We don't teach phonics but they learn letters and their sounds.

"We don't teach phonics but they learn letters and their sounds."

That's what I heard myself say when a parent asked if we teach phonics.

I pointed to the name labels on the tables and told her that we're always talking about letters and their sounds, like the sounds in their names.

I pointed to the alphabet puzzles and the magnetic letters which had been incorporated into the home center play.

On display is the recipe book, A-Z of recipes, that we will make over the year. It is through their play that the children begin to connect letters to the sounds they make.

We don't teach phonics but they learn letters and their sounds through play.

We don't teach phonics when the environment, or the third teacher, does it so beautifully.

Comments

Tape Man

Some of the children put blue tape over their mouth. Usually I would have said something like, "Take the tape off your mouth. It's not for putting on your mouth." Instead I thought of Tape Man (with some pride, being from New Zealand). I thought of creativity. I thought of art. So we sat together for whole group time, some with tape on their mouth. I said, "I've got something to show you." When they first say him one of them said, "It's scary." I reassured them that it's not too scary and that he's being funny. So they started to laugh. Pretty soon there was no more tape on mouths (not that I minded if there was, it's just hard to laugh). Thank you Tape Man for reminding us that creativity begins with exploration in play.

Changing Spaces

The blocks were in tubs on the shelf in the center of the room. It was time for a change, so the blocks were put onto the shelf by the OHP, providing a more enclosed space for the children to build with the blocks. One of the children spent time building a structure. After he has finished, he was able to leave it there for a while, and later in the day he was able to put the blocks back on the shelf where he had found them. Changing spaces creates new opportunities.

Art Table

It's always there. It's always available. It's a popular part of the classroom. The art table is kept stocked with pens, scissors, glue sticks, sticky table, stapler and of course...tons of paper. Paper of different sizes, shapes and color. We add anything else we find that might be interesting for a child to use for an art project. When a child has finished their project they decide what they would like to do with it - take it home, display it on the wall, or give it to me, the teacher. There is always something going on at the art table. Something new, something creative, something interesting.

NZ Teacher

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