Nature Alphabet

Over the course of the fall, the Sunshine Room has been creating a nature alphabet. Frequently, the students would bring insects, flowers, leaves, sticks, or small rocks (“dinosaur eggs”) to the teachers, with an excited, “Look what I found!”. As their collections grew, the students noticed that the items they found sometimes looked like letters. The Sunshines began searching high and low for letters they recognized on the playground. They found a few letters, but after a while began to make their own.

Student: “There’s lots of letters you can make with twigs and nature stuff!”

Student: “I can make a T! And I can write my name!”

They experimented with sticks, leaves, pine needles, and drawing in sand. Many students recognized that the letters with straight lines (A, I, M, V, X etc) were easier to make with sticks, and the letters with curvy lines (G, S, Q etc) were harder. Drawing in the sand with a stick made even the tricky letters possible! 

Student: “Look, look I made an M!”

Student: “How are we going to make a Q?”

The teachers challenged the students by asking students to find or make new letters, or spell their names. Many students began to search for or create new letters each day, and over many weeks they collected the entire alphabet.

Throughout the fall, the teachers found ways to incorporate our 4K learning into our outside play time. Hands-on, meaningful play experiences help children develop skills, process concepts and learn about the world around them. Through this activity the kids were practicing letter recognition and pre-writing  skills as well as fine motor skills by manipulating the letters as they found or created them, all while engaged in play.

Reflection by Grace Hawkins and Hannah Schiro, Sunshine Room Co-Teachers