Today’s blog is my day to share a passion of mine…teaching children to read through journal writing. Traditionally, reading is taught by asking children to memorize letters and attach sounds to these letters. Then, children are asked to read by “sounding” out the words. I have found this to be backwards and fraught with frustration and failure for both the kids and adults. My great success in teaching reading has been through journaling with children. Wee Friends teaches children to write first, then read. When children write first, learning to read becomes a beautiful journey that is exciting and rewarding for everyone involved.

Wee Friends makes journaling a regular and important part of our curriculum because:

Children have an opportunity to express thoughts, feelings, and words onto paper for others to see and read.

Children learn to value writing, and to respect the writing of others.
We often go into our journal time following a small group story time. We talk about the authors role in the story and connect how the children are “telling” their own story. Children talk with us about what they have written and they share with each other their stories. They learn that everyone’s picture has value.

Children have REAL and RELEVANT opportunities to learn the conventions of print such as; each letter has a sound (or many sounds) and words are made up of these individual sounds combined; print goes from left to right; and print goes from the top to the bottom of a page.

We can show a child the letter B a hundred times and it won’t stick. However, if the child is excited about a story that was read about a bear, came to the table and journaled about a bear, wanted to write about their bear, the letter B now has meaning. It is at that “teachable moment” a Wee Friend teacher is ready to supply the information that the child’s brain is hungry and ready to receive. This emotional connection will guarantee that the letter B is now learned.

Children can experiment with letters, letter sounds, and inventive spelling in a safe way. When children are asked to de-code words (read) prematurely, they are regularly wrong. When they do kids spelling, they are in control and they experience success. They can read what they wrote and they build literacy confidence.

The journey of learning to read starts with the first scribble when children are just toddlers. Children then move to drawing with purpose (circles to drawing people and objects). They then start to understand that writing can be dictated to “tell” their story. Finally, children become ready to start their own kids spelling and begin to sound the words to tell their story them self. It is the Wee Friends teacher’s role to walk with them through this journey and help them when they are ready to learn to write their name, to record their dictated words, to help them start kids spelling when they are ready, and all the zillion steps in between!

Writing gives children time to practice the fine motor control that will help them become better writers.

Yesterday’s blog gave several examples of ways that children develop fine motor skills other than writing. Often they need lots of other fine motor experiences to build the strength to write easily and with purpose. But, we foster a positive journaling culture that children want to be a part of. This means they get lots of time drawing and building the right fine motor muscles!

Have a great day,

Tami

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth

The first aim of the prepared environment is, as far as it is possible, to render the growing child independent of the adult. (Maria Montessori. The Secret of Childhood: Fides Publishers, 1966.)

This quote came to me this morning as I watched the Wee Frienders choose and work on activities independently and at their own pace. Our environment has been thoughtfully arranged to facilitate and maximize independent learning and exploration in all of the learning areas. It is really cool to reflect after a busy morning on just all the learning areas that have emerged in just a few hours. Oddly, the children manage to keep it all balanced every day!

Here’s just a few examples of some of what happened this morning:

Scientific and Mathematic Development

Several children participated in mixing their own sculpture dough. Some required help (from friends), while others have learned to do this alone. The sculpture dough requires fairly exact measuring to get the correct dough consistency. Today children brainstormed together how to “fix” the dough when it was too dry or too wet. They also discussed how many scoops were necessary to fill the measuring cup.

As a table activity, bears with stickers were set out with bear counters. Children gathered and matched the bears with the stickers. Also, they became creative and filled the bears with the counters to see how many could fit! Other children lined the bears up and counted them in rows.

Language, Literacy & Communication

Story after story, Melinda read to small groups of children. Ada had decided this morning that she wanted to learn about alligators, so Melinda got out the non fiction books and children were completely absorbed in learning and talking about the differences between crocodiles and alligators!

There was also a variety of games that encouraged cooperation and letter recognition this morning. Journals were done after lunch.

Creative Development

At several different times this morning, children participated in creative music and movement. Melinda facilitated a music instrument exploration and later she let the children through an organized bunny trot.

Sculpture dough designs were put on trays to dry and be painted later. Outside, sidewalk chalking and water and chalk painting at the easel were both some ways the children were creative in art.

Physical Development

Fine motor is often developed in ways that are unexpectedly effective. A few examples from this morning are: mixing the salt dough, kneading it, and forming objects out of it. Another way seen this morning was children using the play pliers to pick up the fuzzy balls. Finally, outside children were digging in the sand and scooping it. These types of fine motor work helps form the muscles needed for writing!

Personal & Social Development:

This morning shortly after Addi arrived at WF, she saw Nate. She announced, “Nate, I’m here!” Nate immediately came over and gave her a huge hug.

Taylor patiently helped Nate through the process of making his own sculpture dough. Children are learning as “big” kids helping, and the younger child is learning by being helped.

For lunch today: multigrain flat bread with cream cheese, fresh shredded zucchini (from our garden), and cantaloupe.

And here are just a few cute shots from outside this morning…

Today was a morning filled with color! First Miss Paulina read Oso Pardo, Oso Pardo, Que ves ahi? Paulina and the children discussed the animals and the beautiful colors in the book. Next,azul, rojo, amarillo, verde and negro were heard as Paulina led small groups in a Spanish-English color explorations at the art table. The children enjoyed using the trays, brushes and tempura to mix colors. Many used paper to further explore the colors they created.

Other activities included:

*playing with dominos independently and in small groups

*Dancing to songs Miss Paulina sang.

*Lots of bear play in housekeeping.

*A very enjoyable a time outside with the beautiful weather.

For lunch today we had whole wheat spaghetti noodles with tuna and peas, fresh fruit salad, and cucumbers from our garden.

Have a great day!

This morning Melinda and Tami took a group of our older friends on a walk to play at Nuner Elementary playground.

This afternoon we will say goodbye to Yonatan and Oliver! We’ll celebrate with brownies and berries! Thank you Jason, Atalia, David and Alexandra for helping us make it a special day!

For lunch we served white pizza, watermelon and peas.

Have a terrific weekend!