The Wonderful World of WORDS!

When you were younger, did you ever cut out letters or words from magazines to "write" a note to a friend? I used to do it all the time! It was one of my favorite things to do! 


These kind of notes were the BEST! 
  

Which brings me to my next question:

 Have you ever read the book Max's Words by Kate Banks?? If not you MUST!!  There are endless options for extension activities for ANY GRADE! Below, I will share one that I did with my kindergarteners! 

In the story, Max's brothers collect stamps and coins. Max wants a collection of his own, so he decides to start collecting words. He notices that when his brothers rearrange their collections, they still are the same, but when he rearranges his words, it makes can make a big difference. Max then starts to build a story with his words. 

I have always wanted to do an extension activity with this book but just never took the time until this year! One of the teachers on my team and I decided to have our kiddos build their own story using words! Below, I will share with you a snapshot of our FIVE DAY lesson plans for Max's Words. This plan can be done with a whole class or in smaller groups. It works better with a smaller group (one of our groups had 13 and the other group had 17 students).

Day One: 
(Before day one, make sure you have cut out a collection of your own words from magazines, newspapers or other media and have them in a bag/folder ready to share on day one)
Pre-Reading:
Discussion what a collection is.
Does anyone have a collection? I so, what do they collect?
Why is the collection important to them?

Read: Max's Words

Post-Reading:
What problem did Max have in the story?
What did Max collect? Why?
How was his collection different from his brothers' collections?
Share your collection of words with the class. (I kept my collection of words in the pocket chart for students to manipulate and build sentences/stories during their choice/center time)  
 
 Day Two:  Build a Story
Remind students that stories have

• a beginning, middle and end.
•  characters
• setting

Have students come up with a topic to write about giving them the starter: Once upon a time...
Each student will come up with a sentence to help tell the story. Remind them that the story needs to flow...what happened first, then, next...
As each student adds to the story, write their sentence down. (you type it, write it on a sentence strip, or on chart paper)
Read the class story to students.

Day Three: 
Re-read class made story
Give students their sentence and have them write it and illustrate it using pencil (remind students to use detail in their illustrations). 
Teacher will send home a note and a baggie with each student explaining the activity and that students will need to cut out the words for their sentence.


Day Four:
Re-read class story
Students edit their writing and/or illustrations 
Make final copies and color their pictures.
Glue their cut up words on the top of their page.  
(Prep for Day 5: Design a cover, assemble pages in the correct order and make a copy of the book for each student)


Day Five: Share Day!!!!!
Students practice reading their book
Share with friends in other groups!
(since one of the teachers on my team and I both did this activity, we were able to combine our groups and share our stories in groups of 2 or 3 students.) 

And there you have it! This is just ONE of many extension activities that can be done with this book but it is one that we had LOADS of fun with!  Below are some pictures! 

 

 

If you would like a template for the writing page and the family letters click HERE!

Writing in Kinder!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Are you wearing GREEN?!?! Or will you be pinched today?!?!

Getting our little Chisselers (Irish slang for: Children) to love writing isn't always easy! But here are some quick and easy ideas that encourage the kiddos to WANT to go to the writing center during their choice/free time and write until their hearts content! 


Throughout the school year, I teach my students what it takes to be a good writer. During our journal time, I begin the year by letting students draw pictures of things they enjoy; their family, school, friends, etc. If they can write letters, words or sentences to go with their picture that is GREAT! If not, that is O.K. too. I don't push them, I just let them get their feelings out on paper however they feel fit and when they are ready and confident, they will start writing. After the first month or so, I start pulling one table a day to my horseshoe table and work with them in a small group.  At this time, I teach each of the skills that it takes to be a good writer one skill at a time. I move on to the next skill when they are ready. Then at the end of journal time, the table that I worked with, gets to share their journal with the rest of the class. We sit in a circle and listen as each "author" reads their journal entry for the day! The students really take pride in their writing this way.


