Reflections - The Sand Tray

Number writing practice with the Sand Tray.

As part of analyzing aspects of my classroom's Language area and writing in general, another lesson which I wanted to enhance is the Sand Tray activity.  The Sand Tray provides students opportunities for sensorially practicing writing skills.  The material consists of a shallow tray filled with sand (or cornmeal, etc.) in which the child practices tracing letters, numbers, and words.  In my classroom this is typically introduced to students who are learning to write with the Sandpaper Letters and Numbers.  I've always wanted, however, to add a pre-writing element to the lesson for children who are interested in the material but not yet using the Sandpaper Letters or Numbers.

To address this area, I've made a simple set of pre-writing cards to go with the Sand Tray.  It is by no means a novel idea, but I wanted to share it here on my blog in order for the parents of my students to see what I'm talking about!

Pre-writing Sand Tray Cards (fronts).

The backs of the same cards.

A card and Sand Tray in use.