Week 6: Chapters 10 & 11

I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing few days off.

Again, Mary Anne Buckley created two wonderful and useful chapters.  I really appreciated how she tied the value and benefits of play, including play during recess, to the writing process.  Play truly does help build self-control and perseverance.  Has anyone ever read or used the book, The First Six Weeks of School?  Sounds like a great resource for helping to cultivate community, which also supports play and teamwork, two elements the author values for helping kids generate and share their stories (page 140).  The resources embedded in these chapters are numerous.  She mentioned using Boardmaker as a way to help create visual checklists; a great resource I have used frequently.  When I was chatting with several ECSE teachers a few weeks back, they mentioned the use of pogoboards.  Like Boardmaker, it is a picture symbol system, only on-line.  I have not used it, but thought it may be useful and worth sharing.

This blog is in the home stretch.  And as the energy levels of your students elevates, and your time dwindles, persevere through these two chapters.  I guarantee they will be worth your while.