Three Ways to Read A Book

Kindergartners want to learn to read. I begin by teaching them that there are three ways to read a book: read the pictures, read the words, and retell the story. I model these three ways in whole group shared reading time over three successive days. Over the course of our first three days of school we used the book Hairy Bear, reading it in each of the three ways. On the first day we read the pictures, using the illustrations to figure out what the characters are experiencing and predicting what may happen from page to page. On the second day I read the text, and to their delight many of the events they described through the pictures were very close to the text words. On the third day we retold the story in our own words, adding more details and elaborating on the plot. In this way children begin to learn the power in using the illustrations to support their reading and that reading the words is not the only way to read a book.

Shared reading is a powerful learning time as I introduce many reading strategies and skills. As you will see in this collage, on the last page the children added their own text to the story which I wrote with a wipe off marker. They were curious about the "word bubble" in the text showing what a character was saying. They also noticed the "thinking bubbles" to better understand what the character is thinking in that moment and predict what might happen next.  I used this teachable moment to show them that when they write their own narrative stories during Writing Workshop, that they, too, can use word and thinking bubbles in their stories.  I was thrilled to see their excitement and thirst for learning reading skills.

We have read In a Dark Dark Wood, The Carrot Seed and The Three Billy Goats Gruff in a similar fashion, focusing on new reading strategies, building their repertoire of ways to solve problems when reading.  I pair this with reading lessons from Lucy Calkins and use the cues: We can look. We can think. We can read.  We can learn.

Welcome

Welcome Kindergarten Class of 2016-2017!

Here is where it all begins... in kindergarten.  Friendship, fun, laughter, mindfulness, empathy, learning, inquiry, discovery, creativity, stamina, rigor, kindness, bravery, community, and a love of learning.  We are off to a great start! 

First Full Day of School

Here are some highlights from a busy and successful first full day of Kindergarten.


We launched into Writing Workshop by drawing/writing/telling an experience at school on the first day.  While we focused on a story about our own self, the underlying lesson was about how to sit at a work table quietly for sustained minutes, working independently and taking care of school materials. Each child received their own box of crayons for which they are responsible for taking care of and storing in their cubby.  Learning to wait for a teacher to help and knowing what to do while they wait was another skill we practiced.  

In math we focused on ways to measure and vocabulary surrounding length.  Students were challenged with finding another child with a paper strip that was their exact same length and describing how those matched.

Choice time is a perfect way to learn how to play with materials, share, create and discover.

Kindergarten Smart Start

During Smart Start Kindergarten we read The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn to give students support in the big step of going to school all on their own.  Like Chester, each child said goodbye to their parent and began their brave journey into Kindergarten.  They explored their school and classroom, met new teachers and classmates and had lunch in the cafeteria.  Each child made their own kissing hand as a reminder of their parent's love that they carry with them in the school days ahead.

 

Kindergarteners Do Research

Our research projects focused on how animals adapt and change throughout each season led us to study how and why animals either Hibernate, Migrate or Adapt to winter weather conditions.  We studied why different parts of the earth have winter and summer at different times, reading about the axis of the earth and how it tilts away from and toward the sun as it rotates around it over the course of one year.  In the natural cycle of life, all animals and people change their behavior to meet their basic needs for survival in all four seasons.  The seasons and life cycles are a natural and predictable pattern in nature.  

To narrow our focus, we concentrated on three main needs all animals have: Food and Water, Building a Shelter and a Means To Take Care of Their Babies.  No matter what the season, all animals have these three needs and how they meet their needs is affected by seasonal weather changes.  Changes in the seasons affect changes over their life cycle.  We began this school year studying the life cycle of butterflies, the life cycle of a maple tree, and defining what happens to ourselves as humans in each season.  This research project incorporated all these “BIG IDEAS” in the natural order of our earth.

Our research led us to learn how to locate sources of scientific information in non-fiction books, internet websites, and interviews with experts.  We listened to and read sources and learned to cite them as proof of what we learned.  We worked with partners to illustrate three different animals over the course of four seasons; one for each main winter behavior of migration, hibernation and adaptation. We used the app SeeSaw to create our personal blog portfolios to show what we learned with a combination of pictures and audio recordings.  The following photos show our journey and understanding about animal hibernation, migration and adaptation.

