I believe that literacy is the greatest gift we can give students. To be able to read and write is necessary to be successful, not only in school, but life.
In my preschool classroom I have a "newsroom", a small table with a non working keyboard, notebooks, pencils, a sticky note pad. On one half of the back drop there is a map for weather reporting or geography interest. The other half is a large blank area for their NEWS, which they jot down on the note pad. Then they stick their news to that area. Some children scribble, draw and others are eager to learn about writing and reading, so they print letters. The older children learn phonics letter sounds, and they write phonetically what they hear. The word 'candy' might look like this: kande.
A little boy was busy sounding out words. He called, "Teacher, how do you spell DUH?"
I asked, "Do you mean, duh-dog?"
He said, "No-no-no, I mean DUH! Like I am going to da store."
My first funny of the new school year, and I am certain there will be more.