There are eight children in E’s class at school. They range in age from late three to early five, and there are two teachers in the class. Besides the really low teacher-student ratio in the class I like the fact that the activities that they participate in and the toys and manipulatives they have in the room can be engaged on multiple levels depending on the interest and current abilities of the child, and the direction and imagination of the teacher. One of the items they use sometimes at their early morning table play is a set of stencils, each with the outline of a letter, and several corresponding objects that begin with that letter. Younger kids start to explore how it feels to draw these letter shapes, and begin to relate them with known objects, older kids start to form words with them, and all enjoy the tracing and coloring aspect. One morning a group of three or four sat at the table with the teacher playing with stencils. She would occasionally ask one to locate a particular letter, and then another one to find a certain animal in the pile. She asked Ella if she could make a game out of it and draw a tile, then write any word that she could think of that started with that letter. I love love love this list:
Vulture
Nat
Donut (my favorite “d” word)
Mat
Sunk
Lelle ? (I have no idea, and she couldn’t remember)
Apple (my favorite spelling)
Stack
I have this up on my bulletin board at work, and look at it all day long and smile…