El Mundo

The Escuelita classroom has been working on a wonderful postcard project to go along with their "Around the World" theme. Below is a write up of the project by head teacher Megan Forcum. This is a great example of how Peregrine School encourages emergent literacy in preschool-aged children.

While discussing travel in regards to our “Around the World” theme we talked about ways to remember our travels and sharing our experiences with friends and family. The concept of postcards was introduced as a way to visually share our traveling experiences with our loved ones while we are actually traveling. Each child was asked to take a postcard home and fill it out with a travel experience. Once returned to school the students were asked to place the postcards in the mailbox that they all decorated. Everyday during circle the teachers would read one or two postcards and asked the child to share any additional memories from his/her trip.

The postcards allowed the students to learn that experiences could be written down and shared with others. Some students attempted to write on the card themselves. This activity allowed the students to explore literacy in a way that differs from the traditional reading of books. The students enjoyed and took pride in placing their postcards in the mailbox and even more so when listening to his/her postcard as it was read in circle.

As students became more familiar with the function of postcards they became interested in “writing” their own. Students were provided postcards that they could fill out with drawings and have their messages written down by their teachers. Scribble drawings are one of the first steps of emergent literacy. Children begin by drawing what they are thinking about or wish to say. Teachers then document what the child is illustrating or the message they would like to say to others. This leads to the connection between oral and written language.