Today's Quote--Pooh and Piglet are the
best of friends. They go
adventuring hand in hand.
I realized we are a month
away from Valentine's Day.
I think it is a great time to focus
on friendship, writing, and
creativity.
So today I want to write about children and friendship. When young children are preschool age, they are learning to move from a focus on themselves to a focus that includes those around them. Part of what we have to do as parents and educators is to help children move through this developmental process. Adults need to remember that children are all individual and that they come from different family settings.
What can we do? Talk about friendship. Read about friendship. Books can help us talk about situations children go through each day and in a fun and welcoming manner. Of course, we will use the day to day life situations to give them words to express themselves and to help them learn to become aware of others and their feelings. We can even use songs about friendship. Children learn best when we help them learn in playful situations as well as in "in the moment" situations.
Talk about friends who write to each other or draw pictures for each other and buy or make a mailbox for the classroom/house. I make sure to have a set of name cards available with everyone's name written so that there is a model to help the children write. Set up the writing center, housekeeping, and other centers for writing. Find different sized, textured, and colored paper. Add containers of pencils, markers, crayons, etc. for writing. Open up your environment for drawing card, pictures, and other fun creations. Offer painting on the different papers you have out for writing. OH, and don't forget to add sticker, rubber stamps and envelopes. These items all make for a interesting and inviting writing environment.
As you open your room to more writing for students, write more as a class and in general. Some of you probably do this as a part of each day. Pat yourselves on your back and Kiss your brains. Modeling writing with preschoolers will help them see themselves as reader and writers. For example: Mark asks about snakes he saw in the desert (EEK), make a note with him to look for books to find out more about those snakes. Write your school office or a neighbor a letter as a group. You get this idea.
Next week I'll include some friendship books and some Valentine's books you might want to locate, if you don't already have them or others that you like. I'll also include an idea for a classroom or home book that will allow your little ones to read it on their own.
REMINDER: Runny noses are everywhere stock up on soft tissues. Also find some Ziploc baggies to store those dirty tissues when you are away from a trash can. WASH, wash your hands.
Please comment and add ideas so that we all gain more tools for our teaching tool belts. If you'd like subscribe to this blog Click on the posts and comments buttons under subscribe to Teacher Debbie's Spot! Happy Friday!
Wishing you well,
🌟Teacher Debbie
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