checking expectations

admittedly today i was exhausted by the time free choice rolled around. i wasn't a very energetic and exciting house-mate and i didn't sell the idea of writing enough at all.
however, yesterday i had stuck a basket of index cards and markers in the housekeeping center so they'd be at our finger tips. by the time i got to house keeping the kids already had them out and were using them to write "notes" to each other, grocery lists, etc. of course their play version of writing was print-like symbols. i tried to pull them into more conventional use of letters and words with interactive writing but to no avail. the few kiddos i was working with looked at me like i was crazy when i said, ok, what makes /p/? ok... so, for some kids interactive writing isn't going to happen (yet). i need to step back and be happy that they are using 'print' in a way that shows they understand the importance of during their play. i also have to be ok with shared writing. if i write the signs they are asking for it is ok. they can then read what i've written and use them even if they are not reading them themselves.
stepping back.
i will say that when it's time to get them to clean up saying, "wait the phone's ringing! oh my, it's your dad, he says it's time to clean up!" works really, really well. hehe.