Word Work and Word Play Too!

About a week ago we had a session of Reader's Workshop where the children worked in pairs to create words "in the op family".  This means words that are formed by putting a consonant in front of "op".  Here you can see the children experimenting with magnet letters and finding lots of rhyming words in the op family.  I also wanted to share a picture of a different kind of word work- what we call "superstar sentences".  Take a look at the satisfaction on this student's face as he sits in front of his creation "The slow dinosaur said no.  Let's go moon monster!"

Let's Hear It For Elephant and Piggie!

Mo Willem's Elephant and Piggie books have taken our room by storm!  The excitement around reading them is evident throughout the day.  I thought I would share a few photos of classmates reading them to one another but I also want you to imagine me asking individual children to "read a little quieter" to themselves at Quiet Time because when they sit with an Elephant and Piggie book they often read so dramatically they crack themselves up!  If you're not familiar with these books I encourage you to ask your kindergartner about them and then check a few out of the library. Mo Willem's has a serious knack for conveying humor that appeals to both adults and children.

Strega Nona Takes Over

This past week we had a lot of fun with Tomie de Paola's classic Strega Nona.  After focusing on how understanding patterns in a text can help you read the words,  I shared with the children that it's not only books for beginning readers that have patterns.  Great story books, books for older children and even some adult books have patterns too and quite often it's what happens when the pattern changes that reveals the whole point of the story!  This is the case in Strega Nona when the main character successfully makes her magic pasta pot work several time before her helper, Big Anothony ("who never pays attention"), tries it without blowing the magical three kisses.  As the book says, "Stega Nona did not have to look twice to know what had happened" when she saw her little town over flowing with pasta!   Here are some photos of the children performing parts of the story with their popcicle stick puppets

Let's Hear it for Blocks!

On Monday the children were surprised to find that I had moved around a few things in the room to create a space for unit blocks.  I am so excited to have Mrs. Adams' blocks on loan- we have several dedicated designers and builders in our room and with unit blocks the possibilities are endless!  On a related note, we are moving into math unit on geometry in which we will extend upon what we learned about shapes in the fall.  I found some great images of mandalas that had been created with pattern blocks on line and the class immediately wanted to try their hand at it.  Check it out!

Adjoining houses with room to get inside!

How to... Write a How To Book!

We are deep into the process of writing How To books.  As I wrote in one of the newsletters, we began this process in much the same we approached writing original stories.  First we read several "how to" books and noticed what authors did to teach a reader something in a step by step way.  Next, each child brainstormed topics that they might be able to write a how to book about.  We shared some of the ideas in the whole group and sorted out which topics might be most interesting. Next, the children went to work breaking down their selected topic into four steps.  In the pictures below you will see children spread out all over the room, deeply involved in the writing process.  Literacy Teacher, Ann Knox, Ms. Christine and  Mr. Kaulius both played a role in encouraging children to hear the sounds in their words, reread what they had already written, and stick to it!  Once each child had completed a planning page in which their pictures were just small pencil sketches and every step had clear words to go with a picture, the children transferred their plans into book form. The final step was stapling the pages together and adding a title, by line and illustration to the cover.  We can't wait to share the finished books with you at Parent Conferences!

Mr. T. Reads To The Class

The title of the post says it all but here's a picture from last week's read aloud with Mr. T.  He read one of my all time faves without even knowing it- Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber.  If you've never read it, it has it all...  anxiety about a first sleep over, a taunting big sister, reassuring parents, ghost stories and comforting stuffed animals.

Our Trip to the Flynn Theatre!

Today we went to the Flynn Theatre to see a production of THE CAT IN THE HAT.  This was a perfect show for us to see as the children have been enjoying many of his books during quiet time and Readers Workshop.  On Monday we spent some partner reading time browsing through  Dr. Seuss books taking note of all the all the Super Reader Powers we use as we read them.  Turns out Dr. Seuss books are great for practicing pointer power, picture power, pattern power, rhyme power. popcorn word power and partner power!  We also noted that a few other authors who write in a style similar to Dr. Seuss have a picture of the cat in the hat on their books too.  

In the words of the kindergartners:

"The show was good!"

"I like how the music went right with the cat's tennis racket."

"The cat was funny when he balanced all that stuff!"

Learning with Mr. Schmidt's Third Graders

Mr. Schmidt's third graders were looking for an audience to present their in-depth study on Native Americans to and we were happy to oblige!   In small groups the third graders talked to our class about the daily life of different tribes. Our class listened intently and asked great questions.  They noticed that the facts they remembered most were the ones they could easily see represented in pictures on the posters.  This goes right along with our focus on making the pictures match the words when we read and write!

Cup Stacking Demo by Julia!

The title says it all but Julia treated the class to a cup stacking demonstration on Friday!  She's been practicing and we were all quite impressed.  After watching, many friends wanted to try and Julia was an excellent teacher.