Gifts from the Earth Week I !

Gifts from the Earth Week I  had a dual focus.  We continued our study of Native Americans as we played in our Tee-Pee, made and used rhythm shakers and painted re-cycled egg cartons. (Native Americans took very good care of the earth!)  We also began to prepare for our Harvest Feast by "writing" invitations to parents and Parker staff.  The invitations will be delivered next week so be sure to check your child's cubby.  We continued to collect food for the Regional Food Bank and will do so through next Friday.  Block Play has remained of high interest so I included photos of our increasingly sophisticated structures!

Looking Deeper: Exploration and Learning through Play

This week I would like to take a closer look at "writing" in Pre-K Three.

Writing implements such as markers and paper or dry erase boards are available everyday throughout the morning and afternoon.  At the most basic level, these materials enable the children to exercise their fine motor and emergent writing skills.  By age four, most children have moved from a fist grasp with a full-arm circular movement, to a tripod grasp with movement confined to the hand and wrist. 

Writing is demonstrated daily as part of our Morning Meeting.  Together, on our dry-erase board, the children and I compose a morning message which consists of the day and theme of the week, and one or two sentences about the activities of our day.  I write as the children dictate, and then we re-read the message together once or twice.  This year many of the children have transferred this activity from Morning Meeting to the Art Table, where they compose their own "Morning Message" on their dry erase boards during free play and then "read" them to each other.

Children love opportunities for "Authentic Writing" experiences. We have already had two authentic "letter writing" experiences this year.  In early November we wrote thank-you notes to the fire fighters after our field trip to the Fire Station, and this week we "wrote" Harvest Feast invitations to parents and Parker staff members.  Additionally, we "write" birthday posters to our classmates and will "write" thank you posters to our guest readers beginning in January.  Throughout the year letters and words emerge on the children's papers, but even before that occurs they know they are writers!  They instinctively know that writing looks different from drawing; this is apparent when they "write" notes in our "office", or "write" shopping lists during Grocery Store Weeks, or doctor notes during our Doctor/Hospital Weeks.    

If your child does not already have one, consider getting him/her a dry-erase board with dry-erase markers and an eraser.  I am confident that you will be as impressed as Ann and I are when you see what your little one writes!  

Have a fun and restful weekend!