Early Learners: Where Trinity adventures begin

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Early Learner Kennedy holds her completed Creative Creature, a fun completed Creative Creature, a fun activity in which students choose activity in which students choose from an assortment of silly attributes from an assortment of silly attributes to create a unique little creature on to create a unique little creature on a Play-Doh base. Every day, our Early a Play-Doh base. Every day, our Early Learners participate in activities like Learners participate in activities like this to build their fi ne motor muscles. The Creative Creature activity is designed to help students achieve adequate strength to evolve from using a power grip (fi st grip) to a precision grip, preparing them to become writers.

Gale Weber’s “Where Adventure Begins” bulletin board symbolizes the beginning of a new school year and her Early Learners’ unique, lifelong learning journey. The carpool lane and the students’ self-portraits exude happiness, unity, togetherness, self-awareness, and a sense of belonging.

Early Learners: Where Trinity adventures begin

By Gale Weber, Early Learners Lead Teacher

If you are a Trinity parent, teacher, or staff member, chances are you’ve noticed the little guys and gals navigating the carpool lane every morning and afternoon, leisurely skipping or walking with their Trinity School blue bags. Do you ever wonder what goes on in the classrooms that serve our youngest learners? As a teacher of Early Learners, which begins at age three, my short answer is: a hefty amount of joyful learning that is incredibly intentional, purposeful, meaningful, and rich in personal connections. Recently, I asked my students, “How was P.E., guys?” They enthusiastically responded, “We played games the whole time we were there!”

So, just how can a day filled with taking risks, meeting and exceeding expectations, growing, and stretching be perceived as fun by our students? For starters, an environment robust with building materials, dress-up clothes and props, books, and art supplies are tools that assist us in nurturing our students’ curiosity and imagination. The “power of pretend” is boundless. I’ve been asked, “Do you just play all day?” And my proud response is always, “Yes!” The acts of conducting a train, caring for a baby, building a skyscraper, or baking a pie progress language skills, social-emotional skills, and thinking skills. These examples of play-based learning help to improve coping abilities and flexibility, establish confidence, and increase positive interactions with peers. It is during these exchanges with teachers and peers that the Early Learners team is steadily laying the foundations of literacy and numeracy. Like a baby learns to babble before he or she can talk, our approach to learning is to build the most solid foundations possible. The academic goal for our young learners is to develop early math skills, pre-literacy skills, and pre-writing skills long before our students ever learn to calculate, read, or write.

In numeracy, our goal is to understand size, shape, and patterns and to promote an understanding of numbers and the quantities they represent. We provide opportunities throughout the day to practice counting, not just during math instruction. Grasping the concepts of more, less, and equal are big picture ideas that develop while the students increase their number awareness. Acting out number stories, playing counting games, and using literature to connect concepts with their experiences help us accomplish our math goals. A pre-reading foundation is a major goal we work toward accomplishing. Through our daily read alouds and independent read to self time, the students notice more details and increase their ability to recall and sequence a story’s events. They learn that the story has a beginning,

middle, and end, and they can make predictions about the story, characters, and settings. Turning each page in a book develops their orientation that reading follows a left to right and top to bottom progression. Our students begin to understand that letters make words, words make sentences, and sentences tell a story. Early Learners are fi rst exposed to words comprising letters when they learn how to spell their fi rst name. As they understand the connection between letters making words, they are excited to begin spelling the names of their friends and family members. Through continued practice, our students recognize the letters in their fi rst and last name as well as other uppercase letters. We also introduce the connection between letters and their sounds. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the sounds of language. With activities like singing silly songs and reading intentional literature, our students can hear the pattern in rhyming word pairs and progress toward generating their own. Before children are physically capable of expressing themselves on paper, they must develop a plethora of pre-writing skills. A signifi cant amount of time is spent developing our students’ hand and fi nger strength. Before putting pencil to paper, our Early Learners spend time learning that letters are composed of lines. We use many multi-sensory materials to practice letter formations. We use terminology from the Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) curriculum, like big line, little line, big curve, and little curve. Studies have shown that while focusing on academic knowledge early on is important, it will not ensure a child’s success in school. So, what will? In short, how children treat themselves and others will also impact their success in school. When our sweet young students arrive in August, they are accustomed to the norms and special attention they receive from their families, so teaching them how to operate as part of a new, larger school community is one of our goals for the year. We show them how to gain independence with self-help skills. We help them become aware of peer diff erences and show respect for the diversity around them. They learn to participate in large and small groups by listening to others, taking turns, and sharing. Learning to listen, following directions, and controlling emotions and behaviors support children’s readiness to learn. We model self-regulation and encourage the use of appropriate words to express feelings and needs. As the year progresses, our Early Learners practice working through peer confl ict by listening to each other’s point of view and learning to compromise. They play cooperatively and move fl uidly to new groups of friends, depending on the activity or situation. They develop meaningful relationships with peers and teachers. We regularly say, “We work together; we play together; we don’t leave anyone out!” We work diligently every day to live up to those words in the classroom. Confi dent and independent, our students are building a strong social-emotional foundation. To further strengthen connections across our grade level, all Early Learners and their teachers transform into pirates for Pirate Week. Our students have been enjoying this very special Trinity tradition for more than 18 years! Without a doubt, during Pirate Week, you cannot escape our corridor without being greeted with an emphatic, “Ahoy, matey!” from the students and teachers. To commemorate the week, which is a culmination of our Shapes unit of study, our students set out on a treasure hunt equipped with a map and handmade pirate hats, spy glasses, and hooks. Participating in traditions like Pirate Week is an important part of the Trinity Experience, and we intently spend the year watching, embracing, and supporting the special events enjoyed by the older grade levels. So, when it is fi nally their turn, our Early Learners transform into the most exceptional Olympians in Pre-K, Chick Masters in Kindergarten, and cast members in the Fifth Grade’s production of The Nutcracker! This connection of our Early Learners to the larger Trinity community is an integral component of our school’s culture. Our students quickly begin building relationships with teachers outside of our grade level and our individual classrooms due to our robust specials (art, media, music, physical education, science, and World Language) schedule. We are often stopped in the hallway by the adults in the building because they are drawn to our students’ size and level of cuteness, but, more importantly, we constantly receive praise for our straight, quiet lines as we journey throughout the building. Our school norms and values are proudly instilled at the earliest level. I cannot write about Trinity community connections without mentioning the special bond our Early Learners form with their Sixth-Grade buddies. Year after year, our buddies teach and share their knowledge, build meaningful relationships, and, most importantly, serve as exemplary role models and mentors. It is not uncommon for our Sixth Graders who began their Trinity journey as Early Learners to request to be paired with the class where all their fun and magic began. This very meaningful and intentional connection not only helps complete a student’s Trinity journey, but also lends great promise to a journey that is just beginning. Early Learners, where Trinity adventures begin.