Learning Family Names
The schools in Reggio Emilia, Italy are world renowned for their approach to early childhood education. I had an opportunity to attend a study tour of the Reggio schools and was deeply inspired by their philosophy behind classroom design. One important element to take into consideration when creating a learning environment is the writing center. I while I was there I took note of the following idea...
A family and friend “name chest” is a great addition to a writing area, whether it is at home or in school. I started this activity by asking the girls to help me make a list of all the people in our family we may want to write to. Next, I printed names on Avery labels and asked the girls to help me put the stickers on this tool chest. Once all the drawers were labeled I gave the girls extra copies of the of the name stickers to place inside the drawers. This was a great experience in letter and word recognition as the girls tried to match the names on the labels with the corresponding names on the drawers. Next, we attached family photos so that the names would be easily recognizable.
The moment I placed the name chest in our writing area, the girls started joyfully generating letters to various friends and family!
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Tuesday, July 8, 2008
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