Many preschools have well developed programs with wonderful projects that stimulate creativity and foster intellectual and cognitive growth. They are fun and colorful. The children are excited when they see the activity laid out on the table, ready for their own special stamp on the finished masterpiece. They smile and beam with pride as they eagerly wait for mom and dad to see what they have made.
Some schools, however, are still using the tired and outdated worksheets as projects. The plain white paper with lots of little letters and/or numbers typed neatly across the page, waiting for someone to write the correct answer on it or copy it letter for letter... to please someone else.
There are way too many websites out there with pages and pages of wonderful ideas all offered to anyone who can click a mouse. Some of my favorites are: DLTK's Printable Crafts for Kids
The Perpetual Preschool and Preschool Express .
Don't get me wrong. There can be a place for those worksheets...if used properly.
I put them in my "office area" for the children to work on whenever they are role-playing going to work at the office. There, they can work on the computer and do their paper work, during the extended playtime which is the cornerstone of our program.
Every day those pages change to represent the daily theme. There are a multitude of office supplies on that table for them to use on their work pages. Crayons, colored pencils, markers, scissors, tape, glue sticks, several hole punchers with many different shapes, and my favorite prop - the rainbow maker.
There is no right or wrong way to do THEIR work.
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