Two days ago, a couple of children started walking around with clipboards and asking everyone how old they are. Today a larger group formed and started making the rounds.
“How old are you?” “I’m four.” “I don’t know how to draw a four.” “It looks like this, see?”
“I can’t do that.” “I’ll do it for you.” “See? This is how you do it!”
The age survey is put on hold when one girl decides she wants to write something else.
“How do you spell ‘peace and quiet’?”
A teacher starts to spell it: “P-E-A-C-E A-N-D Q-” “Wait, what does a Q look like?”
She and a friend go to the alphabet poster to find out.
“There it is!” says the friend. “No, that’s a ‘U’.” “There! It’s the circle with the line through it!”
“How do you write five and three-quarters?” A teacher explains that we start with a five, then add a three with a four underneath.
This number takes a lot of concentration!
Some children are using letters, others are using numbers, and some are using lines.
Sometimes fostering an interest in writing can be as simple as providing a clipboard.
February 13, 2015