 So, what does it take to be a good writer in kindergarten you ask? Here is our checklist:

• Leave finger spaces
•  Begin with a capital letter
• I used word wall words (and used the word wall to help me spell them)
• I used an ending mark 

At this point in the school year, I have this editing checklist at the bottom of their daily journals because we ALL know that authors must edit their work! This editing checklist is so the kiddos can go back and edit their writing to make sure they have each of those things in their writing. The editing checklist also requires them to go back and re-read to make sure that it makes sense, a skill that they often forget to do! At this point in the year, students still can't wait to share their journals and are so proud of their work. Now it's time for me share their work with you! 

When I get big I will get a pup.

I have a whole room of ducky's.

We talk about speech bubbles a lot and point them out in books that we read, so when I tell the students "OF COURSE YOU CAN USE SPEECH BUBBLES IN YOUR OWN WRITING" they jump at the chance! 

My sister is one year old and she is walking! ( I love how he used an exclamation point at the end AND remembered to read it with expression!!) 

Yesterday after school I got a new watch! 

A goat has big horns. Do you think a goat has big horns? (This little guy was really excited to use the question mark. And he shared with us what he knows! Then asked us what if we thought the same thing!)

  

This next journal was too cute not to add. My little friend Jordan is extremely creative at home and at school. He was so excited to share that he had made a drum at home with recycled materials that he wrote about it in THREE different journal entries! 

Entry 1: Last night I was recycling stuff and I made a drum with a basket and a strip of paper and a house with a lid and paper.    Entry 2: I made a drum for Music and its in my locker.      Entry 3: I made a drum for Music. I did not make the drum for Mrs. B but I did make a note for Mrs. B but the necklace part broke.

       

Today is your LUCKY day...you will find the Pot of Gold at the end of the Rainbow!
(click on the words above to find your treasures) 






BUT...........




Journals aren't the only way to get the Chisselers to write....




 Guided Reading gives GREAT Writing Ideas too!!

Guided reading is not only a great time to teach reading skills, but also to teach writing skills. The books we read for guided reading the last two weeks worked GREAT to teach/review, how to label, write lists, use the dictionary, 4-square writing, and writing facts that we learn from non-fiction books. This is not only a chance to write but it is great for comprehension as well. Are they able to recall information that they just read? 

Here are some other questions to ask...Are they able to write about what they read? Are they able to relate to the characters? Do they know where to look to find out what those hard vocabulary words mean? (the dictionary or the glossary).

These two list papers are at the writing center as a choice when writing. Students can write their own lists! Click HERE to get a copy of the list on the left. 

We learned about how a fox goes looking for food. In the book, the author labels the parts of the fox that are used when the fox is on the prowl.So we decided to do some of our own labeling!

Click here to get this worksheet!

This is a higher level book with LOTS of vocabulary and LOTS of facts. Students had to write at least TWO things that they learned about Sea Turtles.

Easy Four-square writing activity: take a blank piece of copy paper and fold it in half and then fold it in half again. Open it up and trace the creases with a pencil. write the topic in the center and have students write away! What do you do when you stay with Grandma?? This four-square writing page is always a choice at the writing center and choice time! It is easy and fun for students and teachers alike! (You don't have to make copies of this one! Just put out copy paper!!)

I teach students that in order to find out how to spell words we do not know, we must go to the dictionary (whether it is online or a good old fashioned BOOK). This worksheet allows them to go to the dictionary and find vocabulary words, practice writing them and then they are to draw a picture of the word.This too, is in the writing center as a choice when writing.

Once these writing skills have been taught and practiced during guided reading, I then put them as a choice in the writing center. Students are so excited to get to do WRITE WHAT THEY WANT instead of what the TEACHER TELLS THEM TO WRITE! It is ownership! It is their OWN PERSONAL WORK and something they are very PROUD of!!! 

 Tips for you to remember:

• Allow time for students to write what THEY want to write
• Make it fun! 
• Allow students to share their work with others!  

