As noted in the overview of the span of this chapter and the transitional kindergarten section,
teachers prepare questions that elicit higher-order thinking, and at times they provide sentence
starters as prompts for discussions. They also provide images, including photographs and illustrations,
that children discuss in small groups or pairs. For example,
after the children have engaged in the “A Day in My Life” unit
of the California Education and the Environment Initiative
Curriculum (http://www.californiaeei.org/curriculum/
correlations/commoncore/) in which they learn about the
concept of natural resources, small groups are given images
of resources (those that accompany the unit and more, as
appropriate) and are prompted to draw on the images to
discuss what they learned during the unit. They may respond
to prompts such as, “This image shows .” “This
image is important because .” “This image is related
to the topic of resources in that _.” and “Based on this image, I predict ___ because
____.”
Teachers foster academic discourse skills when they establish routines and expectations for
equitable and accountable conversations (e.g., think-pair-share); carefully construct questions that
promote extended content discussions (e.g., questions that students have sufficient background
knowledge to discuss); and provide appropriate linguistic support (e.g., a sentence frame, such as “At
school, I’m determined to _ because __.”). Sentence frames are an ideal way to support young
children to use academic vocabulary and increasingly complex sentence structures in meaningful ways
as they discuss content and texts. With strategic scaffolding, all children learn to use English in ways
that approach the more “literate” ways of communicating that are highly valued in school (Dutro and
Kinsella 2010, Gibbons 2009, Merino and Scarcella 2005, Schleppegrell 2010).
Presenting
Kindergarteners have regular opportunities to present
their ideas, opinions, and knowledge to their peers. They
describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with
prompting and support, provide additional detail (SL.K.4).
They add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions
as desired to provide additional detail (SL.K.5). They speak
audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly
(SL.K.6). Young children, like all children and youth, need a
psychologically safe environment in which to present, and
they should have choices about topics and, at times, the
manner of their presentations. Some presentations are given
individually and some are collaborative endeavors. See the
transitional kindergarten section of this chapter for a discussion.
Using Language Conventions
The use of conventions contributes to effective expression. Language conventions in grammar and
usage taught in kindergarten (L.K.1) include the following:
a. Print many upper- and lowercase letters
b. Use frequently occurring nouns and verbs
c. Form regular plural nouns orally by adding /s/ or /es/
d. Understand and use question words (interrogatives)Sentence frames are an
ideal way to support young
children to use academic
vocabulary and increasingly
complex sentence structures
in meaningful ways as they
discuss content and texts.Young children, like all
children and youth, need
a psychologically safe
environment in which to
present, and they should have
choices about topics and, at
times, the manner of their
presentations.Kindergarten Chapter 3 | 211