A is for Alligator

This year in my class I have a group of kiddos who love the arts and crafts area, and also struggle with letter recognition and phonics. From this was born the idea of our alphabet collage books. This gives the crafty kids a chance to reinforce language skills and kids who struggle with fine motor skills to practice.

I created templates for every uppercase letter and have one letter available in the art area every few days. I give children of all different development levels a chance to be successful by providing the templates for kids who can trace and cut, to pre made pieces for those who are still unable to trace and cut.

Our first letter was a great success, next I just need to encourage the kiddos to embellish and personalize their work even more!

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S Snake

Snakes are a regular occurrence here in the jungle. We see snakes slither across our outdoor hallway with some frequency, so the kiddos have a personal connection to them. This was reflected in lots of patterns, smiles, and familiarity.

M Monkey

Where I live there are four kinds of monkeys that we see nearly everyday. On the way to school or in the afternoons it is quite normal to see troupes of either shorter long tail macaques. And if we are especially lucky we catch sight of a gibbon or langur high in the branches of a tree. When I first chatted with the class about monkeys they were most excited about the short tail macaques who tend to be the larger monkeys who are not skittish around people. And thus was born the M Monkey, or M Macaque. The children are quick to say that the monkeys LOVE garbage can messes.

KISS, keep it simple stupid

Overwhelmed by shelves gone wild? Have you ever reached a point when your home or classroom shelves begin to explode? I really never thought I would, but here I am with this: My kiddos have basically stopped using this area because the shelves have become too overwhelming. Now don't get me wrong, I love having so many beautiful resources, but too much is too much! So I turned my shelf to utilize the space better and simplified. Two days later the literacy area is one of the go to spots in the class. I think this is an easy fix, simplify and they will come. As my very smart dad is fond of saying "keep it simple stupid!" A reminder that has served my kiddos well this week.

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