Reflections of Observations

I have continued to have the privilege of observing the Young Preschool room (Room
106) at the CSU Early Childhood Center (ECC). This second half of the semester, I have been
enjoying my role as an observer and have continued to observe literacy and numeracy in the
classroom through lessons, play, teaching strategies, and child-centered curriculum. I love that
every day I am at the ECC, I see children truly enjoying themselves, having fun, and not even
realizing how much they are learning. This past week, half of the class participated in a mail and
letter writing activity. Within this activity, I saw many elements of literacy and numeracy
emerge, in which I will reflect upon in this blog post.
Signs of Literacy and Numeracy in Mail Activity
On Wednesday, the teachers and the interns created an activity for the students that was
designed to teach them about writing and mailing letters. The activity began with the teachers
walking the students outside to look at the ECCs mailbox. They discussed where you put your
mail, that the mail carrier comes to pick it up and drops it off, and what the flag on the mailbox
means when you put it up or down. The teachers lifted each child up so that they could look
inside the mailbox and touch it to see what it was made of and felt like. The children each also
got a chance to open and close the mailbox door and put the flag on the mailbox up and down.
This was a great learning experience because the children had the opportunity to experience a
real mailbox with a flag and also to do more than just see the mailbox.
After checking out the mailbox, the class went inside to begin writing letters. The
teachers asked the children who they would like to write a letter to. Their answers ranged from
mom and dad to grandma to Santa Claus. Many of the students drew pictures on their
papers and were asking for help writing their names on the letters. Beverly Otto (2008) discusses

children beginning to understand that writing is a form of communication. Preschool children

begin scribbling and drawing before writing. Otto (2008) writes, Preschoolers will approach
adults with their scribbled paper and ask them to read it. Other times, children will provide their
own reading of what they have put on the paper (p. 124). Some of the children in the class
were dictating to the teachers what their letters were saying to their parents, grandparents,
cousins, friends, and Santa Claus.
As I mentioned earlier, the students were also wanting to write their names on the cards.
One of the students attempted to begin writing his name and exclaimed, S! Thats my letter.
The students are beginning to recognize the letters in their names as their letters. When
children begin to focus on letters, they also may indicate their perception of letter similarities.
This attention to letter features is expressed spontaneously by the child. It is not directly taught
or elicited, but instead emerges from daily interaction with adults in literacy-related events
(Otto, 2008, p. 115). This is something that I have seen often in the ECC classroom. The teachers
never directly design a lesson to teach the students about specific letters, but the students are
introduced to and begin to recognize letters through literacy-related events such as this mail
activity and many recent cooking activities, that I discussed in my last blog post.
After the children completed their letters, the teachers helped them place the letters in
envelopes and discussed how writing an address on the envelope helps the mail carriers get the
letters where they are supposed to go. They also learned about stamps and that a letter cannot be
mailed without a stamp. The teachers asked a few of the students what an address looks like, and
one of the students knew that addresses had a number and a street. Some of the students began
making their own addresses such as 1,2,3,4!. Just as children memorize the alphabet song,
many young children begin to learn the sequence of the words used for counting and repeat them

in their play (Moomaw & Hieronymus, 2011, p. 30). In learning about addresses, the students
were able to practice and express the numbers and sequences that they have learned and are
familiar with.
At the end of the activities, one of the students made a mailbox for the classroom out of a
wooden crate and with a flag on it. All the students placed their letters in the mailbox to be
mailed out. The teachers told us, the observers, that they were later going to try to get some real
addresses of the childrens family members to truly mail the letters. The children were also
asking about who the mail carrier at the ECC is, so the teachers jumped on the new interest and
worked with the students to write a note to the mail carrier to leave in the mailbox. They asked
what the mail carriers name is and some other questions about his or her job. This was a great
moment to observe because the teachers were able to extend the educational activity based on
interest that the students were showing.
Final Thoughts
I continue to enjoy my time at the ECC each day that I have the opportunity to be there.
The teachers do a wonderful job engaging the students in activities that build upon their interests
and enhance literacy and numeracy skills. The children are learning an incredible amount while
still having a blast.
References
Otto, B. (2008). Literacy development in early childhood: Reflective teaching for birth to age
eight. Long Grove, IL. Waveland Press Inc.
Moomaw, S. & Hieronymus, B. (2011). More than counting: Preschool and kindergarten.
St. Paul, MN. Redleaf Press.