Orange County Public Schools

OCPS has approved the Frog Street Press materials for the VPK programs. Frog Street Press fosters the social-emotional, intellectual and physical development of children while nurturing natural curiosity and sense of self to build a foundation for lifetime learning. The Frog Street materials are aligned with the Florida Early Learning and Developmental Standards for 4 and 5 year old children.

The standards can be found at: http://flbt5.floridaearlylearning.com/standards.html

Florida adopted the Florida Early Learning and Developmental Standards in Fall 2017. The standards and benchmarks reflect the knowledge and skills that a child on a developmental progression should know and be able to do at the end of an age-related timeframe.

Florida Early Learning and Developmental Standards are grouped around eight domains of early learning and development:

• I. Physical Development
• II. Approaches to Learning
• III. Social and Emotional Development
• IV. Language and Literacy
• V. Mathematical Thinking
• VI. Scientific Inquiry
• VII. Social Studies
• VIII. Creative Expression Through the Arts

Young children learn by doing. Worksheets are not developmentally appropriate and are not part of the VPK expectations. Report cards and grades are also not used in VPK.

The teacher will post a daily schedule of activities in sequential, pictorial form. This will help children learn time concepts, planning and predicting skills.

Daily, the entire class will gather for group activities that encourage relationship building, turn taking, music, storytelling and other activities that address the VPK standards to prepare children for success in kindergarten.

Children will spend time with an adult and in a small group learning and practicing skills in early literacy, math, science and social/emotional areas.

Each classroom will have areas set up where children can go individually or in small groups to read books, build with blocks, use a dramatic play center, listen to music and books, and explore materials in reading, writing, math, art, science and sensory centers. Children are encouraged to make choices, play together, solve problems and practice small and large motor skills.

Children will experience outdoor learning each day. This is a teacher-directed time where children interact to learn how to cooperate with others, increase large motor skills and learn the language of outdoor fun. Nature provides many ways to learn language, science and math.

VPK programs are encouraged to provide field trips for their students. Field trips can take place in the community or perhaps a community member can serve as a "Teacher for the Day"(i.e. Teach-In). Parents will be given advance notice prior to each field trip or event. Any student going on a field trip must submit a properly completed and signed permission slip by a parent/guardian prior to the event in order to participate. While parents may donate money for field trips, they are not required to do so.

Students take the Florida VPK Assessment at the beginning, middle and end of the program to measure growth. The VPK Assessment includes progress-monitoring measures in the areas of Print Knowledge, Phonological Awareness, Mathematics and Oral Language/Vocabulary aligned with the Florida Early Learning and Developmental Standards for a 4 year old. The FLDOE requires assessment data be entered into the Bright Beginnings Online Reporting System where teachers can track student progress and can be used to guide instructional decisions.

The Battelle Developmental Inventory is a comprehensive developmental screening tool used to guide instruction and to identify young children who may be in need of additional services and/or assessments.

During the first 30 days of kindergarten, students will be screened using the Star Early Literacy® assessment as the Florida Kindergarten Readiness Screener (FLKRS) which was designed to determine their readiness for kindergarten. Select the link for more information on the Florida's Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST) using Star Early Literacy.