Post Office Week!

Post Office Week provided abundant opportunities for both writing and role playing.  The children wrote letters, stuffed envelopes and stuck stamps at our Postal Table.

 They mailed, sorted and delivered letters as well!

They wrote, stamped and mailed "real letters" to all of you!  Hopefully, your mail arrived safely! 

Thank you to Rieny, Parker's own mail carrier, for giving us a close up look at a real mail truck!

Looking Deeper:  Exploration and Learning through Play

This Week let's take a closer look at the purpose of "Authentic Writing" activities.

Young children instinctively know that "writing" is different than "drawing".  Subsequently, even children who are not yet able to form letters will make "writing-like"  symbols when given the opportunity to use pencil and paper as opposed to makers, crayons or chalk.  We have therefore provided the children with a wide variety of authentic writing opportunities that have been both teacher directed and child initiated.  Over the course of the school year, the children have (with teacher assistance) "written" invitations, thank you notes, stories and books.  Within their dramatic play scenarios, they have made notations in our office, written shopping lists for our Grocery Store, and jotted patient notes in our Doctor Office.  This week the children have "written" a multitude of letters that they mailed and delivered within our classroom Post Office!

Over the course of the year, many of the children have moved from making "writing-like" symbols to actually printing letters.  Some of the children routinely print their name on their work, and others are simply printing some of the letters from their name. 

Providing the children with on-going, open-ended opportunities for "authentic writing" is not only crucial to their development of writing skills, but it also facilitates their conceptual understanding of the "purpose of writing" which is communication of spoken word through symbols.

Have a fun and restful weekend!