Readers Workshop

Reading Workshop this year began with minilessons focused on purposeful reading skills.  Using familiar "old favorite" fairy tales, we practiced these skills alone and with partners and carried them over to reading groups, reading independently (Read to Self in Daily 5) and reading with partners (Read to Someone in Daily 5).  We moved from narrative and fictional texts in the first trimester to literary non-fiction in the second trimester.  No matter what type of book or genre we read, these foundational Reading Workshop skills are tools kids use to understand and comprehend what they read.

Reading bracelets remind us to tell the story of what we read and examine the illustrations for details of the story, furthering our comprehension of what we read. 

We remember to "add a pinch of you" by telling what we are thinking throughout the story, giving our opinion, making comparisons and connections, forecasting predictions and retelling the story events in our own words.

Oral Storytelling: telling and creating oral stories builds overall literacy skills.  Here we created our own versions to a tale about white ghosts that changed colors by eating different colored foods.

We may not be able to read every word in a published trade book, but we know how to read the pictures, predict story events, and look for sight words that help us understand the story.

Each sticky note above represents a daily minilesson and practice either through private reading or with a partner to support our learning.

To strengthen our sight word knowledge we created class made books with familiar repetitive text which we read over and over again for multiple purposes.  Here reading and writing meshed together... we practiced writing skills such as spaces between words, stretching our sounds in a word, using upper and lowercase letters appropriately and adding punctuation.  By using theses in our writing, our reading selves looked for these tools to help us read sentences with more accuracy and confidence.  

A key tool for early readers is using a pointing "reading finger" that touches under each word we read, helping ensure we read every word, read what we point to, and then work on reading fluently. When we wrote our books we checked our writing before the class on the document camera.

It was fun to write these class books about our classmates!

Once the 14 class books were made we used them in many Reading Workshop minilessons for different purposes.  For example, one day we focused on our reading finger accuracy, on another the focus was on looking for and reading sight words, or words we know in a snap.  Other times we practiced scooping phrases to increase our reading fluency.  We also made our reading match the punctuation.  By using these familiar class-made books, kids could concentrate on the new reading skill and not be consumed with worrying if they could read every word.  

Anther purpose of the class made books is building partner reading skills.  Reading with anther person takes skill building... listening, asking questions, working together... all toward the joy of reading more and more.  Now when kids read with partners, they know their roles in a partnership.

Alphabet Letters and Sound Work

Since the first days of school we have focused on learning the names of all upper and lowercase alphabet letters and their corresponding sound for reading.  Our work has taken many forms both in individual work and in large and small group lessons.  Every literacy activity connects back to reading skills that build from knowing letter names and their corresponding sound.  Here is a snippet of that progression.

Most days begin with a Daily Message where we practice identifying letter sounds, writing letters and recognizing our SNAP words (sight words).  

In addition to sight words, we look for "chunk" sound patterns that help us figure out new words.

Many children come to school recognizing the names of uppercase letters.  It can be challenging to learn the names of lowercase letters which we need for reading books.  We practice strategies for recognizing visually confusing letters such as b, d, p, and q.  We progress to reading sentences, using a pointing reading finger to isolate words one at a time as we read.  We also pay attention to details such as spaces between words, and connect this skill to writing workshop, remembering to pre-count our words in a sentence, and place two finger spaces between each word.

Dictation: Automaticity is key to reading and writing letters.  We practice dictation by writing a letter when a teacher makes the individual sound.  Correctly forming the letter is also stressed so that when they write connected letters in words, they flow quickly from one letter to another.

Handwriting practice continues all year.  We are learning to read and write our full names with daily sign-in with name cards. 

We use a program known as Heidi Songs developed by a kindergarten teacher to learn chunk sounds. With short, memorable songs, the kids begin to attach a movement to sound... very similar to our FUNdations sound memorization of a/aaaaa/apple.  For example, "oo" as a chunk sound is remembered with a song about monkeys going "oo, oo, oo."  Just ask your child to sing one... in the photo above are oo, th, ch, sh, and ing pictured with a key card.  We have added or and ar since this photo was taken.  As kids read and write they recognize these sound patterns in words and can figure out words with a catchy song they remember.  We sing and dance these songs almost daily.