Early Education / Addysg Gynnar
Exploring Mark MakingSeptember 2013
Early Education / Addysg Gynnar
Aim:To explore how children
develop mark making skills and look at practical ways to facilitate this in
your setting.
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar greu Marciau
• Provide an overview of the developmental stages of Mark Making in order to inform next steps.
• Role of the adult in supporting children to become confident Mark Makers.
• Explore Mark Making opportunities through practical workshop.
• Gwenfro Playgroup- one setting’s approach to Mark making.
• Plenary
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
What does a child need to become a confident and successful Mark Maker?
Balance, breadth and depth of indoors outdoor experiences
Body StrengthPosture
Hand/Eye Coordination
Time Space
PractiseConsolidatio
n
Physical skills: Gross motor skills
Fine motor skills
Development of physical skills linked with:PerceptionVisual skillsCognitive skillsSpatial relationships
Motivation
OracyChildren need to be
able to communicate to make purposeful
marks
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
Self esteem, Self Motivation and a Sense of Well Being.
The developmental stages of mark
making•Generally, children follow a similar sequence in their development •Knowledge of this sequence enables us to provide appropriate opportunities to help each child progress
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
Early writing begins when babies explore
making their own marks on surfaces.
Jam, chocolate, milk… on a table… or on
themselves!
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
At their earliest stages children are already…
• Exploring a wide range of media with fingers and palms of hands, including food and drink
• Gripping objects using the palm of their hands • Beginning to use finger and thumb in a pincer
movement to pick up small objects
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
jj
At the next stage the child….• Holds a pencil/crayon in the palm of the hand in a fist like grip • Makes early attempts at mark making which feature lots of random marks, ’scribbles’ • Is usually unable to distinguish between his/her writing or picture•May even be looking elsewhere whilst mark making
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
At this stage…
• The joy is in the movement for the child
• No need to assign meaning to the end product
• The child needs to repeat this many times in many different contexts
Next you may observe the child…• Holding the pencil/crayon in a pincer grip between the thumb and index finger • Making a definite attempt to make individual marks • Attempting to close shapes; these shapes are often circular
After plenty of practice these marks become representative
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
At the next stage the child…
• Copies adults and makes marks going across the page; these are often zigzags and wavy lines
• Has a clearer idea of the marks he/she wants to make
• May still use either hand for writing
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
The child will move on to…•Making individual marks and using some letters from own name to communicate a message •Beginning to understand that drawing and writing are different •Beginning to assign meaning to their marks
In time, the child progresses on to…•Forming familiar letter like shapes and symbols•‘Writing’ left to right •Becoming aware that writing conveys meaning and may ‘read’ own writing•Showing increasing interest in writing own name
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
Each stage of children’s mark making is important and needs to be valued.
The child needs time and freedom to explore and develop at their own pace.
Every child is unique.
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
The Role of the Adult
What is your role in creating confident mark makers?
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
Mark Making Friendly Environment
Adults Modelling Mark Making
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
Observe and Listen to children as they Mark Make
Movement of a Wasp Jumping
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
Writing for a Purpose
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
Celebrating Children’s Mark Making
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
The role of the adult in creating confident
mark makers.
Environment Maintaining resources
Role model
Listen to/support children
Use language to facilitate mark
making
Train children to use and look
after tools/resources
Create context and purpose for
writing Celebrate children’s work
Make observations and plan next steps
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
Workshop
• The workshop is next door in room 1
• You have 40 minutes to explore – when we ring the bell please return to this room
• You are welcome to take photographs
• Help yourselves to water and juice
• Feel free to take notes, however, each setting will be given a CD-Rom with ideas sheets included
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar Greu Marciau
Exploring Mark MakingEdrych ar greu Marciau
• Provide an overview of the developmental stages of Mark Making in order to inform next steps.
• Role of the adult in supporting children to become confident Mark Makers.
• Explore Mark Making opportunities through practical workshop.
• Gwenfro Playgroup- one setting’s approach to Mark making.
• Plenary
Top Related