LEARNING THROUGH STORIES

How We Use The Story of The Three Little Pigs.

Children talk to express feelings, gain information, make requests, understand concepts, and share ideas and stories.  With lots of practice over time, children develop the ability to speak clearly and to tell personal stories as they describe objects, people, and events that are familiar.  Last week, we read The Three Little Pigs and discussed what each pig used to build their house.  This week, each child chose what house to draw and I asked them to recreate it using crayons.   The boys and girls had to closely examine each one of their houses and draw what they saw.  Each child then shared their drawing with the class and spoke about the details. Narrative talk is great because it requires our class to use more complex language.  

I also presented a story problem using three pigs.  The pigs were hungry and we needed to feed them. After feeding them, one pig went to take a nap.  I asked the children “How many pigs are left?” They all shouted two! Taking away is a common separating operation that makes a collection smaller and answers the question, “How many are left?”  Children can often solve subtraction problems before they can solve addition problems. We also use this concept during our snack time.