Monday 15 August 2011

Why I Love Watching Little Ones Learn

I do.

I love teaching the littlest kids.

I also love teaching adults.

And all the people in between!

I love teaching Math, but that's not what this post is about.

This is about the littlest kids in school.

And my girl is about to become one of them!

... So, really, this post is about her.

It's so fun to see how she is learning and beginning to develop concepts of print.  The pre-reading and pre-writing is what really makes me love teaching these kids, and I get one all to myself at home, too!  Two, actually!

Kids this age really do love to learn naturally.  They are curious.  They want to play.  And playing is the best way to learn.
(This hopscotch picture is from NS) 
I love watching how kids seek out opportunities to blend the gross motor with the fine motor and other concepts. They don't even know it!
You may recognize these.
I have them framed in my living room, and you can see them from afar in this post.
These are the first "family portraits" that my girls drew.  Not exactly the first faces they ever drew, but the first ones that they named with our individual names.  I scanned them, converted them to black and white on the computer and sized them to fit the frames.
I found this old wooden school desk at Value Village in NS for $5.99!  Score!  It is really motivational for Little G.  We have it in our living room here, now, and it's been inspiring her to put pencil crayon (or marker) to paper.
Her toes don't quite reach...
Her name (scrambled for privacy) is long, and she finds the lowercase letters a little dull, so I had her "follow the path" for the letters with green dots (for go) and red dots (for stop).  She likes this game!
Today, she wrote me this list.
It's a list of all the swim suits she and her sissy have.
It's long and detailed. 
She read it to me.
This is a Letter to Mommy. 
She told me it was very important. 
And secret. 
I'm still not sure what the secret is.
Little G had me pose the other day to do a portrait of ME.
It looks just like me, don't you think?
From my long hair (straight up, the way I always try to wear it) to my muscular hands, chicken legs and circle cheeks, the resemblance is truly uncanny.
When I came home from school today (prepping already!), Little G was putting the finishing touches on this picture of a one-hump camel.  It's name is Camel, in case you are wondering.  It's for Daddy, and she worked for almost an hour on it.  Sharpening the pencil crayons was a big part of the learning!
Mostly, I love watching little ones learn because they are awesome.
And, they know they are awesome, too.
Because they are.

5 comments:

Dennis said...

It's so wonderful that you have chosen a career that you are so cut out for Shannon....Congratulations!!! :)

Anonymous said...

It sounds like you are just itching to get back behind your school desk for another fruitful year... Go girl and have fun doing what you do best... Proud of you.... Walking in your Nana's footsteps...!!! Mom.

Anonymous said...

Brought tears to my eyes. ps LOVE the camel. -Chucky

Anonymous said...

Brought back such precious memories of "my boys" when they were beginning the "joy of learning journey"! The best part is that several years later they are still as awesome as ever!

So happy that all is going so well.

Marsha

Shannon Lee said...

Thanks Dennis, Mom and Monique.

Marsha!! You are here, too! I'm so happy you've found me online. Miss you!

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