Owen is four years old. His big brown eyes are fixed intently on the blue dry erase marker he is holding in his right fist. He begins to draw on the large white board that is duct taped to a table in his preschool classroom. As he draws, he explains that he is making a castle. His marker skates over the board as he draws a large rectangle. Joe, one of Owen’s classmates, joins him at the table, picks up a black marker, and begins to mimic the shape Owen is drawing. “What are we making?” asks Joe. “Castles,” replied Owen. They continue to work in silence, each adding not windows or doors to the castles, but eyes, noses, and mouths. “Let’s add a bridge,” Owen says. He draws another rectangular shape with multiple lines on it connecting the two “face” castles (Fig. 1). Joe takes his finger and erases part of Owen’s bridge. At first Owen looks upset, but Joe quickly adds, “The people will fall into a deep blue horrible place below.” “Ok,” says Owen. Seeming satisfied, the two get up from the whiteboard table and move onto another station for the few minutes they have left before morning meeting.
Abstract
Few studies connect teachers’ intentionality with children’s writing in play-based contexts. Thus, the goal of this study (n = 5) was to examine how the use of stations and intentional teaching encouraged writing in two preschool classrooms. Interviews with the preschool director and classroom teachers as well as observations of the children helped our understanding of how the teachers worked to naturally integrate writing into children’s play. Findings suggest learning stations that encourage writing offered authentic and creative opportunities for composition, but must be scaffolded with intentional teaching in order for children to continue to develop their writing skills.
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Bahlmann Bollinger, C.M., Myers, J.K. Young Children’s Writing in Play-Based Classrooms. Early Childhood Educ J 48, 233–242 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-019-00990-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-019-00990-0