with special
needs being included in the general education
setting. Mrs. Jaquez shared this:
“Last year I had a boy in my
class. He was a very sweet and
affectionate child. His mom
texted me the other night to say
how much he missed me and
wanted to come back to PreK.
It made me cry! She thanked
me for being such a positive
influence in his life, and it
meant so much to me. It made
it all worth it!”
Rhonda Attaway continues
to dare greatly! She has implemented inclusive
programming at The CATE Center, Esperanza
Elementary School and opened a new inclusive
program this year at Animas Elementary School.
Her advice to others about inclusion is: “Do it!”
Even if you have to start out small, start! She says,
“This has been successful because the staff has
believed in the program and worked very hard.”
Mrs. Attaway, Dr. Gene Schmidt, Farmington
Superintendent, and the CATE teaching staff were
recognized by the New Mexico Public Education
Department for their exemplary work and their
leadership in providing high quality inclusive
programs for preschool students at the Farmington
Public School Board Meeting on August 11, 2016.
Rhonda is quick to shine the spotlight on her staff
and the amazing work they do each day at the CATE
Center to make sure all children have high quality
learning experiences. Teachers - Kris Barnhart
, Molly Bottom, Ashley Decky, Kelly Hanon,
Teresa Jaquez , Savannah Lillywhite, and Niklas
Shepherd - all received Certificates of Recognition
for their work in the area of inclusion from the New
Mexico Public Education Department.
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What is the LETRS training and how
will it benefit my students?
LETRS
Training Opportunity
L
T
he Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading
and Spelling for Early Childhood Educators (LETRS
for ECE) Module is here to support teachers in
effective literacy instruction. The New Mexico
Public Education is sponsoring the LETRS Training
which is required for licensed preschool teachers
and administrators participating in FOCUS and
New Mexico PreK Programs. This training has been
well received by teachers throughout the state.
The LETRS
training has really supported
learning in my classroom. I like
the multiple reads. It has really helped
with comprehension. The children love the
syllable taps. Our kids are able to slow down
and get all parts of the word: the beginning,
the middle and the end.
—Kaleena Sampson, Preschool Teacher
Farmington Public
Schools
ETRS provides research-based professional
development for early childhood educators in the
area of literacy. In this training, teachers learn how
to help pre-kindergarten children learn the early
literacy and language skills shown in research to be
critical for later academic success. Participants learn
to intentionally plan activities to promote literacy
goals. Many of the sample activities can be found
in, Building Early Literacy and Language Skills
(Paulson, Noble, Jepson, & van den Pol, 2001).
The LETRS Training has three main goals:
1.
Learn the definitions and concepts related to
early literacy and language, the processes involved,
and the developmental sequences by which these
develop.
2.
Expand strategies used to design and
implement rich learning activities that are engaging,
effective, evidenced-based, and developmentally
appropriate.
3.
Describe and discuss assessment procedures
to make the best use of data in teaching our
youngest learners. This important process identifies
what the children know and what they need to be
taught.
Check with your PED FOCUS consultant or visit the
Adobe Connect registration site at https://cddunm.
adobeconnect.com/admin/show-event-catalog for
the dates and times of a LETRS Training near you.
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Revised Lesson Plan
PED FOCUS Revised Lesson Plan
Rolls Out to Positive Reviews!
This tool will help the
teachers see all the
information they need
in an efficient document
that is user friendly. It
is a time saver. It will
help them to consider
different planning
options.
—Andrea Garcia,
Principal,
Farmington
Special Preschool
I like that everything is right at your
fingertips. They have hyperlinks. You don’t
have to look for it.
—Preschool Teacher
at AODCP Training
I thoroughly enjoy the lesson plan that has been
implemented. This is my first year teaching with
NM PreK so I am not used to the prior format
but the transition from my experience over the
last six years to this format has been wonderful.
I enjoy the drop down boxes being available
and not having to retype the same information
or having to copy/paste. The flow of the lesson
plan makes it easy to fill out quickly but with
detail if necessary. I like the teacher choice
option for an extra center as well as the
reflection area. I have found the reflection
area to be helpful in the next week planning.
That section makes me look at myself critically
and what I could implement into my schedule
or what isn’t necessarily helping the student
growth and can be removed.
—Rebekah McKnight
Hobbs Public School
The PED FOCUS/NM PreK Weekly Lesson Plan
is designed to provide a format for public school
preschool teachers and assistants to document the
varied experiences they plan for and provide to
children in their classrooms each week (“NM PreK
Lesson Plan Procedure Manual,” 2011).
New Mexico PreK has required a uniform lesson
plan for many years. The NM PreK lesson plan was
introduced to participating NM FOCUS programs
in the 2015-2016 school year. Based on feedback
from teachers, the lesson plan was revised this
summer to make it more user friendly and to align
with the Early Learning Guidelines (ELG). Here are
some highlights of the revised lesson plan:
• The lesson plan template design includes dropdown menus for teachers to denote the NM
Essential Indicators that correlate with the
planned play opportunities, reading, math,
and science experiences as well as large and
small group activities. Each center has a drop
down menu for the Essential Indicators (EI’s).
This feature is an efficient use of the teacher’s
planning time.
