We have now completed a study of all 26 letters of the alphabet as well as 30 sight words. This is one of my favorite times in the Kindergarten school year - a time of magic and discovery as I watch my students begin to read and write. This is the time when the kids begin building with their "abc blocks" to make marvelous creations rich with meaning. Each student now has a basket of books from our time together in guided reading instruction. They are reading independently to themselves and one another. This has been an organic process that is magnificent to witness. They are so very proud of their book baskets and delighted to be able to share stories with one another.
We have also begun a routine of daily journal writing. The K kids are learning to write sentences that reflect print conventions of capitalization and punctuation. They are very proud of their ability to express their thoughts in writing and so am I.
Learning the vowel sounds is an important skill for learning to read. We put these sounds to music when we sing "the vowel song". The K kids have learned that vowels are important because every word has to have a vowel and that they make 2 sounds. As you watch us sing it for you notice that there is a hand signal that goes with each of the short vowel sounds, making it easier to remember. If your child gets stuck on a word when you are reading together, encourage her to think about the sounds in the word and then perhaps try both of the vowel sounds if necessary.
A month of gift giving and receiving - December was full of anticipation and wonder.
I shared some of my favorite stories beginning with
"Simple Gifts" by Chris Raschka. This lovely picture book comes with a CD that reads and then sings the words. It also gives the children some background information about the Shaker's. We were able to build on our schema from the study of people from long ago during Thanksgiving time. We added the word "simplicity" to the Bradt School "Juicy Words" Bulletin Board, devoted to increasing our students vocabulary. We now know that simplicity means "not fancy" and that gifts do not have to be fancy in order to be valuable. We learned a simple spiral dance that goes with the "Simple Gifts" song. When we spiral in and out to the music we practice smiling at each other and looking right into everyone's eyes. It is a magical and very simple practice that never ceases to delight.
Later in the month I shared the story "The Gift of Nothing" by Patrick McDonald. This cartoon-like picture book teaches it's readers that the most important gift is in sharing time together. As the kids excitement grew throughout the month I reminded them of how they could give old Mrs. Hackett "the gift of nothing" and we regularly sat still and quiet watching the second hand of our classroom clock circle around, measuring the passing of 1 minute. I often received the gift of nothing just before lunch-time after a long, busy morning of learning together. Please feel free to redeem "the gift of nothing" at home. All you need is a clock with a second hand or a timer. You will be amazed at how slowly a minute passes by, relish in every second!
Here is a reading of the story for your enjoyment-
And finally the story of "The Quilt Makers Gift" by Jeff Brumbeau completed our literacy unit on giving. This lovely fairy tale tells of a greedy king that is transformed through the wisdom and generosity of magical quilt maker. You may have noticed a "story map" of "The Quilt Makers Gift" come home in your child's folder. These story maps serve as simple graphic organizers that assist the K kids to retell a story. Retelling is an important skill that we will be working on in the months to come. I hope you enjoy this beautifully written and illustrated story as much as I do.
I wish you all the gift of simplicity as we greet a new year together. Our relationship with our children doesn't need to be fancy to be valuable. Sharing books, music and time together is precious. I wish you and your child many marvelous moments.
Hi Families, November whizzed past me! It feels like our letter study is just a big pot of alphabet soup at this point. So, best to just give you the links to a few of the utube stations that I have shared. Here you go-
You should be able to find videos for all of the letters of the alphabet and most of the sight words, but not all. They also have great videos about shapes, counting and other basic math skills. These are two of my all time favorite digital resources! If you find others that you and your K kid enjoy, please share them with me.
Last month we focused on family. We read many books about what it means to be a family and concluded that all families are special but share many similarities.
Here are a few of the books we read together last month.
Loving by Ann Morris is a beautifully photographed nonfiction book about families around the world. Ann Morris provides her readers the marvelous opportunity to look at families through a multicultural lens. The kids were able to take away the notion that no matter where people live, families love and care for one another. There is a terrific index and world map at the back of this book. These text features both excite and teach the children about different countries throughout the world.
