I am and always will be a huge believer in pretend play in the Kindergarten classroom. I hear so many stories about Kindergarten classrooms that have become so academic that you can not separate them from a Grade 1 classroom. The learning that takes place during every "Center" time in Kindergarten is very evident if one just listens to the voices of the children. This is a great time for parents to come in and just watch, the children are having a ball while learning social and emotional skills, building language and thinking skills. If interested, here is an
article from Scholastic that shares an opinion similiar to mine.
7 comments:
Nice post!!
I got the educational toys out from the attic and off with the gadgets...
Thanks, and we all get caught up in the gadget trap!
Thank you for this post and the article link Joanne. And thank you for continuing to espouse the importance of pretend play in a world that is too quickly trying to control young children's lives. If we want our children to grow to be competent engineers, they must play with sand and discover how sturdy a base is needed for building structures. If we want children to collaborate and create socially, we need to allow them to interact in a play setting. For children play is their work and after 21 years of teaching youngsters I have seen a child learn their alphabet over night as soon as they are ready to do so... Thanks again Joanne - it is encouraging to know that you are spending your life dedicated to these wee ones.
...Ellyn
As always...this made me smile...a LOT!! :)
Thanks for the support, Ellyn. It is always nice to hear words of encouragement from someone who totally "gets" what I do.
TupperMama, I am glad to make you smile!
It's so nice to hear that others feel the same way about "pretend play" in the classroom. I'm looking forward to reading the Scholastic article you mentioned!!
Beth, thanks for the comment. Are you a KDG teacher as well?
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