There are many benefits of writing on a vertical surface in early childhood: shoulder/elbow stability, bilateral coordination, midline crossing, wrist extension/pencil grasp, visual attention, hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness, core strength, and posture. Grab a dry erase marker and use all the windows, doors, and mirrors in your home for some vertical writing fun.
Why do we write? We make lists, we share stories, we share ideas, we share our feelings and much more. We began our writing journey in K Prep through the introduction to K Prep Journals. We begin the year with prompts then as the year progresses we will encourage our budding writers to come up with their own ideas to share in their journals. Once we get the hang of it, the students will have the opportunity to share their journals with their friends durning our Author’s Chair time. I was impressed to see some amazing drawings with details, some letters and even some words! These journals will come home at the end of the year. They are such a great way to see the growth of your child’s writing journey throughout the school year.
In Preschool, we are practicing our letter formation in creative ways so we can get ready to write!
At Creative Tots, we have learned that students rely heavily on their senses to process information when learning. This means it is more easily accessible to your children as there are more ways the information can be triggered and retrieved from their brain. We all have different learning styles and we strive to make lessons beneficial to all your children. Our goal is to make learning a fun and multi-sensory experience to help children remember and retain information more effectively. One way we achieve this during our daily writing groups is through sensory writing. Using a textured material under their paper during their writing activity allows the brain to not only see the letter that’s in front of them but also FEEL the letter as they write it. Not to mention, it’s fun!! Playful Learning at work.
Young children function best when working in small groups due to the fact that their social and cognitive skills are still developing. The bulk of our day is devoted to small group activities to help children grow both socially and cognitively. When children work with only a few other children, in a small group setting, they learn important lessons about cooperation, compromise and the give and take of conversation. Also, when working in small groups with a teacher, children are able to receive the more focused attention they need for completing complex tasks and activities.
This activity is all about exploring their names to help the boys and girls begin to recognize them. Recognizing their names is the first step to early literacy. Their names have meaning and value to them…it’s personal. One of the best places to start early letter recognition is through name activities. Be sure to make it fun…write it with chalk when you’re playing outside…write it in the sandbox or even in the steam on the bathroom mirror after bath time. If you’re feeling adventurous use play dough to spell it! The great thing about play-based, name recognition activities is they won’t even know their learning…they’ll just know their spending time with you!
We practiced the confusing curves of the letter s today in small groups. First, we traced each S with our finger. Then, we wrote the letter S with our magic maker. Last, we used mini magic eraser to work our fine motor muscles and traced over the S’s to magically make the line disappear!
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Our writer’s workshops this month focuses on reading to learn using a variety of resources. We read the book, Polar Bears, by Gail Gibbons as well as information we found on the Nat Geo Kids website about polar bears. We learned that polar bears have black skin under their fur, they are very good swimmers, their favorite meal is ringed seal, their outer fur (guard hair) is clear and hollow and much more!
Creative Tots has specialized in the private education of both toddlers and preschool age children for over 15 years. We began in the heart of Madeira and now also have a new Mason location. We are specifically designed to focus on early childhood development for children ages 18 months to 5 years.
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