Today I encouraged groups of children to draw a portrait of themselves and write their name. We do it every year to see where they are in their development and to give us an indication of their progression by the time they leave us at the end of the year. I got the usual range - a child scribbling, a series of unconnected lines and dots, a face with arms and legs coming off it and much inbetween….until this one child presented me with a picture that blew me away. In my 9 years of teaching, I have never seen such attention to detail. The child is 4 in a few weeks yet the three figures she drew had different facial expressions, one was facing sidewards and they all had fingers, hair, clothes, etc!!! WOW! She then proceeded to write 4 sentences underneath…..
Has anyone else seen this in a child so young? I am also left wondering how best to meet her needs. Our play-based classroom will definitely offer challenges in many areas and activities are usually open ended which will ensure they are naturally appropriate for her. I want to stimulate her reading and writing but am not sure if I should 'teach' her the way we would for our older children when they learn to read or whether I can alter our environment to help her naturally progress through her self-chosen play....any suggestions/ideas welcomed!
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