"Hey! Where's the toys?" Play and literacy in 1st grade

Childhood Education, Fall 1996 by Patton, Mary Martin, Mercer, Jennifer

social development through opportunities to practice cooperation and self-regulation

cognitive development through incorporation of reading and writing materials in all centers

creative growth through music, movement, creative arts, puppetry and dramatic play opportunities

physical development through active manipulation of materials and props.

You can assure yourself, parents and your school's administration that you are meeting your district's objectives by posting the center's purpose and how it teaches students certain concepts and skills. As you begin to include child-initiated learning centers in the curriculum, you will be able to say with confidence, "Yes, I have a developmentally appropriate 1st-grade curriculum."

The Literate Environment

All the learning centers we will be describing include literacy materials, allowing children to playfully practice reading and writing in a purposeful setting, without pressure or expectations. Morrow and Rand (1991) propose that classrooms with an abundant supply of reading, writing and oral language materials provide an optimum literacy environment. The centers promote literacy at developmentally appropriate levels, whether a child is reenacting a story with puppets, making a book in the writing center or recording an observation in the science center.

Literacy materials that reflect life outside the classroom help children see the purpose and necessity of reading and writing. In addition to children's literature, teachers will want to include science reference books, magazines, maps, medical forms, business cards, grocery lists, newspapers and advertising flyers, as well as a variety of writing implements and paper. Storytelling and dramatization, using props such as puppets, flannel boards, hats, masks and costumes, can further extend literacy. Center time enables students to self-initiate a myriad of literacy activities when the teacher is occupied with an individual or small group.

Designing and Provisioning Learning Centers Learning centers' success greatly depends upon design considerations and material selection. The classroom's physical arrangement influences how children interact in and react to the environment. Careful planning will ensure productive, conflict-free center time (Isenberg & Jalongo, 1993; Jones & Prescott, 1984) (see Figure 1).

Learning center materials should be open-ended and inexpensive. Open-ended materials offer unlimited possibilities for use. These include the traditional manipulatives as well as "beautiful junk" (i.e., all those collected and donated materials that become important construction materials for the classroom). We suggest sending a letter home asking for "beautiful junk" to help begin your classroom collection of props and materials. The classroom library should include books for research, storybooks and books that reflect ethnic diversity and feature non-stereotypical characters.

Getting Started

Making the transition from a teacher-directed environment to a child-initiated one is a gradual process. You should explore what works best for you. As teachers who have been through this process, we recommend the following steps: