The South Carolina Early Learning Standards are incorporated into the Sunflower class curriculum.  This week’s focus is: Language Development and Communication (LDC). 

The Sunflowers spent the month of January reading fairy tales, focusing on Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk, and The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  The students compared and contrasted the many different versions of each story and could identify the idiosyncrasies that made each one unique.  Our classroom reading center overflowed with books and offered the students motivation to read and recreate their favorite tales individually or as a group (Goal LDC-8).  

Using their familiarity with each tale, the Sunflowers expanded their vocabulary and continued to develop phonological awareness (LDC-11).  With magnetic words and pictures, the students were able to identify beginning letter sounds and recognize that some words shared a first letter.  Even though we read numerous versions of the same fairy tale, the Sunflowers showed preference for specific versions and could express what made a certain book their favorite over the others.  

Once the students were comfortable with the stories and their basic structure, we used the information to bring them to life using collaborative story writing (LDC-10).  In small groups, the Sunflowers chose a familiar story as inspiration, added and changed the characters (a unicorn was a welcome addition to the Three Little Pigs), and dictated a script to later be performed for the rest of the class. This expansion of their story comprehension offered a wonderful opportunity for the students to add their creative touch to beloved tales!