A Study of Lines

Learning to distinguish between and write letters, numbers, and shapes includes building an understanding of their form and appearance. Have you ever noticed that letters and numbers are made up of only straight and curved lines? Some have only straight lines, some have curved, and some have both kinds. It seems like common sense, but learning to see and manipulate the lines that make up a symbol is part of the process of recognizing those symbols and learning to write them.

During the first month of preschool, we did a variety of activities to explore lines and we will continue to notice and work with them throughout the school year.

Here are some of the ways we have studied lines so far:

• Bending and straightening pipe cleaners to make different kinds of lines

• Playing with straight and curved train tracks and trains

• Sorting straight and curved lines

• Moving in a line together around the classroom or outside (marching, jumping, tip-toeing, walking)

• Drawing different kinds of lines using a variety of writing tools (markers, crayons, sidewalk chalk)

• Finding lines in everyday objects

• Building and creating with lines

• Sorting letters with only straight lines and only curved lines

• Reading books with lines

Teacher Talk: Rethinking "Letter of the Week"

As I sat down to plan the curriculum for my first year of teaching preschool, I just assumed that I would be introducing or focusing on only one alphabet letter at a time. When I taught Kindergarten in a public school, the literacy program that I was provided with isolated 1-2 letters each week, so I was already very familiar with using that approach.  I also knew that many preschool programs use a "Letter of the Week" curriculum, planning most of their activities and themes around one letter and its sounds, so there would be a lot of  resources out there to draw upon.

But then I changed my mind.

I had some concerns about how long it takes to cover the whole alphabet and how that sequence doesn't consider the individual needs or abilities of the students. I also thought about how our class time in preschool is so short that spending a large portion on only one letter really limits the amount of time spent on other integrated concepts.

So I decided to do some additional research in order to evaluate this approach.

As I researched, I found that many of my concerns about this approach were valid. For example: 

• Students who may be struggling with alphabet knowledge and pre-reading skills may find this approach to be too fast and too abstract for their readiness, while other students will be held back by the slow pace. 
• If focusing on one letter takes up the majority of your literacy instruction time, then it neglects other crucial aspects of learning to read such as phonological awareness, concepts of print, and writing.
• Treating each letter as equal does not account for variations in difficulty and usage in print.

But the most striking point is that learning letters in isolation disconnects them from a meaningful context, and that "meaning, not sounds or letters, drives children's earliest experiences with print" (Neuman & Roskos, 2008). 

This makes a lot of sense to me, because it is in line with how young children learn in general. Yes, there is a level of learning that can take place through memorization and drilling a concept in isolation. But learning is more engaging and lasting for students when they are able to make connections to the things that they are learning- when it is meaningful to them. And that is what reading is all about- making meaning from the text. 

So, my next question was then how do I teach the alphabet in a meaningful way? I realized that many of my current practices were already integrating alphabet knowledge. I also found resources from other preschool teachers who are striving to create a more meaningful approach to literacy instruction, such as this one. Many of the articles I examined also contained information on more effective and developmentally-appropriate strategies. In my next Teacher Talk post, I will write about the strategies I am implementing in my classroom to encourage alphabet knowledge within a meaningful context. 

References:

Bell, Donna, & Jarvis, Donna. (2002). Letting Go of "Letter of the Week." Primary Voices K-6, 11:2, 10-24.

Elliott, Elizabeth M., & Olliff, Charleen B. (2008). Developmentally Appropriate Emergent Literacy Activities for Young Children: Adapting the Early Literacy and Learning Model. Early Childhood Education Journal, 35, 551-556.

Fischer, Bobbi. (1996). Moving Beyond "Letter of the Week." Teaching PreK-8, 26:4, 74-76. 

Jones, Cindy D., Clark, Sarah K., & Reutzel, D. Ray. (2012). Enhancing Alphabet Instruction: Research Implications and Practical Strategies for Early Childhood Educators. Early Childhood Education Journal, 41, 81-89.

Neuman, Susan B., & Roskos, Kathleen. (July 2005). Whatever Happened to Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Literacy? Young Children on the Web, 1-6.

Backyard Splash Pad

We have been soaking up the sun and warmer weather around here before fall comes to stay. My toddler loves to play in the water, but sometimes when it comes to wet kids, it is kind of nice to just create your own fun at home and not travel around with all your wet stuff.

In the case of my one-year-old, this was so simple and yet so entertaining. 

I literally just put a sprinkler head onto the hose, grabbed a few storage bin lids, and he was in splashing heaven. 

As with all baby and toddler activities, especially when they involve water or small objects, be sure to supervise your child carefully to ensure their safety.

Temporary, Interactive Art Display

We played a guessing game with these "about me" sheets that the students colored at home before school started. Sometimes I will make a class book out of items like this, but this year I wanted to display them in the classroom. I still wanted the students to be able to interact with them, but I didn't want to create a permanent bulletin board or put extra holes in the wall.

So, this is just a super simple and easy idea for creating a temporary display for student work.

What I Did:
I just made a line on the wall using painter's tape, and then adhered the work to the painter's tape. This way, I wasn't worried about damaging the paint on the wall with the tape. If you don't want your display to have a blue line on it, you could easily just do a small piece hidden behind each piece of paper, and use double sided tape to adhere it. That's what I did with the title page, "Friends at School."

To make this display "interactive," I taped the two pages separately so that students could lift the top page to see their school friend underneath.

How it Worked: 
Some pages did fall down as the kids were looking at them, but it was easy to stick them right back up. (In fact, the kids could do it independently, which is always a plus). But I didn't use very strong tape, so if you are worried about that, use stronger tape. When I use this idea again, I will probably use double sided tape for the bottom piece, just to make it a little more stable.

My students have really enjoyed this feature in our classroom. Right now they are especially interested in finding their own name and picture, but it has also been a good tool for practicing the names of their classmates.