Jennifer wrote in to show us some amazing photos of the writing nook she's created for her little boy, Jack. She says, "I think an orderly and enticing space for writing can inspire children to assemble their tools and gather their thoughts. With this in mind I cleaned up an old chicken coop we had in the basement (it had been holding tools, not chickens -- I promise that no animals were left coop-less in the name of writing) to create our new Writer's Workshop." Not only do we think this is a fabulous idea for kids, it's a pretty great idea for grown-ups, too.
We're definitely intrigued by the activities housed in the cubbies. The small slate boards we get. And we've deduced that the curved and straight pieces of wood are meant to teach how to build the characters in the alphabet. But we have to admit that the Rolodex has us stumped. Regardless, the entire setup has us plotting how to create something similar in our own home.
See more photos and read more at Jennifer's site, The Write Start.
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The rolodex is probably for keeping flash cards of words starting with their first letter. :)
I'm not sure I'd keep the antique glass insulators on the top where they could be pulled off and fall on someone's head or little toes... those things are very solidly heavy! Guess it depends on the age of the kid. If he's old enough they probably make nifty paperweights.
Those pieces of wood are going to get some major playtime, what a great idea. I wonder if she made it herself or bought it?
Maybe the rolodex is just for fun. I remember playing with my mom's for hours, pretending I was a secretary. It was a lot of fun.
Fabulous idea.
Beautiful! Wow. What a great idea.
I used to teach 8th grade language arts and I tried to set up my classroom in the style of a "writer's workshop" where the students had comfortable places to brainstorm and write and edit each other's work and they kept special notebooks with their ideas tucked inside. This looks like a beautiful beginning to that concept. I love how this mom dedicated a space just for writing and words.
What a great idea and I love the re-use of the chicken coop - very cool! I bet your son will love it!
This is a GREAT writing center! Many of these items are things I had in my classroom as a preschool teacher and I would have loved this gorgeous chicken coop to store them all.
The wooden blocks are from "Handwriting without Tears" a commercial handwriting curriculum used in many schools. The rolodex is also a pretty standard preschool writing center item. It can be used to store letters, words starting with those letters, or simply as "environmental print" depending on student ages!
This is a GREAT writing center! Many of these items are things I had in my classroom as a preschool teacher and I would have loved this gorgeous chicken coop to store them all.
The wooden blocks are from "Handwriting without Tears" a commercial handwriting curriculum used in many schools. The rolodex is also a pretty standard preschool writing center item. It can be used to store letters, words starting with those letters, or simply as "environmental print" depending on student ages!