We Are Readers and Writers!

Reading Workshop

The focus first semester has been reading skills and behaviors using a shared reading approach.  Shared Reading is exactly what it sounds like – a time for sharing a story, poem, rhyme, etc. and reading together!  Shared reading in our kindergarten includes echo reading (students echoing the words after the reader), choral reading (students reading at the same time as the reader), or “fill in the gap” reading (reader reads the majority of the text and then pausing for students to fill in and say rhyming words, word wall words, etc.).

 

Shared Reading has helped your child to:

·         Enjoy and participate in reading

·         Attend to Concepts of Print (Track print from left to right and word by word, punctuation)

·         Learn the elements of books (cover, title page, dedication, author, illustrator, etc.)

·         Make predictions and inferences

·         Expand their vocabulary

·         Find letters and sounds in context

·         Strengthen comprehension skills by sequencing and retelling the events of a story

·         Focus on story elements (characters, setting, problem, events, and solution)

·         Read word wall words in context.

·         Practice fluency and expression

·         Develop phonemic awareness and phonics skills

For the second semester, we will begin Guided Reading.  This approach has many of the same components as shared reading; however, it is conducted with a smaller number of students and focuses more on the individual reading needs of each child.  During guided reading, I will meet with small groups of children, guiding them through books at their level, developing successful reading strategies and habits.   These “leveled” texts will gradually become more challenging as students learn to apply all their strategies.  Some children will be ready to move quickly, while others need more time and support.  My goal is to work together to ensure a successful learning experience and improved student achievement for all my kindergarteners.

 

Next week the children will start taking home their “reading bag.”  There will be more information and guidance in their bag on how to support your child at home.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  Most importantly, the children will be so EXCITED and PROUD to bring home their guided reading books.    Praise your kindergartener for all their hard work!

 

 

Writing Workshop

The children are really enthusiastic writers.  We are starting a new, but familiar unit of study.  We are diving back into small moments.  Small moments are focused, true stories that have specific details, and are written in a sequential order.  In this unit students are moving from writing a whole story to writing about a particular small moment that mattered most. 

Math

We have been working with another “thinking strategy” called Claim Evidence.  The children make a claim, such as, 2 + 3 = 5.  Then they have to show us evidence that their claim is true.  The children rose to the challenge and used a variety of ways to prove their claim.  They used 10 frames, tally marks, pictures, fingers, number lines and our 100 grid.  Our brains were hard at work!

 

 

 

 

 

Art

It's definitely winter in kindergarten!  We did a SEE, THINK, WONDER on Pointillism.  Pointillism is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of pure color are applied in patterns to form an image.  We used Pointillism to created snowflakes and snowmen.