During the summer, a police officer visited our preschool 1 classroom and informed us that the most important thing for children to know is their full name, phone number, and address. For the past 6 weeks, we have been practicing and learning that important information. We started with first and last names- an educator called each child over one by one during free play and wrote their names with them on a chalk board. They added numeracy into the activity by counting each letter in their full names. We talked about who had the longest name, and who had the shortest name. We have discovered through trial and error that singing is the most efficient way to teach our group of children, because it helps them remember! So, throughout the day, we sung the children’s full name to them. During transitions, our educators called each child by their last names. These constant reminders of the children’s full names proved to work, because by the end of the first two weeks, we were calling each child to the table by last name only, and they were responding correctly! The third and fourth week we focused on phone numbers, which we thought might be the most challenging, but doable! Again, we called each child over one by one and wrote their parents cell phone number onto a chalkboard. We sang it together over and over. We discussed how different areas have different area codes. We asked parents to support this learning by practicing their address, full name, and phone number at home. Lastly, week five and six, we moved on to learning our home addresses. Again, one by one they went over, and we sang their home address in a song. The educators explained to the children that your address is not something you share with strangers, because it can be dangerous for strangers to know. We explained that their home addresses is like their house or apartment’s name, just like each child has their own name. We sang their personal address song with them throughout the week. We sang them while walking around together outside, while waiting for lunch, and during free play. This learning experience created an opportunity for the children in our class to retain important information that is valuable to know in different scenarios. To expand on this learning, our class will begin to practice their fine motor and literacy skills by encouraging the children to write down their personal information.
