Two second grade guys, a double-sided easel and one assignment---draw a picture of your room at home.
Of course, we began with me modeling how I go about drawing my room at home. First the walls, then the door and windows, then the closet and finally the furniture.
I have to start by telling you that both boys focused primarily on where their TVs were placed in their bedrooms, then their video game consoles and then the chairs they used to sit while playing their games. I was getting a little aggravated and mentally began my scheming about how to have some extra "consultation" with their families, but managed to keep my cool. When they asked me about where the TV was in my room I got a little "preachy" and told them that my room was just used for sleeping and reading. They looked at me as if I had just dropped in from another planet.
At first I thought that this guy had lots of stuff in his huge bedroom, but then realized that he probably doesn't have a bedroom but shares part of a house with his dad, and other people, and there is no separate place for sleeping.
We talked about what was in their rooms and wrote the names of those features or things--window, closet, bed, dresser--on the drawings. Using the easel for drawing and writing helped them keep their wrists extended as they wrote and promoted a thumb and first two fingers grasp of the crayon. Letter formation and spelling practice were a bonus.
My bonus was insight into their lives.
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