This week spotlight shines on Early Childhood teacher Crystal Alexander and her students who focused on literacy and creativity through The Three Little Pigs. Students compared different versions of the story, learned what a villain is, and discussed the problems and solutions in each tale. They also practiced retelling stories with puppets in the dramatic play center, completed mazes in the writing center to strengthen fine motor skills, and worked together to write their own versions of the story.
One class created The Three Little Gingerbread Men and the Big Bad Polar Bear, while the other wrote The Three Little Kids and the Big Bad Grinch. Students used details from the stories we read throughout the week to develop their own ideas and worked collaboratively to bring them to life.
“This is one of my favorite units because the students are so excited about learning and books,” said Mrs. Alexander. “We hear them acting out the stories all over the classroom, whether they’re building houses like the pigs or pretending to be the wolf.”
Here’s what some students had to say:
“He blew the house all over!” (describing their stick house getting knocked down).
”He burneded his butt!” (recalling what happened to the wolf at the end).
“That’s straw like the pig used!” (comparing it to another story).
This activity supported key Early Childhood learning goals, including story comparison, retelling, and shared writing. By engaging in these activities, students built foundational literacy skills while fostering teamwork and creativity, which ties directly to our district’s strategic goal of ensuring student engagement and collaboration, and the ongoing push to increase literacy skills here in our district.
