Q&A Hero

Q: Name 2 things to consider in selecting a physical location for group time.

Q: A balanced literacy approach means making sure that effective components of reading and writing experiences are included daily in the classroom.

Q: Name and briefly describe 3 variations on standard group times as listed in your textbook.

Q: Writing is an activity that is best introduced after children have learned to read a few sight words.

Q: Carrie, age 4, is visually impaired. She wears glasses that help but are not sufficient for her to see quite well. In her IEP, her intelligence and her hearing are within normal ranges. There is a note that her social skills are underdeveloped and she has been very indulged at home. She leaves group activities or whines or disturbs others during group experiences. Which strategies are NOT likely to be helpful? a. Ask her to sit with another adult or near the leader close enough for her to see. b. Give her something to hold or something to do physically during most of group time. c. Exclude her from group time and ask her parent to pick her up early. d. Use a lot of participation where her physical and aural/oral abilities are used.

Q: Describing events, making predictions, and evaluating phenomena are cognitive skills that are intimately connected to the Language Domain.

Q: Mr. Frank has observed that some children are playing chase and wrestling on the playground. Other children seem to be distressed by the big body play. What type of special group experience would best be used in this situation? a. Greeting b. Story Telling c. Class meeting d. Reporting

Q: Phonemes are the individual written letters in our language.

Q: When a classroom has more than one adult, what should the adult who is NOT leading the group time be doing? a. Answering messages on his/her phone b. Preparing the next activity c. Supporting the children who are easily distracted or who have difficulty attending d. Wiping tables, sweep floors, general room maintenance

Q: Describe the steps involved in the process of inquiry or "doing science."

Q: During Miss Gross's carefully planned whole group teaching activity, some children began to wiggle and poke each other. What should she do immediately? a. Scan the group to determine children's interest level and to see if the problem appears to center on any particular child. b. Stop what she is doing and scold the children for inattentive behavior. c. Increase the volume of her voice and continue as though nothing is amiss. d. Stop the group time and involve the children in a discussion about the group time rules.

Q: Explain how to handle a situation when children reach the wrong conclusion from a science experiment (ex. all the objects sank because they were big).

Q: What strategy of structuring the setting ahead of time is NOT a part of preparation for group time? a. Placement so that every child can see and hear. b. Ensure enough space between children for all planned activities. c. Organizing materials so that they are immediately at hand and in the order needed. d. Keeping the group size to 10 children or fewer.

Q: Describe some examples of the kind of knowledge that children must learn in the category "Social Conventional Knowledge" and why it cannot be taught in a constructivist manner.

Q: Which of the following strategies is NOT essential for keeping the group time focused? a. Choose one or two learning goals b. Select activities that relate to one another in some way c. Keep all activities a common length and intensity d. Vary the curricular focus from day to day

Q: What are some crucial factors in terms of how you operate your classroom structure that will determine how well children learn to become critical thinkers and problems solvers?

Q: What makes the components of the group time flow together? a. Good music b. Interesting transitions c. Developmentally appropriate stories d. Several adults available to help

Q: Name the four databases that are important in a child's developing cognition. Give a specific example from each one of what a child would have to know in order to differentiate between a spider and an insect.

Q: What is the best closing to complete a 20-minute group time? a. "That is all for today." b. "You will have to hurry in getting your coats on to not miss the buss." c. "Children wearing red may go first. Now those wearing green" d. Stop speaking, stand up and walk to the food cart.

Q: Cardinality is: a. The ability to recognize the number of a small group of objects without counting b. Changing the order of operands in addition or multiplication without changing the outcome c. Comparative terminology for subtraction and division d. The last counting word named when counting a group of objects

Q: In general, what is the LEAST effective strategy to having the body of group time proceed effectively? a. Choose a familiar book off the shelf and begin to read it aloud. b. Use props to stimulate interest and involvement. c. Prepare the children with a statement of what to expect, in sequence. d. Use humor, nonverbal expressiveness, pictures and mime.

Q: When children think in a convergent manner: a. They center on already-known facts b. They are able to think in many different directions about a problem c. They are thinking creatively d. They are thinking intuitively

Q: The teacher notices that over the past several days, children have been leaving toys out on the playground. He decides to address the problem during group time. Which of the following group times would offer the best vehicle for addressing the problem? a. Planning times b. Class meetings c. Brainstorming Groups d. Plan-do-review

Q: Which of the following is an example of Socratic questioning? a. "Which one of these answers is correct?" b. "What is the name of that animal?" c. "How do you know that?" d. "Which of these dates comes first on a timeline?"

Q: At what point does the opening of group time begin? a. As soon as the teacher gathers the materials. b. As soon as a few children arrive and are ready. c. When the materials are gathered and all the children are ready. d. After the announcements of the day when all children are ready.

