We receive Experience Preschool curriculum each month in exchange for documentation of our learning experiences with it. All opinions and experiences are our own. One of my favorite times of the year in the preschool class is around December or January. That is when I see writers appear! Things start coming together in the minds of my students and voila, they SHOW me what they have learned so far. Letter strings, letter-like shapes, lines, and squiggles are written across the paper- all are so exciting to see! This tells me where each of my students is in their handwriting development. I have a mixed-age classroom of children from 3 years to 5 years. So not only do I have children demonstrating different skill levels, I have a chronological age span as well. The preschool curriculum that we use is brilliantly designed, especially in the language domain. We receive 4 teacher guides each month along with curriculum maps, skill charts, and so on. Here is an example of one literacy activity: Gold coins were hidden in the paper crinkles. Once a child found a gold coin, the /g/ sound was emphasized. Then the child was asked to write the letter in cornmeal. The cornmeal provides a wonderful sensory experience and makes the brain more likely to remember the formation of the letter. Children took turns rolling the cube and indicating if the photo began with /k/ sound or not. If it did, the child wrote a "K" on the kite. Letter-sounds and letter identification are all important pre-reading skills. Language and Literacy Development is one of the 7 learning domains embedded in the Experience Preschool curriculum. The lessons are a great combination of learning through play, then demonstrating that learning through journals and such. The journals are included in our curriculum kit each month. Our students work at the table each morning doing what I refer to as an "arrival activity." Handwriting is great for the arrival activity because it gets their brains and fingers warmed up and ready for a day of learning. Once children learn the mechanics of writing and begin to understand that those squiggles on the paper are letters and letters form words....they understand how language can be useful and fun! With each theme, I consider how I can support their language development in meaningful ways. Adding paper, clipboards, calendars, calculators, old cell phones, etc. can go a long way to promote language development. At Christmas time, I added order slips to our cookie bakery and the children had so much fun with them. They took turns taking the orders and filling the orders. "Customers" had to articulate what they wanted. An easy way to get children writing is to provide them with interesting writing materials and name cards for family members.
I hope you enjoyed this post and consider Experience Preschool curriculum for your program, be it an in-home program, for your homeschooled child or a center-based program.
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AuthorSheila Anderson has over 25 years experience in the Early Childhood Field and still loves going to "school" everyday. Archives
January 2022
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