From the beginning of our days at school we are moving with purpose and precision. We build motor control, and with a little practice, can do almost anything!
Early in the morning, we can be found cutting paper towels for a hand washing activity or carefully folding tablecloths for lunch. Some of these jobs are a special honor because they only get done once a day—or, only once or twice a week.
Eating snack together is nice, but especially enjoyable is the clean-up, in which we sweep up every crumb.
Rolling mats and putting them away carefully requires precise movements. . .
. . .and it’s especially important to move with precision when we show younger children how to do it.
The Broad Stair requires precise arrangement when we put it away on the shelf.
Measuring ingredients and adding them carefully requires a practiced hand, too.
Teaching another person the names of the continents requires both motor and verbal precision. “Say ‘Ant’—‘arctica'” we might tell a new friend.
Of course, practicing the Addition Facts with the Blank Chart and the Tiles requires precision. The fingers move from the top and side of the chart, find the empty square, and put the tile where it goes. There is a pattern here, so it’s not as terribly difficult as it looks at first.
Then, there’s the Trinomial Cube, one of our favorite puzzles. If you start out doing it just as you’re shown in the lesson, all of the pieces will fit right back in. Then, after much practice, you will devise other ways to make it work!
It is fun to be able to do something precisely, whether it’s folding clothes or working out an intriguing puzzle. We find that if we take our time and pay close attention, we can do more and more things that require precision.
Thank you for reading our blog. Come see us to learn more about the things we choose to do during our mornings, the jobs we do for our classroom communities and the lessons we get!
