Writing at the Easel

I am still working hard on saving money for Montessori training certification. In the meantime I have been focusing on accrediting my home based preschool. The first thing in this process that I want to tackle is improving our environment. I have been making various blueprints of how I want our preschool/elementary classroom to look. Fortunately for me the kids are respecting each others' work space and are now at the point where they habitually ask for lessons on work, and respect the hands off the work approach until the lesson is given. This helps me to bring them all together now which will allow a more attractive work space for them, and more room.

Once a child starts writing there is no stopping them! They absolutely love inventive spelling. In fact I wholeheartedly agree to have the child read their own writing before formally introducing reading to them. It seems that all(4 yr olds) of the children here are entering their sensitive period for language.

Our easel has proven to be an invaluable tool in allowing the children to follow their interest at a whim.

   Some choose to use the Sandpaper Letters to practice letter formation.  
                                                          

 Maddux loves to trace the Sandpaper Letters and say the sound while writing.

    (you can see some of the work to be done to prepare the environment with x marking the spot)
                                    
The children also enjoy using the easel for drawing pictures to tell a story.

While adjustments are being made to the environment the easel offers plenty of open ended writing to still continue.