Children talk a lot at our school. They sing, hum, tell stories and explain, argue and discuss all day long. Talking is encouraged. It leads to writing, reading and having a lot of fun together!
Here are a few examples of the natural tendency to communicate as it is nurtured at our school. You can see how we learn about each other and the world around us and how we begin to express what we know. The freedom to talk is important to us!
Sharing a story with the teacher early in the morning.
Often the first thing a child does is find the teacher and share an anecdote she knows will be received warmly and with genuine interest.
Sharing a story with a friend.
Sometimes, especially during a long, familiar activity a friend comes along. This might be another good opportunity to tell a story that’s current, to share some news.
Showing someone something very small, yet significant.
Something very small might be interesting to a friend. It could be a little thing, but important to you! You can tell your friend and your friend will listen.
Is a particular activity available? One can always ask.
Asking questions is a good way to find out about things. It is also a good way to start a conversation.
Just talking on the playground.
Part of the time on the playground is spent just talking and laughing with others. Can you guess what these girls are talking about?
Saying something with sounds.
We can say something with sounds from the Moveable Alphabet. We can even write a whole story that way.
The beginning of a first story on paper is often about friends.
Here’s a photo of the beginning of a story. The words are separated but capitals are not being used yet.
The beginning of proofreading.
Once you can write a story using capitals and punctuation marks, you can help a friend proof a piece of written work. Gradually, with proofing and correcting, the work becomes easier to read and understand.
Sharing a comment about the observer.
As we get older we’re a little more aware of observers in our classrooms. “I think she’s taking our picture,” or, “Don’t forget to level the top of the dry measure in the cup,” could be the message being conveyed above.
A Spanish lesson with a friend.
When we’ve learned something new outside of school, we can share it with our friends, too. Our friend brought some work sheets from his Spanish class to help illustrate the words he is teaching us.
Disagreeing or sharing disbelief.
We do disagree with each other sometimes—or hear something in a lesson we find hard to believe. Crinoids? Animals? They look like plants!
Finding the product with changing from one decimal category to another.
When we start carrying out operations with decimal numbers, even thought we have a visual representation in front of us, the words sound wrong. We can get confused and have to talk it through.
So, ten thousandths we change for what? For a hundredth?
Without talking about this multiplication example, the three children involved would have had a harder time coming up with a believable answer, even with the concrete material in front of them.
With which Grammar Box should we choose to work next?
We do talk over work choices, particularly in Elementary where we work in groups most of the time.
Reading aloud names of all the countries using the atlas.
An atlas helps us label countries, capitals and land and water forms on Pin Maps. We read aloud and discuss these using the index, sometimes, to be sure we are correct.
"Go ahead, yes!" the teacher says. In lessons, we sometimes take turns by raising our hands.
In a large group lesson, we do take turns. Our teachers recognize us when we raise our hands.
A book report in progress.
We especially enjoy talking about books we’ve read. We may choose based upon what our friends have liked. Then, when we find a book or an author that we like very much, we write a book report. The book report can help us record details we like and convince people we have never met, that this is a book worth reading.
Do you like talking in school, too? Do you have a favorite book or author you’d like to tell us about? Just comment.
Thank you for reading our blog.
