My lovely readers!
As noted in some other posts, my AT plans her room and set up based on the letter of the week. We create a letter chart, with common words and the words we know at the beginning of the week and group discussions and planned activities often revolve around said letter. At the end of the week, the poster goes up on wall.
I have discussed this with some other pre-service teachers and it seems to be a common focus at this level of early childhood however each centre does it differently. For some, they only make the letter poster and talk about the words they know but my AT really goes above and beyond. Let's take a look at the letter L week...
The Letter L Poster
At the beginning of the week, the children create this letter poster. The picture are pulled out of a hat and they all take turns to guess what they are as they all start with L. At the end, the children can list all the words they know with the featured letter. The last step is counting and underlining all the Ls in the words that we write onto the poster.
The Lovely Letter L
At the start of the week, my AT played this song. On the first watch, the children simply watched what was happening.When they asked to play it again, they got up and dance, clapped and stomped their feet. For the rest of the week, they asked to dance to the robot song!
Ladybug Land
Early in the week, the children each collected a stone from outside and painted it with similar patterns to a ladybug. When dried, my AT took these painted rocks and added them to the tray above. This then sat at the project table, where the children are free to engage with it whenever they please.
Words with L
Every morning during group time, my AT does her morning minutes. This is her way of encouraging group discussion and the social behaviours expected during these discussion. It is also a way that she intends to prepare the children for what is expected of them when they go to school next year. Above is a copy of the morning minutes sheet, where they were asked, 'What words do you know that start with the letter L?' Their responses are recorded and the transcript is displayed near the sign in sheets for parents to view at the end of the day. This procedure provides some consistency for the children in the morning and ideas for planning, specifically based in the children's current interests.
Lemon Scented Play Dough
Dough Recipe
2 tablespoons cooking oil
4 tablespoons cream of tartar
2 cups of flour
1 cup salt
2 cups boiling water
bottled lemon juice
lemon extract
yellow food dye
Simply mix all the ingredients together until combined and knead until you get a consistent texture. Add extra essence or juice as necessary.
2 tablespoons cooking oil
4 tablespoons cream of tartar
2 cups of flour
1 cup salt
2 cups boiling water
bottled lemon juice
lemon extract
yellow food dye
Simply mix all the ingredients together until combined and knead until you get a consistent texture. Add extra essence or juice as necessary.
A member of staff and myself made the play dough with the children, giving them the ingredients to take turns to pour into the bowl. Since we used hot water, the other staff member mixed the dough. when ready, the dough was placed on the table with some wooden pegs and beads. The photos above show what play followed.
Conclusion - Rather than just focus on the letter in isolation, my AT really looks to provide a wholesome literacy experience which is not didactic or overstated. The linking to the letter L is so well distributed throughout the week and all the activities are so subtlety linked. I love the fact that the learning takes place without the children being denied their unstructured play time, something that will become more restricted as they move into primary school.
This form of planning is definitely something I will be coming back if I decide to become a kindergarten educator.
Miss Tracy xx