Q: Which of the following is a gene that stimulates synapses to transmit signals? a. Axon b. CREB c. myelin d. neuron

Q: Mrs. Rausch plans to introduce the day's activities to children during the first group time of the day. She might consider using which of the following strategies? a. Telling children what activities are available, then reading a book, then offering a music and movement activity before telling children "OKgo play!" to dismiss them from group. b. Beginning to tell children about the activities available for the day, getting up from group to retrieve an example of an activity only if children appear confused. c. Demonstrating activities that are new to the classroom. d. She might do any of the above, as they all would be equally effective.

Q: Which of the following is true? a. Some people are more "right brained" and some are more "left brained." b. Listening to Mozart will make young children smarter. c. There are brain differences by race. d. Pruning is a way of making a brain more efficient.

Q: At group time, Mrs. Rausch is talking to 20 3-year-olds about how to care for a pet. Which of the following strategies would best enhance the activity? a. Pass around a dog brush, waiting for each child to touch it and ask a question or make an observation about it. b. Read a story about a child who takes care of his pet dog. c. Have several dog brushes for the children to look at in smaller groups around the circle. d. Observe a do being groomed while its owner explains what is happening.

Q: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) guidelines say that: a. Rote memorization will allow broad application of numerical operations to a number of fields. b. Rote memorization is obsolete. c. Rote memorization helps children work through problems by applying the rules d. Rote memorization must have well developed methodologies for improving children's memory strategies.

Q: The teacher is planning a group time around the concept of leaves. The best approach would be to do which of the following things? a. Have real leaves for the children to look at and handle. b. Use a large picture book that shows leaves on trees. c. Sing a song about leaves. d. Remind children about the leaves that they have seen outside.

Q: What is the best strategy to use when a teacher is providing for learning of physical knowledge? a.Set up the materials and encourage exploration. b. Give detailed information by telling children about physical knowledge. c. Model the skill to be learned. d. Have someone demonstrate an experiment and debrief.

Q: Which activity would an effective teacher do during the body of a group time? a. Sing several familiar songs. b. Start by handing each child a flannel board piece to hold until the group sings "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" at the end of group time. c. Demonstrate to children how to use the side of the crayon to create rubbings, which is one of the activities in learning centers for the day. d. Remind children that there is no talking during group time unless you raise your hand and the teacher calls on you

Q: In response to the teacher's request to tell her how many red blocks there are in a set of 40 colored blocks, Sam must use which of the following? a. One-to-one correspondence b. Cardinality c. Subitizing d. Conservation

Q: What activity would happen in a group time that incorporates the Author's Chair?a. Mrs. Jones selects an author of the week and reads the children a story by that author while sitting in her rocking chair at group time.b. A child selects a favorite author from books in the book basket, then goes up and shows the others the book selected.c. Five-year-old Melissa reads a story she wrote herself to the others in her class.d. Five-year-old Melissa shares a favorite picture book from home and then the teacher and the children talk about the author and the illustrator.

Q: Which of the following bridges children's informal knowledge with formal concepts? a. Learning mathematical content and processes b. Opportunities presented for real problem solving c. Watching, listening, memorizing, and copying d. Offering particular time slots in the day for mathematics

Q: Mr. Jarvis wants to incorporate a show and tell routine into his Tuesday kindergarten schedule. Which of the following things should he consider FIRST as he develops this routine?a. How many children will bring in items to show each Tuesday.b. What his goals are for show and tell.c. What to do about children who forget to bring something to show.d. What rules should govern the show and tell activity and how will he enforce them in a positive way.

Q: Matching, patterning, and seriating are examples of which type of cognitive skills? a. Focusing skills b. Memory skills c. Analyzing skills d. Organizing skills

Q: Mrs. Ramsey plans a whole group time focused on preschoolers taking turns and waiting for one another to speak. She plans to use a storybook to prompt conversation. Which of the following strategies would be most successful in addressing these goals? a. Give each child his or her own copy of the book to so they have something to refer to during the discussion that follows. b. Ask children to raise their hands before they speak and keep the conversation focused on the story only. c. Divide the large group into smaller groups each led by an adult who talks with 3 or 4 children about the story. d. Have a small group of children demonstrate how to take turns and listen, while others in the group observe.

Q: The teacher asks the children to sort the insect pictures in one pile and the spider pictures in another pile. This is an example of what cognitive operation? a. Classification b. One-to-one correspondence c. Matching d. Conservation

Q: Which strategy is NOT required as part of a brainstorming group time about insects? a. Read a factual book about insects to the children. b. Invite children to talk about what they know about insects. c. Discuss how children want to find out new things about insects. d. Record what children want to learn about insects.

Q: Which is not one of the 5 essential functions of inquiry? a. Helps students "know how we know" in science. b. Develops dispositions to use the skills, abilities, and habits of mind associated with science. c. Develops an understanding of the nature of science. d. Creates new facts about how to model observation.

Q: Which of the following statements describes a common goal for every whole group time? a. Children listen to a story. b. Children develop a sense of community. c. Children learn to follow directions and listen for details. d. Children learn about the new activities for the day.

