Buddy Reading

Today I introduced "reading to self" or buddy reading.

This is another part of our morning routine, that I was very excited to get started.

We first discused how to choose a partner.  It's very importantto choose a partner responsibily.  It's not always a good choice to choose your best friend you may talk and be silly with.  After we find a partner we find a quiet area away from others and sit next to them EEKK (elbows to elbows, knees to knees).  After we get our book baskets we may begin.

Here's how it works:

I was SO impressed and excited to see that everyone was doing just as we discussed!!  I loved seeing and hearing all the reading and learning that was going on. 

Shriya and Shealyn we're really paying attention to each others words as they read. They were also being a perfect example for sitting EEKK.  AWESOME girls!

Marcel was reading this Clifford book by the pictures and reading from memory.  Grant was quietly adding to the story as well...way to choose great partners boys!

I jumped for joy when I saw that Sharan was stuck on a word.  Just as we practiced, Gideon quietly asked him if he needed help with the word or more time to try and figure it out on his own.  It was a word neither of them knew but sounding it out together worked!! SO impressed with their reading!

I am one *LUCKY* teacher!

shapes galore!

We have had a great time working with shapes over the last week.

First we started with the basics...


And Ms. Hyde, our U of H student helper, taught us this song about shapes:

Then we played a game with buddies. They took turns rolling a dice (die?) with shape names, finding the shape, and dotting the shape with a bingo dotter.

We made a monster glyph using our favorite shapes and colors...

And yesterday we took shapes outdoors to play a fun game. I had an idea of what I wanted them to do but was pretty much making it up as we went along (typical)...we had fun playing "Sides to Corners"! (that oh so clever name just came to me after trying to think of a cute name all day yesterday, sometimes my creativity is severely lacking, ha)

I took it from a game "Ship to Shore" they learned in P.E..  One side of the Kinder drive was "sides" and the other side of the drive was "corners". They had to listen to what I was calling to know which side to run to.

Here they are running to the corners side.  Neto was on top of this!

Then in the middle of running back and forth from sides to corners I would call out a shape and they would have to think of the number of sides it had, find that many buddies, and make the shape on the ground with their bodies.

We know a circle has no straight lines so making that shape was was a challenge...but we had FUN trying!

I think Ms. Hyde has one more activity to round off our unit on shapes tomorrow. 

In math we are now on to sorting objects!!

Don't you wish you were in Kindergarten?? I sure am glad I am!!

If I had a million dollars....

I would spend it all on some cool stuff for my class...

Okay, okay, that's probably a lie. I have a list at least a mile long of things I would LOVE to waste money on (and an entirely different -and boring- list of things to spend the money wisely on: finish paying off car, student loans, etc. yuck.) BUT I would use at least some of it to purchase some awesome little toys for all my Kinder babes.

iPads for everyone!!

I definitely have a case of the green eyed monster at the moment...at least until I win the lottery!

Until then I have to settle for this:

(which sadly only has one app, because it's the only free one I could find)

I have used this app for a couple students during word work. I know there are LOTS of other awesome apps out there just waiting to be downloaded! So tell me, do you have any apps for your kiddos worth purchasing? Words, games, writing, patterns, numbers, songs, books....I'm SURE there's an app for that!

On a side note, if you have any retired iTouches that are looking for a home...I know JUST the place. I have 44 warm hands just dying to adopt them!

Just a few words...

can make a sentance! (and build the confidence of those that "didn't think they could")

The past couple of days we have been working on the words I, can, see, the, and a.

(We always, always, always start sentances with a capital letter AND use spaces!!)

Then we put it to practice on our own...

Quiet little authors busy, busy...and behind those "offices" work like this is happening:

SO proud of Little Miss Claire for writing the word "cat" - /C/ is the first sound of her name, she had that down! Talan did a great job taking what we talked about and using it to make a sentance. He used a picture for the word "tree" he didn't know how to write but I know very soon he'll have the confidence to try and sound it out!! Great job Claire and Talan!

In math we're working on shapes...I have a few fun things up my sleeve! Stay tuned!

RING OF WORDS!

Here we go....finally a post about ROW.

We have been doing lots of Word Work at school. As your child shows me they are ready to begin working on real words they will earn a “Ring of Words”. Because this part of our day seems to be a favorite, I wanted to tell you a little more about it. This is a fun method of expanding our vocabulary, reading, and writing skills, that has proven to be very successful.

I will be sending home a list of words we work on in class. These words are taken from the Dolch Site Words. Students will receive the first set of words after showing me they know all the letters and sounds. I am excited that almost everyone has earned their ROW this year!

Each morning your child has a choice of about 15 different activities they can work on to help them learn the words. Ask your child what their favorite is!