• There is an accompanying document that
explains the lesson plan and its new features.
• The lesson plan includes a space for a targeted
literacy goal and a targeted social emotional
goal each week. This section also includes a
drop down menu with goals for the teacher’s
convenience.
• The large group section of the lesson plan
provides a place for the teacher to record the
first, second, and third readings of a book.
Each of the readings has a link to a “One Page
Resource”.
• On the third page of the Teacher Reflection
section, teachers now plan for outdoor time.
Hyperlink to Lesson Plan on NM PREK website:
https://www.newmexicoprek.org/
https://www.newmexicoprek.org/index.
cfm?event=public.prek.MaterialsTeacher&cachefix=85
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What’s in it for me?
For Classroom Teachers-Help with your lesson
planning! NM PED FOCUS consultants can
model how to use the Webbing from the NM Early
Childhood Guide for Inclusion for Early Childhood
Educators Birth-5 (p. 36) to facilitate lesson plan
development.
Here is a link to “One Page Resources” to assist with
your lesson planning.
https://www.newmexicoprek.org/
index.cfm?event=public.prek.
MaterialsOnePageResources&cachefix=9073
For Administrators-NM PED FOCUS consultants
can model how to use “Quick Looks” forms for
classroom walk-throughs. The following link will
take you to the NM PreK website. Click on the
Administrative One Page Resources. This will
provide you with three additional resources to assist
with your work. https://www.newmexicoprek.org/
Bright Spots
Great things are happening for young children
in New Mexico! This section of our newsletter
showcases “bright spots” that happen in our
classrooms every day. We encourage you to send
information on your “bright spots” and promising
practices occurring in your preschool programs to
[email protected]. We will do our
best to include them in the newsletter. Here are
some reflections from preschool teachers about
their experiences with inclusion. A hyperlink to the
New Mexico Early Childhood Guide for Inclusion is
included at the end of this section.
The greatest benefits I have experienced with
inclusion in our PreK classrooms revolve around
best practices and appreciating differences. When
implementing IEP strategies I now draw greater
emphasis on the need to scaffold and differentiate
for every child. I have a greater awareness of each
child’s strengths and abilities. The children have
had greater exposure to diverse abilities and I
believe they have been able to develop greater
compassion. They are able to help their peers that
do not share the same strengths and have more
opportunities to appreciate diversity.
—Savannah Lillywhite
PreK Teacher, Animas PreK
Last year we had a boy with a visual impairment.
When he first came in to our classroom he was
very unsure. He moved very slowly and was very
reluctant to try new things. On the playground,
uneven surfaces scared him and he would not
attempt to step up onto one of the plastic borders
we have that separate the dirt from
wood chips. By midyear he was
climbing up the stairs on the play
structure, going down the slide, and
moving much more quickly. In the
classroom, he always wanted to try
new things. He had one good friend
in the class that didn’t care that he
couldn’t see. They led him around
the playground and made him run.
He played willingly. By the end of
the year, he was doing the monkey bars without
assistance, running on his own, and no longer in
fear of trying new things. He moved so quickly we
called it “super ninja speed”.
—Kris Barnhart
Preschool Teacher, CATE Center
Your PED FOCUS consultant is available to assist
you with questions about inclusion. The consultants
have access to materials, research, and trainings to
support inclusion in your program. We hope you
enjoy the New Mexico Early Childhood Guide to
Inclusion Birth-5 found by connecting to http://
www.cdd.unm.edu/ECLN/PSN. Here is the actual
link to the manual: http://www.cdd.unm.edu/
ECLN/PSN/common/pdfs/Inclusion%20Guide%20
April%201.pdf
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Consultant Spotlight
References
Brown, B. (2012). Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead. New York, NY: Gotham Books.
NM PreK Lesson Plan Procedures Manual. (2011). NM.
Early Childhood Learning Network (2014). New Mexico Early Childhood Guide for Inclusion Birth-5. University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Center for Development and Disability, Early Childhood Learning Network, Albuquerque, NM.
Paulson, L. H., Noble, L.A., Jepson, S., & Van den Pol, R. (2001). Building Early Literacy and
Language Skills: A Resource and Activity Guide for Preschool and Kindergarten. Longmont, CO: Sopris West.
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PED FOCUS Staff
Terri Tapia, Education & Development Manager
505.249.1133 [email protected]
Jody Alpers, Training & Development Consultant
[email protected]
Kristy Jones, Program Coordinator
505.269.7720 [email protected]
Sally Green, Training & Development Consultant
[email protected]
Suzanne Harper, Training & Development Consultant
[email protected]
Vonell Huitt, Training & Development Consultant
[email protected]
Deborah Jackson, Training & Development Consultant
[email protected]
Diane Leven, Training & Development Consultant
[email protected]
Barbara Maxwell, Training & Development Consultant
[email protected]
Emily Renfro, Training & Development Consultant
[email protected]
Alex Ruiz, Training & Development Consultant
[email protected]
Kathy Bishop, Training & Development Consultant
[email protected]
Nancy Treat, Training & Development Consultant
[email protected]
For more information on the CDD PED FOCUS
please visit www.cdd.unm.edu/ecln/ped-focus
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