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Reflections of Observations

I continue to enjoy my time observing the Young Preschool room (Room 106) at the CSU
Early Childhood Center (ECC). I continue to see the encouragement and development of literacy
and numeracy skills through lessons and curriculum. Recently, my observations have truly
shown me that the development of literacy and numeracy can and will occur anywhere and
everywhere. There are incredible signs of literacy and numeracy that I observe during free play,
outdoor play, walks to the park, and even as children do everyday tasks such as washing their
hands. I am blown away by the children that I have the privilege of observing at the ECC. The
last couple of weeks, the class has been engaging in mail and letter writing activities. This blog
will reflect upon signs of literacy that I observed this last week during a mail and letter writing
activity.
Signs of Literacy in the Continuation of Mail Activity
On Monday, the whole class continued to learn about writing letters and how to mail
them. As I discussed in my most recent blog post, the activity the week prior to this one was the
start to the interest in letter writing and mail and the children wrote a letter to the mail man to
learn more about him. This week, the class received a letter back from the mail man in which
they learned his name, what time he visits the ECC, and other facts about his job. The children
were intrigued and excited about receiving this letter. The teachers and interns did a wonderful
job explaining to the students that when you mail a letter to someone, it arrives to their address,
they read it, and then they can send a letter back to you. They explained that writing a letter is
just like talking to your friend, except that you have to write what you want to say and send it. I
could see that the children were making connections between communicating through oral
language and through written language. Otto (2008) discusses how teachers should encourage

awareness of different types of written language by talking to Kindergartners about cards,


invitations, letters, signs, and books. Although she discusses it in her book for Kindergarten
students, the earlier the awareness of different types of written language can be taught and
encouraged, the better. The children in the classroom at the ECC are still a few years away from
Kindergarten, but already beginning to learn about things that are often introduced and taught in
around Kindergarten age. Its incredible.
The next part of the activity incorporated writing letters to the students family members.
The teachers began going around the circle and asking the children where their grandparents,
aunts, uncles, cousins, and other family members lived. The childrens answers included
different towns in Colorado to different states around the country. This was an incredible
moment to experience because the mere twelve children in the classroom have family spanning
all the way across the country. During this discussion, students made connections with one
another using geographical places. For example one student responded to another student, My
grammy lives in New York, too! My observation partner and I were discussing after our
observation time how great it would be to have the class make or print out a map of the United
States and somehow mark where all the different families are from to begin to teach the children
where some of these places are and to show them how many different places relatives of their
classmates live.
While asking the children who they wanted to write letters to, where they lived, and how
they would send them, the teachers were using instructional conversation. They were not simply
having a casual conversation with the students, they were asking questions and making
educational responses and statements. The teachers were asking the students if they had visited
these various places, what they saw there, who lives there, if they drove or flew on an airplane,

and many other questions. When one child stated that his grandma lives in Denver, a teacher
responded, Oh that is pretty close to Fort Collins. Denver is the capital of Colorado. Do you ride
in the car to your grandmas house? The child answered, Yeah! I ride in my mommys car to
grandmas house on the big highway! The children were very excited about these conversations
and did not even realize that they were learning while sharing about their families and travels.
the ability to understand each child through instructional conversation promoted their
contextualization of conversations to the childrens backgrounds, and this created a comfortable
learning environment and means to assist children toward higher learning goals (Goh, Yamuchi,
& Ratliffe, 2012). In creating instructional conversation with the students, the teachers were able
to learn more about each individual student as well as work to continue to create a positive and
welcoming learning environment.
The class finished the activity by talking about writing a letter to a CSU police officer
that they had already met when he came by the ECC. The teachers and interns are seeing and
acknowledging the genuine interest that the children are showing in mail and the incredible
educational moments that are occurring, and therefore are continuing the lesson by coming up
with new ideas of letters to write and ways to continue learning about mail. As I mentioned
earlier, the teachers could also branch off the current lesson to a lesson about the United States
geography and mapping.
Final Thoughts
The children at the ECC make me smile each day that I am there, impress me immensely
with their knowledge and personalities, and make me excited to work with and teach children
throughout my life. Sometimes I get really caught up in all the work that I have to complete for
my college courses, and begin to lose sight of where I am working so hard to get to. This is the

way that I felt this last week, but the minute that I walked into the ECC, the children re-opened
my eyes to the incredibly bright light at the end of the tunnel. I am very grateful for the time I
have the opportunity to spend at the ECC and all that it continues to teach me.
References
Goh, S. S., Yamuchi, L. A., Ratliffe, K. T. (2012). Educators perspectives on instructional
conversations in preschool settings. Early Childhood Education Journal, 40, 305-314.
doi:10.1007/s10643-012-0518-9
Otto, B. (2008). Literacy development in early childhood: Reflective teaching for birth to age
eight. Long Grove, IL. Waveland Press Inc.

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