  May the Luck O' the Irish be with you!!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day from me!!

Carie Ramirez, Kindergarten Teacher

Kindergartenhugs.blogspot.com 

   

Simple Strategies for More Turns in Small Groups!

Hi, it's Jennifer from Empowering Little Learners and Simply Centers again! 

We have talked a lot about increasing the rigor and shifting the talk time in class to be most for your students and not just you talking.  But today I want to talk specifically about providing more turns during small group instruction  by using a few simple strategies. 

We all know that small groups can be on any topic...  alphabet names and sounds, DIBELS skills, decoding, sight words and even math!  For today we are going to focus on reading decodable books because this is ultimately the goal.. teaching kids to read.  Once you have the strategies down, you can then apply them to any other subject area small groups! 

Set the stage:  Ideally you would want your students to be sitting a kidney shaped or horseshoe table.  With kinder I would focus on only 3 students to start.  Otherwise it may get chaotic and out of control.  For you decodable, you will want to have word cards created that have sight words and decodable words.  I personally like to color code these words:  red for stop and think and green for go ahead and sound out.  By color coding this helps my students to know what strategy to use (even though you will eventually want to scaffold them off of that.)  At the beginning I put these just on 3 by 5 cards with marker, nothing fancy!  If you are looking for sight words, I just updated our Sight Words Motions Freebie to include all the Pre-Primer and Primer list (click image to upload the update!)

During small group time:  Here are several strategies to get more turns for your students:

1.        It’s always a good idea to intro or warm up the students to the content being presented in the group.  With reading groups this consists of practicing those green and red words.  Typically, as teachers we would think to just flash the kids the same set of cards… but any half way coherent teacher knows that many students will just copy the child sitting next to them orally.  Even beyond that, we cannot assume that the kids are actually reading and not mimicking you!  The solution is simple, but scary!  Rotate the cards around the group so each student has a different card to read.  Then teach/cue them to pass to the right and read the word, pass to the right, read the word… and so on and so on.  Now each student has a different word and cannot copy the students around them… giving them MORE TURNS at reading!  This is a rapid review that should get going very fast with your students and prep then for the upcoming book.  As students advance, you can and should put more words on the cards, never in the same order though because you don’t  want them copying. 

2.       Use my turn – your turn.  Never just talk or present ideas.  Students learn better when they are actively engaged... the way around this is to constantly have students repeat you AND even add motions!  I use hand motions, hand on my chest for my turn, then hand out for your turn.

3.       Have students point.  We can’t assume that because they are speaking or because they are looking that they are following along with us.  Pointing will show you this and given them a strategy to be successful when they are reading independently. 

4.       Use partnerships in small groups.  Let this time be a time to reinforce what great partnerships look like.  In my class one person points, one person listens and corrects.  Both are actively engaged in the book.  Another great way to use this is the ask the ending comprehension questions to partners – partner A tell partner B where the setting is… or whatever.  Then you can call on partner B to tell you the answer so everyone has had a chance to state the answer.  Have you downloaded my free partnership names yet?  Of course, I also have a full set plus many more in printable partnership nameplates from TpT. 

After Small Groups:  Don't let the fun stop after you do your small group instruction.  Allow the kids to take the books (or whatever you are working on) back to their seats and read them to a friend.  Or allow them to keep them at their tables so they practice them during independent reading time or down time.  I personally like to connect my homework to my small groups.  This is the best way to differentiate homework and it is so simple!  All I do is look at what I am working with those students with and find something that connects to it.  Currently, I am sending home DIBELS practice pages (a freebie listed below) and/or my stories typed out (because the kids were destroying my non-replaceable books.)  My homework goes home Monday and is not due until friday.  I attach this page to the homework to ensure the students practiced a little each night. 

So... you are jam packed with freebies in this post!  Hopefully you walked away with at least one thing to try (I consider myself successful if I just walk away with one thing!)  Be sure to come by and see me... say you found me from PreKanKSharing!