Show and tell, a time-honored tradition in elementary school classrooms, just got a little more interesting in Amityville. Kindergartners at Northeast Elementary School are not only sharing their favorite items with their classmates, they are also writing about them and building their literacy skills.

For the Show and Tell unit in Writer’s Workshop, an initiative through Columbia University Teacher’s College, each student was asked to bring in three items that are meaningful. For the first assignment, children picked one object to draw and label. They became “brave spellers” by using their alphabet charts, the classroom word wall and labeled objects around the room to spell out words they didn’t know.

As the unit progresses, students will write full sentences and eventually craft full stories about these objects.

“It helps them enjoy writing more because it’s meaningful to them,” kindergarten teacher Renee Chandler said about having students use personal belongings as inspiration. “The pictures also come out better because they have something right in front of them.”

Ms. Chandler said this writing unit helps children expand their vocabulary in learning words to describe the look and feel of their objects. She said that the finished works will become part of their writing journals.