Todd Parr books always promise to delight! The Family Book is no exception. His silly and colorful illustrations always make us smile. This is another wonderful book that shows the many, many ways to be a family and each is connected with one consistent thread, LOVE!
After reading about families I shared some Thanksgiving stories with the class. One of my favorites is A Turkey for Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting.
The turkey in this book is especially thankful for his vegetarian hosts!
And there is so much to be thankful for - your wonderful children this amazing class and the privilege of being their Kindergarten teacher. Here is a song we sang together.
Late October was the perfect time for a Monster theme and there are so many fantastic children's books about monsters! We began with the book "Go Away Big Green Monster" by Ed Emberle. This fun, engaging story is wonderfully interactive. As you read it you see a monster appear and then disappear before your very eyes! Also, the easy text is captivating. The kids enjoy reading it over and over again and repetition is wonderful for early reading development. Here is a video that reads the book to you. Consider checking the book out of the library some time.
Another of Ed Emberle's books we enjoyed was "Glad Monster, Sad Monster"
This book offers a marvelous vehicle to discuss feelings. Each page has a monster mask that the kids try on and riddles that give clues to each monster's emotion. This was a book that my son and I enjoyed together when he was in Kindergarten. It would make a great addition to your home library.
Our school counselor, Mrs. Reihlman came in to our class during our monster theme and taught a wonderful lesson about emotions. She gave our class a "feelings thermometer" and taught some strategies to use when emotional thermometers are running high. These were, telling ourselves "I am okay", giving ourselves a hug, getting a drink of water and practicing belly breathing. She shared this video with us.
Belly breathing is sure to keep the monsters away!
If not....
I introduced the letters Aa & Ii. The kids are learning that these letters are special because they are vowels. Every word has to have a vowel! Vowels are also special because they make 2 sounds. We are learning a special vowel song to help remember these sounds (stay tuned). In addition the kids are learning hand signals that go with each vowel sound. Vowel sounds are subtle and tend to sound alike. The hand signals provide a way to tell these similar sounds apart. Here are a few videos we've watched to help learn these letters sounds:
Then Bb & Cc.... Sorry, no videos for the sight words be & can - if you find some please share with me!
Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington is a beautifully illustrated nonfiction book that teaches about the life cycle of a pumpkin, while at the same time tells the story of a little boy enjoying the outdoors throughout each season of the year.
We had some fun cutting open a pumpkin and describing it using our five senses. We discovered that our pumpkin weighed 11 pounds and was 31 inches around. It had a special smell and that it felt & looked different on the outside than the inside. Then we enjoyed snacking on some pumpkin seeds and designed a special face for our class jaco-lantern. This class pumpkin will be making a special appearance at our upcoming Halloween party!
Another fun seasonal book we have enjoyed is The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. This story was read to the class by our amazing speech therapist, Mrs. Peek who comes in weekly to do a whole group language lesson with our class. The skill we were working with here was retelling. The kids sequenced the story by cutting and pasting pictures of key events. I hope your K kid was able to tell you a little bit about the story when they brought this paper home. Consider checking this adorable book out of the library and reading it together some time.
And the month of October would not be complete without the poem "Five Little Pumpkins". Here is a cute video that we have enjoyed watching in our classroom. Reciting the poem is a terrific way to reinforce the use of ordinal numbers and counting up to 5. These are both skills the kids have been working on during math lessons.
Last, we are fully operational with our Daily 5 Literacy Centers! We are so fortunate to have Mrs. Barnes as a teachers assistant each afternoon. I have been doing an emerging reading lesson while she has been doing a writing or word work lesson with small groups. Other Daily 5 centers have been using Starfall.comon the interactive board to reinforce our letter study, listening to a book on tape and drawing pictures of our favorite parts and working on "books" at the coloring counter. Here is a picture of Mrs. Barnes having the kids make letters out of pumpkin play dough! I am including the recipe for you. It is easy to make and the kiddos LOVE it!
We completed our study of letters Ff & Tt and sight words for & to. Here are a couple more fun videos that reinforce the letters, sounds and sight words. The kids love dancing along to them. Music and movement are a delightful, age appropriate way to reinforce these vital skills. Why not have a letter family dance party? Have fun!
