Environmental Print

Dear Families,

In spite of the frequent snow days, we have been busy learning and growing in the Owl Room. It is delightful to watch the children all gaining new enthusiasm and confidence at the Writing Center. They have been copying new Word Cards (small pieces of paper with words written on them next to a corresponding picture), trying to write each other’s names, and asking teachers to help them spell out messages.

We have been continuing with our study of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom this week. The children made their own pictures of coconut trees, the type of tree depicted in this favorite children’s book. Instead of using paintbrushes to make the coconut trees, the children printed with their arms and hands. Some of them discovered that their arms are ticklish when Morah Larissa helped them to put the paint on their arms! Much giggling ensued. We even used alphabet stickers to put letters in the trees. Come and look at them during your next trip to the TCEE – they are displayed above the Owls’ cubbies.

We also read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom one last time. This time we acted the book out, using letter stickers and the tree that we made for our dramatic play area the previous two weeks. As Morah Larissa read the book, we put a sticker corresponding to each letter in the book on our tree. The tree is back in the dramatic play area, and the children are very proud of their work. This was a fun way for children to make a book come alive, which furthers their enthusiasm for becoming readers.

With our newfound enthusiasm for the alphabet, we have begun adding more environmental print (or written labels, charts, and signs) to the classroom. Environmental print helps children learn to associate words with the corresponding objects and meanings. It also helps children learn to organize their thinking, learning, and the space around them. Creating environmental print with children ensures that it is relevant to them, that they know its meaning, and that they know how to interact with and use it. Doing this work with the children makes them invested and enthusiastic about it. Finally, it is a way for the four- and five-year-olds to feel confident and independent about their environment.
One of our first new forms of environmental print is an alphabet chart running along the wall above our Library Area. We began this project by looking at photographs of real kindergarten classrooms with alphabet charts. The Owls were all excited to engage in this “big kid” work. We have been decorating each letter of the alphabet with something beginning with that letter. We did apple printing for A, stuck band-aids on B, and glued cotton balls to C. This is a fun way to nurture children towards associating each letter with its sound. The children have already started to think ahead to different ways that we can decorate the letters to come. We have also hung up word cards that correspond to each decoration. For example, underneath the A hangs a simple card that says apple with a picture of an apple. This allows the children to see how the word is written with (in this case) A as the initial letter. It is also an invitation to the children to copy the word when using magnetic letters, wipe-off boards, or pens and paper in the Writing Center. Each word card hanging on the wall is also replicated in the Writing Center in a small basket on the table.

We have been reading other alphabet books besides Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, including ABC T-Rex and The Letters are Lost by Lisa Campbell Ernst. This inspired us to use digital photography to create our own alphabet book. So far, we have taken photographs for the letters A, B, and C. First, we take out some Letter Builders. This toy enables the children to study the different parts of the letter. We figure out which kinds of lines we needed for each letter. Then…we use our bodies to make the letters! The children take turns laying down on the rug in small groups to form each letter. For example, to make the letter A, Shayna and Matthew laid down at an angle with their heads nearly touching, with Ashley laying across them.

This is a fun way for the children to learn to recognize and create each letter. Recent research on brain development has revealed that children are diverse in their learning styles. While some children learn easily through what they hear others say, other children learn through what they see. Some children learn well kinesthetically or experientially, and moving their bodies to create each letter is a great way to support those children in their learning.

After we take a picture of each letter, we come back into the classroom and look for toys that begin with that letter to photograph for our book. We will also display these photos underneath our new alphabet chart in the classroom.

On Friday this week, we will make some alphabet soup! We will add a few different vegetables to a slow-cooker with some vegetable broth. We will try to match each vegetable to the letter that it starts with. Finally, we will add some alphabet pasta to the soup before tasting it with lunch!

Next Friday (February 11th), we will make a second batch of alphabet soup with ingredients that the children will bring in. On Monday, the children will bring home a letter card with instructions to try to find a vegetable that begins with that letter to contribute to the soup. Please send in the vegetables on Thursday, February 10th so that we can begin to prepare the soup. We will send home more instructions about this on Monday, February 7th, but please see Morah Larissa or Morah Kate with any questions.

Finally, the Owls have written the last bit of news about their week themselves, by dictating to Morah Larissa. This was a great experience for them to reflect on their learning and to experience the writing process through dictation. We hope you will enjoy their reporting!

We’re building and we’re building towers and shows and we serve cotton candy. We read books sometimes. We write a waiting list sometimes. And we do the calendar. And we play. And we go outside. We play games. We build the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Tree. And Morah Larissa has a computer. And we brush our teeth here. And sometimes I go home and sometimes I stay. – Noah.

“Books. Wipeoff board. Crayons.” – Cristopher (written by pointing to picture cards)

“I like to play with the scissors. We’re doing art projects. We do music.” – Julia

“We’ve been learning about letters by painting them and putting band-aids on them and putting cotton balls on them. We’ve been painting a tree for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. We’ve been not really playing outside. It is really fun when we do go outside.” - Ashley

“We were playing at the kitchen. And I’ve been playing at blocks. And I played at art. And I ate snack. And nothing else.” - Matthew

“I like having snack. And the graham crackers that have the white things are salty, which I love them. I like playing at blocks. Me and Ashley made a dare devil course. And we’re taking out a new toy at the Yellow Table. And Books is always open. And we’re learning about alphabet books and we made an alphabet tree. In the Middle Room there’s a new rug. At the Writing Center we got scissors and pencils and Shayna was using a pen. Before you have snack, you have to wash your hands. And there’s almost 100 blocks. We have another new toy, that’s the marble roll. And another one, the Lego Tiles.” - Nicholas

“I learned letters and I learned the alphabet. We made the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Tree.” -- Shayna

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Larissa and Morah Kate