I love the quote “The best worksheet is a blank sheet of paper.” I’m not sure where I first read this quote but it stuck with me. I’ve never been much of a “worksheet person.” Sometimes I decide to try them, especially when I am surfing the Internet and come upon a site with “free worksheets.” But inherently I know they are not a good idea. I came upon this article by Dr. Sue Grossman sums up what I’ve always known about worksheets.
I am having a dilemma I have never had before: Play-based curriculum vs. Academic curriculum. I describe the dilemma in this post and ask for your help with my dilemma.
This year I foresee that I will have not only fluent writers, but perhaps great writers, so I have started doing some research on teaching children to write. I am reading the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum and evaluating its use. I have also recently read the book Literacy Beginnings: A PreKindergarten Handbook by Fountas and Pinnell. I’ve been reading a lot of articles about pre-handwriting skills and it has further convinced me that worksheets, except for a few focused Handwriting without Tears worksheets, are not the way to go.
The only other exception is I have been sending a homework packet home. I send a montly homework calendar home also which I downloaded from abcteach.com, but the worksheets are the only way I can be certain the homework is being completed. I sent home a letter formation/coloring sheet from the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum. This way parents are also seeing what letter we are working on and they are also seeing the proper formation of the letters.
Instead of worksheets, I have been focusing on the following activities:
- Shared and/or Interactive Writing and Drawing – Years ago when my school was using The Ohio State Univerisity’s Literacy Collaborative and the works of Fountas, Pinnell and Marie Clay, I was using Shared and Interactive Drawing with my MD students who were not yet drawing, much less writing. I was also using shared reading activities for familiar songs and nursery rhymes.
Note – Teaching drawing and writing must be explicitly taught and taught in small, consistent doses. A five minute daily or twice daily lesson is much more productive than pages of worksheets with no prior instruction.
- Letter/art activities from the website No Time for Flashcards. The ideas she has are so cute and the children love them. We made two this past week for B and C.
- Name Recognition activities – I begin with learning names as the basis for all letter recognition and pre-writing activities. The students learn their own and each others’ names incredibly rapidly. They begin to notice patterns, similarities and differences. For more ideas, see Vanessa’s Levin’s ideas at http://www.pre-kpages.com/names/. This is a HIGHLY recommended website to add to anyone’s favorites.
- Name Puzzles – I print names on two sentence strips. I cut one of them into pieces and put them in an envelope. I tape the other one to the outside of a legal-sized envelope. The students put their name puzzles together. When they get proficient, they begin to put their friends’ puzzles together. Again, this is a powerful tool.
- Daily Sign and Question of the Day
- Daily drawing in multiple forms – I have found large sheets of newsprint paper (17 by 22 I think) to be particularly rewarding for my students. Small children need the opportunity to spread out and make large motions. They love markers too.
- White board drawing – Remember you must teach the proper way to use a whiteboard. Whiteboard crayons are a wonderful new invention, but they are expensive, so we use them as a treat.
- Drawing on clipboards – A colleague was throwing away clipboards and I grabbed them. The children love them! It makes them feel “grown-up” and it allows me to teach a lesson on the carpet and they can copy what I am doing.
- Magnadoodles – My 2 year old daughter has a magna doodle available to her all the time and she probably draws 50 “pictures” a day. They are a a great tool. I got most of mine in thrift stores. I haven’t used them in my classroom yet this yet (just didn’t think of it!) but I’m taking them in this week. I’d love to find enough for a class set. They’d be a great alternative to whiteboards (Hmmm – Principal – Title money perhaps?)
- Easel drawing – Children need to stand and draw. I know this. It encourages interaction, large movements and more.
- “Music Drawing” – These are the songs I use to teach drawing and writing, such as the ones by Dr. Jean and Super Simple Songs. An example is Dr. Jean’s “Numeral Song.” My daughter goes around the house singing it all the time!
- Tracing around manipulatives, such as shapes, magnetic letters, even hands. Ahhh – this is why I write – it’s my best way to think of ideas – This week I am going to have the children trace around these awesome cookie cutters the former PreK teacher left me. They are large shapes and should be perfect.D
- Drawing/Writing “Around the room” or “Around the School” or “Around the Neighborhood” or “Around the playground” – using our clipboards.
Do you use worksheets? If so, for what? If you don’t use worksheets, why or why not?
My Special Needs Classroom 