Good Afternoon!
One of the most meaningful activities that children partake in is journaling. Large group journals daily; small group children can journal whenever they’d like but have no set time to journal.
Our large group consists of four and five year olds. All five of our friends are at different stages in their language development. A few children are working on the formation of letters and matching the letter with a sound (mostly consonants). When they hear the sounds, a teacher dictates what they’re saying. A couple of our older friends are kid spelling which means that they’re hearing sounds in given words and writing what they hear. For instance, ‘friend’ may look like ‘frnd’. MOST children hear consonants first before hearing any vowels. This is completely normal and an important part of development! We are always excited to have a time to draw what’s in our heads or just something we’re thinking about. Putting words to our pictures makes it that much more meaningful. OUR WORDS MATTER.
The following attachment goes into the specific of handwriting and the various stages that children go through!
http://www.mecfny.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/StagesofWritinghandout.pdf
The rest of our morning focused around ourselves; drawing our portraits and coloring our hands that we made yesterday.
A song comes to mind; ‘The itsy bitsy spider…’
Breakfast– Kashi Blueberry Clusters and banana.
Lunch– Brown rice with shredded chicken, corn on the cob from PPC, and PPC grapes/banana.
PM snack– Wheat thins and sunflower seeds.
Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumbers.
Have a great evening!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 8/24
As a person who took notes through college, and for !@#$%! years in offices during my working years, I am often struck by the similarities in”kid spelling” and “shorthand spelling.” If I were taking meeting notes and the “friend” needed to be included, how would I spell it? “Frnd.”