Writer's Workshop

Each day the students sit on the carpet and watch me model choosing a subject, drawing a picture with details and thinking of a sentence that matches the drawing. We count how many words are in the sentence and draw that many lines under the picture. Then, we begin sounding out the words using an Alphamotions chart to help us remember which letter makes what sound. The students take turns coming up to the board to write the letters to represent the sounds we hear. This is called a Shared Writing. Currently we are focussing on hearing and writing the beginning and ending sounds of the words.

This story says, "We have two turtles in our class."

This story says, " I saw Todd and his mom at the book fair."

Independent Reading

We began Independent Reading last week. During our Reader's Workshop, there is first a mini-lesson where the teacher models a reading strategy or skill, then the students read independently for a time, and last the students work in Literacy centers or work with Mrs. Minor or Mrs. Beaver on reading activities. We started with 5 minutes of Independent Reading and have already moved up to 6 minutes. The students have a bag of "Just Right" books for them to whisper read to themselves during this time. We have had a VERY successful beginning to Independent Reading, so I anticipate great readers emerging as the year progresses! One of the books in their Just Right Bags is the Alphamotions book. The students love whisper singing the song to themselves!

Tianna was singing to herself.

Great job reading, Ashley.

Pierre enjoys the Alphamotions Book.

Yasmin enjoys reading.

Great reading, Abby!

"Hot horse, hot horse," sings Laila.

Leila is singing and doing the motion for sliding snake.

Tasha reads very quietly.

"Nickle spinning..." sings Lexi.

Tyler and Grayson enjoy reading new books.

Austin seems like an expert at reading books to himself.

Andrew is relaxing on the floor with a book of his choice.

Recess

Recess is a fun part of our day in Kindergarten. We love to run and play, dig in the sand, climb on the tires, swing on the monkey bars and go on the many slides! When the students get too hot and tired, they sometimes rest with the teacher on the "teacher bench." Life is good on the playground.

Lexi taking a break.

Laila loves to play in the sand!

Tasha is having fun.

Hi, Dante!

Todd, Joseph and Leila are building their arm muscles.

And so are Jasmin and Grayson!

Andrew wants to climb, too.

Lily likes to slide.

Grayson slides, too.

Austin loves playing on all the equipment.

Climbing beauties: Leila, Lily, Tasha and Yasmin