13 Feb 2004
Web Site, Video Lessons, Activities to be Launched Feb. 17
DALLAS–The Dallas Independent School District will hold a series of open houses at district elementary schools Feb.17-20 to unveil Virtual Pre-K, an innovative teaching tool designed to equip prekindergarten parents and teachers with fun, meaningful learning activities proven to engage young learners.
The centerpiece of the program is an interactive Web site (www.virtualpre-k.org) featuring lessons on vocabulary, math, health and safety. The program helps new and seasoned teachers enhance their teaching skills and enables parents to reinforce lessons taught in the Pre-K classroom. In addition to the Web site, a series of short video lessons and activity kits are available for check-out from Pre-K teachers.
DISD's Early Childhood Education Department was responsible for bringing the program to Dallas from Chicago Public Schools where it was created in 2001. District officials were impressed with how the program integrated technology into the early childhood curriculum, said Beth Steerman, executive director of DISD's Early Childhood Education Department.
"The program's attraction is that it provides a vehicle for introducing technology to parents early in their child's education," said Steerman. "Virtual Pre-K also has easy to understand, practical ideas both parents and teachers can use to teach preschoolers basic concepts."
Chicago Public Schools' staff has trained more than 250 DISD teachers in the use of Virtual Pre-K and teacher and parent kits have been distributed to all DISD Pre-K classrooms in preparation for the Virtual Pre-K kick-off Feb. 17-20. Open house activities have been scheduled at participating schools during that week so that parents may visit their child's classroom to view demonstrations of the program and engage in hands-on activities with their child. (Parents should contact their child's school for dates and times.)
"The interactive virtual Pre-K Web site has been customized for the Dallas community," said Steerman. "When parents log onto the site they are invited to take a tour that highlights the site's offerings including a lessons link to activities parents can use at home, a link to other sites with resources related to preschoolers and a calendar of events with age-appropriate activities happening around the city."
Educators who developed Virtual Pre-K for use in their district in 2001 say it encourages parents to play a more active role in their child's education and also equips teachers with a variety of creative lessons to enhance basic literacy, math and science skills. Lesson plans for teachers and activity recipes for parents can be printed from the Web site for use in Pre-K classrooms or at home.
Topics include literacy skills, understanding feelings and exploring cultural heritage. Lessons feature video segments that begin with a learning objective in the classroom that extends with an activity in the home. Each Virtual Pre-K lesson concludes by suggesting fun, meaningful ways to apply the lesson's objective out in the community.
"Communication among prekindergarten teachers and parents from coast to coast is also possible via the Web site," said Steerman. "On the discussion boards, parents, and teachers can exchange thoughts or questions, and explore what other parents and teachers are doing with prekindergarten students. They also can participate in a chat room moderated by nationally-recognized teachers, parents, and health educators addressing important prekindergarten issues."