First,
I want to apologize for not updating the blog more often. I was doing well the
first couple of weeks, but I have been focused on a field trip and an upcoming
unit of study. I will make it my intention to update this blog at least once a
week if not more often.
I
want to take this opportunity to give all of you parents an overview of some of
the curricular structures I have been working to put in place over the last
month. These structures make it easier for me to individualize instruction for
all children and maximize instructional time.
Daily 5 Literacy:
The Daily Five is a
literacy structure that teaches independence and gives children the skills
needed to create a lifetime love of reading and writing. It consists of five
tasks that are introduced individually. When introduced to each task, the
children discuss what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like to engage in
the task independently. Then, the children work on building their stamina until
they are successful at being independent while doing
that task.
The five
tasks include:
1. Read
to self
2. Read
to someone
3.
Listen to reading
4. Work
on writing
5. Word
work
Once all five tasks
have been introduced and the children are fully engaged in reading and writing
activities, I am able to work with small groups
and to confer with children one on one. This structure is
effective, the results are amazing, and the children really look forward to
Daily Five time. Ask your child about Daily Five and see what he/she has to
say. I anticipate your child will tell you about the class stamina, how we are
working towards independence, and maybe you will even hear about some of the
fantastic things your child has
written, read, or listened to during our structured reading time.
Writers’ Workshop
Writer’s Workshop is
the framework for writing instruction and practice in the classroom. It allows
students to determine the topics they will write about and work at their own
writing stage and pace. The teacher serves as the facilitator and conducts
daily mini lessons and conferencing with individuals and small groups. Students
always love this time of day and I am excited to watch your child grow into a
confident, developing writer!
Letterland
I’m sure many of you
having been hearing about Letterland. This is an imaginary and secret
place where all the letters live. We have finished fast tracking all the
Letterlanders and their sounds! We will now begin teaching each Letterlander
for mastery, introducing capital letters and working on correct letter
formation.
What exactly is Letterland??
Letterland is a unique, phonics-based approach to teaching
reading, writing and spelling to 3-8 year olds. The Letterland characters
transform plain black letter shapes into child-friendly pictograms and they all
live in an imaginary place called Letterland.
Simple stories about the Letterland characters, explain the full
range of dry phonics facts so that children are motivated to listen, to think
and to learn. These stories explain letter sounds & shapes, allowing
children to progress quickly to word building, reading and writing.
Letterland fast tracking sounds:
|
a – Annie Apple
|
i – Impy Ink
|
|
b – Bouncy Ben
|
j – Jumping Jim
|
|
c – Clever Cat
|
k – Kicking King
|
|
d – Dippy Duck
|
l – Lucy Lamp Light
|
|
e – Eddy Elephant
|
m – Munching Mike
|
|
f – Firefighter Fred
|
n – Noisy Nick
|
|
g – Golden Girl
|
o – Oscar Orange
|
|
h – Harry Hat Man
|
p – Peter Puppy
|
|
q- Quarrelsome Queen
|
r- Red Robot
|
|
s- Sammy Snake
|
t- Talking Tess
|
|
u- Uppy Umbrella
|
v- Vicky Violet
|
|
w- Walter Walrus
|
x- Fix-it Max
|
|
y- Yellow Yo-yo Man
|
z- Zig Zag Zebra
|
Math Centers
If you look at our
Daily Schedule, you will see that the morning is packed with literacy
activities. Then, the children are off to Specials and Spanish in the middle of
the day. When they return it is time for math. Unfortunately, the children are
fighting mental fatigue at that point in the day. However, I try to help the children
focus by making math a more hands-on, fun experience than math probably was for
you when you were in school.
Each day the children
have at least one small group math activity or game to play. Mrs. Dawes and I
are actually doing a lot of direct instruction during that time, but the
children may not even realize it. During the past several weeks the children
have been working on counting, numeral recognition (0-10), one-to-one
correspondence, the concepts of “more” and “less” in relation to amounts, how
to conserve (remember) an amount and count on, sorting, graphing, and
subitizing (the ability to quickly recognize a grouping of objects as a set
amount, like knowing the patterns of dots on dominoes and dice as numbers). I
work very hard to make math as engaging, productive, and fun as possible.
I will keep you posted
on new math updates for the second quarter in the coming weeks. These children
are laying the groundwork for future success as problem-solvers and
mathematicians.
