With "Class News," Pre-K Students Build Letter Recognition and Writing Skills

Each morning, the Pre-Kindergarten class at William O. Schaefer Elementary School starts their day with class news.

“Our students are practicing listening to their peers and speaking in complete sentences. I choose one student’s news to write about and then give clues about their name so that the class has to figure out who it is. This is a fun way for them to practice recognizing names and identifying letters, along with distinguishing features of names, such as how many letters are in the name and which letters are tall or short,” reported PreKindergarten teacher Carole Widmayer. “Once the featured student has been identified, they repeat their news statement. Then, we write the sentence together, working to distinguish between letters, sounds and words, along with letter formations and handwriting. Finally, we reread the sentence multiple times, pointing to the words, and the featured student gets to illustrate their news. We talk about making sure to match their picture to the words so that it makes sense for the readers.”
  
Principal Sheila Beglin is pleased with the success of the program, which launched in September. “It has been wonderful watching our Pre-K students grow across the school year. Not only have they grown in size, but also in terms of skills and confidence. This class has been an incredible addition to our school community!” she said.