In last week’s post, I began describing the East Boston YMCA’s experience implementing the Boston Public School’s prekindergarten classroom, introducing the range of changes that the new curriculum has brought about. This week I discuss the impact of longer, more structured units that emphasize multiple and multi-purpose read-alouds of stories and a robust math curriculum aligned to the developmental learning trajectories of 4-year olds.
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Great posts. I know the OWL curriculum well as I worked with Judy Schickedanz directly ( and a little with David Dickinson) to adapt it for a revised Jumpstart curriculum years ago when OWL was initially published. I was excited to see how the teachers were building their capacities to develop their own units over time as they understood the principals, model and methods. It was always intended for teachers to be able to do that (particularly in a full year program). I also agree that the Read A Loud techniques with multiple reads was key for children; it transformed reading into a powerful experience for children, as did the intentional small group activities that enabled children to expand their background knowledge and rich vocabulary.