Learning Through Observation

This child is learning through observation.  He is noticing many things about the scorpion as he draws his own model.  He is only 5 years old now, but someday he might see an illustrated model drawing like this:

He can then think back to his own drawing he made this summer during summer school and make connections to what he already knows and the new information presented in the drawing.  That is how children learn through play.

As an educator, you might suggest to parents that they can take a simple drawing made by their child, and add words and arrows just like the drawing above shows.  When a parent works with their child in  this way they are increasing their child's vocabulary. 

Of course, in your own classroom you might do the same thing as a classroom activity and add this note directly to the drawing:

Click Here to obtain a copy of the letter from my Google Documents file.

Deborah Devine