Helping your child or children at your carecenter prepare for school is not an extra item on the to-do list–it’s something that can be done with regular, everyday activities and with ordinary things you already have. This reading and writing kindergarten readiness activity uses an orange peel.
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Do you remember being little and trying to keep the orange peel all in one piece? A friend of our family could peel an orange and somehow as the last bit came away the peel had the shape of an elephant, complete with big ears and trunk. I never did manage to do that. Maybe with a little of your help have your child peel an orange and then place it on a piece of paper. Trace around the peel. What kind of shape do you see on the page? Print a sentence on the page and you and your child can ‘read’ it. This gives your child a meaningful experience with language and helps promote the understanding that squiggles and lines have meaning. These marks on the page are ‘talking’ written down; this is the fundamental concept for writing and reading. Wonderful learning in a simple orange peel. What shape is yours?