Preschool Learning Foundations: Creating User-Friendly PLF’s to support Lesson Planning in the Transitional Kindergarten Classroom

Presenter: Kristen DelMonte

Presenter Status: Graduate student

Academic Year: 22-23

Semester: Spring

Faculty Mentor: Suzanne O'Keeffe

Department: Educational Leadership and Special Education

Abstract:
According to the California Department of Education, “California law (EC 48000) defines TK as “the first year of a two-year kindergarten program that uses a modified kindergarten curriculum that is age and developmentally appropriate.” While no state curriculum is mandated, pursuant to EC 48000(f), TK programs are intended to be aligned to the California Preschool Learning Foundations developed by the CDE.” (https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/gs/em/kinderfaq.asp) That being said, research shows that Transitional Kindergarten teachers are not as familiar with the California Preschool Learning Foundations as they should be. The California Preschool Learning Foundations includes 9 domains across a 3 volume book set averaging 200 pages per book. It is very hard for teachers to maneuver and make sense of. For my project, I created Preschool Learning Foundations 1-pagers in the various 9 domains. These 1-page documents are called the PLF Placemats. The Placemats include the Domain, Strand, Substrand and the Foundation eliminating the examples and other text from the California Preschool Learning Foundations. To test the effectiveness of using the PLF Placemats, I conducted research with 4 TK teachers in Sonoma County and gathered feedback about the usefulness of the Placemats.