Friday, July 20, 2012

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.

18 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To The Lesson!: Reflections - The Sand Tray >>>>> Download Now

      >>>>> Download Full

      To The Lesson!: Reflections - The Sand Tray >>>>> Download LINK

      >>>>> Download Now

      To The Lesson!: Reflections - The Sand Tray >>>>> Download Full

      >>>>> Download LINK 8c

      Delete
  2. These posts make me so excited for Amelia this fall! Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It gets me excited for this fall, too! :) I'm glad you are enjoying the posts!
      Take care,
      Sasha

      Delete
  3. Sasha, thanks for sharing, it´s a fanstastic idea I had not thought about.
    Regards,
    María from a rainy Sweden

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks, Maria. I'm glad to know you will find use of it! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I was wondering how you encourage your students not to disrupt the tray in such a way that they get sand/cornmeal everywhere. I have several rules, but after awhile they disregard it and want to play "sensorially" in the tray.

    ReplyDelete
  6. If it begins getting out of hand, we put the material away. A simple and beautiful solution! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you for the nice ideas with the lamination cards. I am always looking for new ideas to employ in my classroom.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Where could i find a sand tray at? Love the idea!

    ReplyDelete