I like to make up stuff!

Today, our Autistic student's program supervisor came in for the afternoon to observe.  This included watching every form of learning and interaction he has within the classroom environment for the duration of class.  It happened to be that because we were closed on Monday due to the Thanksgiving holiday, I had decided we would do our catch-up time of back to back sessions of music classes and small group times.  My Teacher's Aide conducts the 30 minute music classes and I do the small group times which includes focusing on the 'academic side' of preschool learning. 

This week, the students are learning about the letter "B".  Small group time typically looks something like this:

• Begin by singing the "ABCs" song
• Recap what letter was learned last week, its sound, things that start with that letter, and then asking the students to tell me how would I write both a upper and lowercase "Aa"
• Introduce new letter with letter card and picture
• Introduce its sound and do several times of "B sounds like buh buh buh"
• Introduce real objects that start with the "buh" sound and repeat three times and reciting as a group
• Items are then taken away and children are asked to recall what objects started with "B" and making sure they are doing the sound of it i.e. "buh-buh-boat"
• Introduce printing the upper and lower case by showing on a dry erase board, reciting "Big line, bump, bump"
• Provide children with clipboards, paper with uppercase Bs' and lowercase bs' three times and crayon
• As I write my letters on the board, they follow along with their crayon and clipboard by tracing the Bs' on the paper
• Do a recap of printing the letter followed by sound and objects of Bb
• Introduce worksheet with letter of the week that involves tracing and colouring a picture related to the letter (this week was a bear with a ball)

I'm not following any program or curriculum whatsoever as the preschool itself is community-based, non-profit.  So realistically, you have to work with what you have.  I did this setup last year and doing it a second time as it appears to be working (the magic word).  Parents have told me that the interest in printing has grown because of what they are learning and that's all they want to do at home..!  Yippee!

Anyways, so once the program supervisor had witnessed this, I was really interested to hear what she had to say in terms of something is wrong with what I'm doing or what can be altered, etc.  She asked me what program I was following and I simply replied with a "none" and a giggle because I almost felt a little embarrassed to admit it (why, I don't know, but I just did).  So she replies with a "Oh, okay" and explains that the break down is very appropriate for our special friend is very interested in the fact that it does not originate from a hand writing program. 

With that said however, if any of you reading this find the above worth tweaking, let me know. I would love to hear new ideas!

Teaching kids to print is very challenging especially if the fine motor skills aren't fully developed or be where they should be.  More so, using a program that does, can be extremely costly especially ones like Hand Writing with No Tears.  But, I guess this is a simple case of just making the most of the materials you have. 


Which leads to my next point..but closing thought..

As a preschool teacher myself or anyone working with the Early Years people, man, you definately learn how to make the most of what you have.  Those little plastic cups make look like just that to you, but for someone who works with kids, those cups are a great pot for glue or paint!  Next time you're in your classroom, look around.  Observe all of the things in the room and note how many of them are reused yogurt containers, empty juice bottles, muffin tins, or paper towel rolls.  What are you using them for now?  Or better yet, what are the kids using them for now?