NEWSLETTER
To kick off our Building/Engineering Exploration, we are introducing different "building" materials to the children each day. One of this week's new materials was particularly important because they build letters! The wooden pieces are a part of the "Learning Without Tears" program. These wood pieces give the children the opportunity to physically build each letter and discuss the different lines and curves that each letter uses. Check out this file for an explanation of the program, how the pieces are introduced and how the letters are formed.
We began with some exploratory play with the materials. The children described the shapes and sizes and connected them in different ways.
Once we explored the materials we began to sort them by shape. We identified each of the four types of pieces and their characteristics, and placed them on the appropriate tray. We used the LWT terms of big line, little line, big curve and little curve. These are the same terms we use to teach the writing of the letters.
Once the sorting was completed we checked our piles for accuracy. We reinforced the shape terms and then went to our tables to start to make letters!
For our first letter-building experience we had the children choose a sandpaper letter card first, and then they matched it with the corresponding building letter card. Adding a matching component practices visual-spatial awareness and gives another level of exposure to each letter.
We ran our finger over the sandpaper letter as we said the shape term(s), and then the children collected the appropriate pieces to build their letter. Some children went right to the mat to build the letter next to the card, while others built the letter on the card and over the visual pieces. Either way was appropriate and showed us what type of visual recognition and visual aid the children needed to build. We could hear the children saying the shape terms as they built the letters, and we reinforced them in our name-writing experiences this week.
When we weren't building this week we were incorporating more and more literacy experiences into our classroom. The children have shown that they are ready to write and read more, so we are adding pieces each day. Along with our new sign in books, we read our first book together. Reading at this age is looking at the picture and repeating phrases. And, when children recognize the look of a word from seeing often, they will "read" it from memory. All of these ways of reading are important and key precursors to decoding and comprehending. We used Shared Reading to read the book together numerous times both on the rug and at the tables. We started with a "Picture Walk" through the book to predict what the book was about, and then read each page as we pointed to each word and then the picture. We will continue to model these reading skills as we read more books together. These moments are important exposures to the art of reading and encourages the children to "read" in any way that they can.
Shared Reading is an interactive read aloud where the students join in or share the reading of a book while guided and supported by a teacher. The teacher explicitly models the skills of proficient readers, including reading with fluency and expression.
