What a message holds…

At Lincoln Nursery School, we approach our environment as a third teacher.

How can our space support children’s learning?

How does the environment provoke children to think about themselves and about each other?

How does the physical space — including the materials and tools within it — challenge and extend children’s learning?

Teachers embed learning opportunities within our environment in various ways. One such way is through routines. Routines ask us to practice a way of being, a way of engaging with the space and with the people in it. One such routine is our message.

Making Meaning

What learning goes on when children engage with the message?

We see children…

– pausing to orient themselves to what is taking place before entering the space, influencing their approaches to joining play.

– learning information that may influence the choices they make and how they will feel (e.g. music today!  nature walk today! we are all      working on the rug to begin our morning!)

– encountering how tools and materials may be used (e.g. through a mini-gallery, a sketchbook, a note about a project).

– learning that they can teach each other (e.g. “Ask Nico how to build a cube!”)

– learning about an on-going inquiry project.

– developing relationships with a teacher.

– sharing their studio experience with a caregiver.

– experiencing the power of writing.

– encountering different forms of writing (greetings, statements, questions, lists, etc.)

– learning early reading tools/concepts (e.g. following text from left to right, words are separated by spaces, beginning letter sounds,             tapping each word, etc.) 

– finding patterns in letters and objects.

– playing with rhyme and song.

– practicing conversation – agreement and disagreement.

– posing questions.

. . . (the list goes on!)