Q: Which of the following is true about debriefing with children after a science activity? a. It helps them realize that science is a collection of well-known facts. b. It encourages children to think creatively, divergently, and convergently in their problem solving. c. It teaches children that science is bound by already documented laws, theories, and principles. d. It guards against relying on their using intuitive feelings to solve problems.

Q: It is a poor tactic to sing the same song several times over at the beginning of group time.

Q: Ordering is the operation of which of the following? a. Identifying common relations between objects. b. Pairing on exact or identical attributes. c.Seriating objects by attributes. d. Categorizing on the basis of a primary attribute.

Q: Group times are mostly teacher talking times; their main focus is on children listening and taking turns talking one at a time.

Q: The best definition of science is: a. A process of finding out and a system for organizing and reporting discoveries. b. The study of biology, zoology, and psychology. c. The study of the life spans of living organisms d The process of learning the laws of anatomy, physiology, and biology.

Q: The closing of each group time is actually a transition to the next event in the daily schedule.

Q: Pruning is a process in brain growth periodization. Which of the following is true? a. It is where the brain develops new and powerful synapses. b. It takes place most aggressively around the age of 10. c. It is a process whereby brain function can be examined in a non-intrusive manner. d. It requires that children be in enriched environments.

Q: Children with special needs should not be included in whole group instruction as their needs vary greatly from the rest of the class.

Q: What is metacognition? a. The process of brain growth periodization. b. Societal rules, conventions, and viewpoints transmitted during the early elementary years. c. Proficient strategies for monitoring your own thought processes. d. Genius-level cognitive abilities.

Q: Showing the children fruit in a fruit basket prior to playing the game "Upset the Fruit Basket" could be used as a group time transition.

Q: Which of the following cognitive theorists was considered the "father of the cognitive movement"? a. Albert Bandura b. Robert Syler c. Jean Piaget d. Lev Vygotsky

Q: Since classroom rituals add to predictability and children's sense of security, taking attendance, doing the lunch count, show and tell, the calendar and the weather are essential to every group time.

Q: Which approach is most likely to enhance children's ability to classify objects? a. Tell the children to find all of the red ones. b. Provide the materials that could be classified for the children to use on their own during free play. c. Explain in detail what attributes are and how they vary and quiz children about their comprehension of this instruction. d. Ask children to sort materials and then tell you why they put certain things together.

Q: A group time that uses a KWHLH strategy is characterized by group brainstorming.

Q: Which of the following is NOT true? a. Oral language is increased when a child has a chatty mother. b. The peak learning years for human beings appears to be between 4 and 10 years of age. c. Pruning destroys synapses, resulting in a less efficient brain. d. Poor nutrition and maternal drug use may result in problematic fetal brain development.

Q: Generally, when children disrupt group time, they should be asked to leave the circle until they are ready to behave.

Q: Counting is the most important mathematical skill for children to gain in preschool and kindergarten.

Q: Many of the problems associated with group-time instruction with young children are the result of inadequate planning.

Q: The human brain contains about 10 million neurons at birth that then connect with other neurons during cognitive development.

Q: It is best to start group time after all the children have arrived at the circle and are sitting quietly.

Q: Growth and increasing competence in other domains will not necessarily influence the qualitative development of intellectual capabilities.

Q: What are the essential steps in a scientific problem solving activity?

Q: One-to-one correspondence ability means that we can count objects accurately, using one and only one number name for each number counted.

Q: What is wrong with lesson plans created at a central corporate office and distributed for use to centers across the country, to be used on a specific date?

Q: According to research, the use of calculators does not interfere with children's ability to develop a conceptual understanding of mathematical operations.

Q: Why is it important to have a complete materials list as part of your lesson plan?

Q: There is skepticism about whether children develop cognitive skills at the time and in the way that Piaget envisioned.

Q: What is the role of the teacher in guided discovery activities?

Q: Despite errors that children make, conceptualization in the early years is fairly systematic and non-intuitive.

Q: Name 3 reasons why teachers plan activities in advance.

Q: In the preschool and early primary years, young males generally move into brain growth acceleration stages later than do females.

Q: The children are playing in the pretend grocery store. After observing them for a few moments, the teacher enters the store. She asks an open-ended question and does some modeling to help the children focus more closely on the roles of customers and employees. What kind of activity is this? a. Problem solving b. Exploration c. Demonstration d. Guided discovery

Q: A relationship that exists when one element is equal to another -- when one set has the same number as another set -- is called conservation.

Q: To help children apply what they learned in Step 4 of a direct instruction sequence, what would the teacher say? a. Look up here. b. This is what you have to do first. c. Make a circle. d. Show me something that is NOT a circle.

Q: Well-worded explanations are the best way to help children understand math and science concepts.

Q: Of the following activity types, which one gives children the least control over what happens in the activity? a. Demonstrations b. Direct Instruction c. Discussions d. Guided Discovery

Q: Define the concept of resilience and the characteristics of children who exhibit it