Here are a few things we use...

(alphabet cards, big letters, alpha rubbings with crayons, magnets, lima bean letters, markers and colored pens for rainbow writing, letter stamps, letter blocks, playdoh, chalk boarda, and dry erase crayons on boards)

When they are able to read the set of words they will earn a sticker. When they can spell each word they will earn another sticker and a new set of words. They should be able to read and spell these words aloud without hesitation.

I feel this method works for several reasons but primarily it allows each child to work at their own pace. (Also, a little friendly competition can be quite amazing encouragement, especially for those boys!) As they quickly begin to learn the words they will also find that they can read and write stories of their own. As the students work through the words (Pre-primer through 3rd grade) I will personalize the list to include words they are frequently misspelling in their writing.

Although I don’t require it, it can be very beneficial (and FUN!) to work on the set of words your child is on at home as well. Maybe try making a ROW at home and adding that as part of your nightly homework routine.

If your child is still working on letter recognition and sounds please continue to help them at home as well. My goal is for everyone to be onto words by October!

I hope you will soon begin hearing your child talk with you about the words they are learning and using in class. I can’t wait to see where we go from here!

Thank you for your continued support at home and remember: the best way for your child to become a better reader and writer is to READ, READ, READ!!! If nothing else please, please, please read with your child every.single.night.

A little proof...

While I haven't had a free second to take pictures of students actually doing the work...I have taken a few pictures of the anchor charts we've been making together in class. These should give you a pretty good idea about what our morning look like right now. This year we are implementing the "Daily 5" in our classes. As it turns out I was basically doing this program all along the last 3 years, I just didn't know it was an actual "thing" teachers were doing, since it was something I just kind of started doing from the get-go without any real guidance, when I had no idea how to create a Kinder class my first year of teaching. (MAJOR run on sentance I just used...eek!) After reading up on it I changed my schedule a little and voila, we are officially a Daily 5 class!

Here's a little idea of how our mornings go....
Unpack, Morning Announcements

Sing our "good morning" songs (ask your kids to share!)

Go through the alpha chart daily like this:
"A says /a/ like apple" "B says /b/ like bear." etc.

(I will be sending home a copy of this very soon to practice!)

Read a story and fill out or discuss orally a chart like this:

Then we work on words. Many of us have earned a "ring of words" (which deserves a post of it's own in the near future, promise!) and others work together on letter recognition and letter sounds.

We've worked up to TWENTY minutes of independent work! WHOA BABY! :)

We then have a short lesson on whatever skill we are working on at the moment. Sounds, words, rhymes, etc. This usually includes working with a poem like this.

Then we grab our book baskets and read to ourselves for about 20 minutes.

We join back again and have some sort of short writing lesson like this:

Then we work on writing in our treasure books until it's time for lunch.

We also find time to throw in things like songs that get our wiggles out, a small activity here and there, and morning messages that will hopefully say this same thing every Monday...

GO TECH!!!

I only have about 901 things I want to add to our morning routine. The general schedule will remain the same but I will be changing things up as we go along.

Unlike your kindergartener who has built up stamina to work hard all day long, you are probably exhausted (or confused) just from reading all that!! I'm sure they'll be able to answer any questions you might have.

Peace!

**please excuse grammer and spelling...I was rushing! :)

TEN days (seriously!?)

I can not believe we have already been in school for TEN days! This week flew by!

I was extremely impressed with how my class got right back into our routine we practiced last week. (They may have it down better than I do!)

We have been working on building our stamina for working independently. We are up to about 20 minutes of working with about a minute of meeting to discuss our 'successes' and 'fixes' while we work. Last week we started out at about 3 minutes so to be up to 20 is a major success in my book! So proud of everyone's hard work.

We are definitely rocking and rolling right along with our word work, writing, and reading...I, however, am seriously lacking in the picture department of these things (mornings are busy!!)

Here's a little proof that we do infact work on these things! (along with our other "Big Ideas" this week and next)

Yesterday we learned a little about colors in science. Most of us didn't realize you could make ANY color imaginable with just a little red, blue, and yellow paint (plus black and white to make different shades and tints).

They worked in groups to mix different colors....

Then I gave them free reign and they created masterpieces like this....

All that beauty (ha!) with just 3 little colors! WOW!

Today I took full advantage of the not 108 degree temps outside. I LOVE being outdoors, so I jump on any chance to get our learning on outside the classroom (plus, I think a change of scene is good for the mind AND soul! Good for mine anyway.)

We had a blast creating and labeling patterns. Funny how a simple thing like chalk on the sidewalk can trick kids into thinking they're not doing work! ha


I don't know about you but I am so thankful for a long weekend! Enjoy your Labor Day!