Leaf Man

An Invitation to Explore Leaves

Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert is a beautifully illustrated book about a leaf man that is blown by the wind far away from home.

The children had the opportunity to explore the woods behind the school.  They gathered leaves, berries, sticks, seed pods, and acorns.  They sorted the items to be used in their project.

A beautiful display inspire children to create. 

The children used the natural materials to create their own leaf people.

Completed Leaf People

Word Cards

Inspiring Children to Write

Clip Art: Mycutegraphics

To help inspire my children to write I add word cards to the writing area.   Children are able to choose the card theme and the word they want to write. 

Stages of Writing:

(Adapted from Project ELIPSS, Macomb Projects, Western Illinois University)

Scribbling: Emergent writing - random marks or scribbles

Mock Handwriting or Wavy Scribble: Children produce lines of wavy scribbles as they imitate adult writing. 

Mock Letters: Children attempt to form alphabetic representations, which also often appear in their drawings. Children make letter-like shapes that

resemble conventional letters. 

Conventional Letters: Children’s first experiments with real letters are usually the letters from their name or a family member's name. As children’s mock letters become more and more conventional, real letters of the alphabet begin to appear. 

Invented Spelling: Once children are fairly comfortable writing conventional letters, they begin to cluster letters together to make word forms. 

Approximated (Phonetic) Spelling: Children apply sounds to letters to approximate the spellings of words. Beginning sounds are used first, ending sounds second. 

Conventional Spellings: Children’s approximated spellings gradually become more and more conventional. The child’s own name is usually written first, followed by words such as mom, dad, and love. 

Mock Letters

Transition from Mock Letters to Conventional Letters



Download Word Cards
Adventure Card
Christmas Card
Farm Card
Halloween
Playing Card
Spring Card
Thanksgiving Card
Valentine Card
Winter Card
Fast Food
Feelings Card