The Rivers Class students have been working on forming letters to write their names. After learning about straight and curved lines, we are now focusing on how those forms work together to compose various letters. The letter A is two big lines and one little line. The letter B is one big line and two small curves.
Addressing the need for sensory experiences in young children, teachers provided a variety of opportunities to use fine motor skills as the children have been challenged to use dough and clay to form letters as well.
Our process invites the children to start by writing the first letter of their first names. Younger children will focus on proper formation of the first letter of their names and then will work on other letters with the teacher. Some will learn their initials. Others know many of the letters of their names but struggle with one or more letters and will work on those. The children are so proud to finally begin to more easily draw a letter that has been impossible for them in the past.
Older children are working on mastering proper formation of all of the letters of their first names and sometimes some of the letters of their last names. While many of the older children have been drawing their first name already, we will focus on always working from top down and from left to right. This will help them develop fluency so that they will be forming letters quickly as they become ready to make their first attempts at writing words in the next year or so.
As we opened the mailboxes this week for Valentine’s Day, children have begun to sign their names on messages. Wednesday many children made cards for each other in class. Some children will grow interested in writing the names of other children and will learn to write new letters as sending messages to each other through the mailboxes stays open as an activity for the rest of the year.
