Nurturing Readers and Writers

In collaboration with the Needham Public Schools, our very own Maria Gonzalez-Griffith is spending this week at Lesley University taking a course on Nurturing Readers & Writers in the Prekindergarten & Kindergarten Classroom.  The course is described as follows, "Learn how to engage prekindergarten and kindergarten children in joyful language and literacy opportunities that assure a successful school entry. Through play, children expand their imagination, their oral language, their social skills and their understandings of early literacy concepts. With guidance from skillful teachers in whole and small group settings, children learn more about themselves, their world and how literacy influences everything they do."

We know that children learn literacy skills best when they are engaged in the process with their whole minds and bodies.  In this course, Maria is focusing on learning about building a community of learners, engaging children in inquiry projects, maximizing student energy for storytelling, and using bookmaking to develop emergent writers.  She joins kindergarten and preschool teachers from across Needham in an effort to ensure our children are challenged and engaged in the learning process. I can't wait to hear all that Maria learns and look forward to that learning being infused throughout TBSCC.