Gifts from 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 the middle of next week.   

Block Play has remained of high interest so I included a photo of our increasingly sophisticated structures!

Looking Deeper:  Exploration and Learning through Play

This week I would like to guide you through 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 grip with full-arm circular movement, to a tripod grasp with movement confined to the wrist and hand.

  

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.  

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, the children make routine entries in their writing journals! Throughout the year letters and words emerge on the children's papers, but even before that occurs 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, markers and an eraser.  I am confident that you will be as impressed when you see what your little one writes!   

Have a fun and restful weekend!