Writing on Purpose in Kindergarten
"Providing Wipebook Flipcharts as a medium through which students can make their learning visible supports the development of our young mathematicians."
Learning involves exploring the world around us, testing our theories and communicating our ideas.Students communicate their understanding of their world through telling, writing, representation, demonstration and a hundred more ways.Providing students with open-ended materials builds in a universal design element to the learning process.Students are able to communicate as they are ready and comfortable to do so.With the ability to create mistakes, learn from them and try again, Wipebook Flipcharts offer an accessible tool for students to explore.
Connecting To Our Names
Early in the school year, Kindergarten educators provide different activities for students to identify, use and write their names. Writing their names on their artworks and other creations helps to foster a sense of ownership and supports a student’s identity as a creator. Providing a Wipebook Flipchart on our cupboard was exciting for our students! Not only did it help to strengthen their upper body muscles while writing in a vertical position, students were eager to follow step-by-step directions for letter formation and to practice learning by making mistakes.Mistakes can easily be erased and letters tried again -- a great way to nurture a growth mindset.
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Make Math Learning Visible
Math is everywhere and all around us. Providing Wipebook Flipcharts as a medium through which students can make their learning visible supports the development of our young mathematicians.As a shared space, students discuss their different ways to represent quantities, make connections to prior knowledge and make connections to new understanding of number and quantity.
Questions include:
- “What are some different ways we can represent the quantity of three?”
- “Tell me more about your picture.”
We are Artists!
The Kindergarten program provides children with opportunities to express the power of doing, the power of making and communicating their thoughts and ideas.The Wipebook Flipchart provides another avenue for personal expression and the communication of ideas.Students were excited to use whiteboard markers and erasers to draw aspects of the world around them (e.g., an apple, educators, family members).
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With the portability of the Wipebook Flipchart pages, it’s a great way to embed student writing and communication of their understandings of their lived experiences throughout a busy classroom.By having students share a Wipebook page, they can build upon each others’ ideas, suggestions and knowledge.We look forward to using our Wipebook Flipcharts in our learning this year!
Christine Maree, King Edward Public School, Waterloo Region District School Board.
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