Reading Our Way to Thanksgiving!

 

As I was writing earlier in the week, November is the start of the literacy magic of Kindergarten! We begin our slow journey into Guided Reading this time of year. There are three important facets of reading I try to instill before we can dive really deep into Guided Reading: a love a reading, sight word recognition, and tracking print.

Sometimes during Guided Reading, I like to just read to the students. We can all have the same book in front of us and practice the critical skills of concepts of print. We hold our books the right way, turn pages, follow the story across pictures, and most importantly, develop a love of reading!

This adorable foldable book is perfect for all of these skills. The kids can fold the book themselves (building independence!), turn the pages correctly, follow the story across pictures to help retell, and then, the pièce de résistance: color in the illustrations! Plus, talk about a great cross curricular with Social Studies. Get it here.

At this point in the year, we have begun learning our sight words. I usually teach two a week, beginning with number words and color words. Then, I like to start with some basics that will help construct sentences well in writing as well (I, see, have, like, can, you etc.) Recognizing these sight words during authentic reading time is a HUGE success for kids. This is the magic I'm talking about- the twinkle in their eyes and pride in their soul when they are "reading" and find a word they know! One of our first reading strategies is to use the picture clues to help read unknown words. After reading about The First Thanksgiving in our foldable book, children are able to identify much of the picture clues from the book. Download it here.

This book is available with and without tracking dots to help students beginning to learn how to appropriately track print. It's great for differentiation.

While it's great for students to practice these pattern books and know what to expect as they begin to read, I often find when they first begin to track print, students aren't looking at the make up of the words or reading with one to one correspondance. They often point as they recite the memorized pattern, but are not matching their words to the print correctly. That's why I LOVE this interactive sight word reader. 

I like to have kids create their own book based on their true likes and dislikes of traditional Thanksgiving foods. Then, after they create and read their own book, they can swap with a friend. This is a fantastic quick assessment of print tracking because without the pattern and without knowing their friend's likes and dislikes, they are forced to put their skills into actions without relying on the pattern. I love doing this book the week I teach do and not as sight words. Learn a little more about these interactive sight word readers here.

You can download all three of these books in one product here: Interactive Thanksgiving Sight Word Readers

What skills are you working on this time of year? Let me know in the comments below!

Keep your head in the clouds!

A Horn of Plenty of Letters!

 

November in Kindergarten is the start of literacy magic! Kiddos are beginning to understand and practice tracking print more independently. They are grasping letter-sound knowledge and building their fluency there, and they are mastering proper letter formation in handwriting. If you've never taught Kindergarten, trust me when I tell you, its magical! The beginnings of being able to read is an incredible sight to be seen, and I feel so lucky to have been able to be a part of such an important process in so many children's lives.

In addition to the huge push of phonemic awareness that is so critical to the reading process, November is also when I've always started to hone in on alphabetic principle. By this time, we have our Fundations Drills down pat and are ready to really put those skills into practice.

This is exactly why I created A Horn of Plenty of Letters- A Thanksgiving themed, hands on center that focuses on beginning sounds.

Pictures are used on each fruit and vegetable so students can practice their phonemic awareness skills by hearing the word and isolating the beginning sound. Then, they can begin to map the sound to a letter. Differentiate with FIVE different recording sheets to best meet the needs of your students!

I found this adorable cornucopia in the Target Dollar Spot (because everything wonderful is always found in the Target Dollar Spot!). Students pulled a card from the cornucopia, said the picture word, isolated the initial sound, then chose the letter that corresponds with that sound. Since we are still amidst learning letter formation, I began with the tracing recording sheet. I always begin a brand new center in a guided group run by myself or another teacher in the room. Then, after some practice with guidance, I move it the following week as an Independent center. 

It was a fun activity and my little kinder loved seeing both what kind of fruit or vegetable they got as well as deciding what was on the picture. Laminate the cards for easy cleaning between turns OR just have the teacher pull the cards! This can still be a COVID friendly activity.

You can download A Horn of Plenty of Letters here!

What are your favorite November literacy activities? Comment on this post and let's swap great idea!

Keep your head in the clouds!

Halloween Emergent Readers!

In Kindergarten, I always loved kicking off some basic guided reading practice in October. Routines are set, student/teacher relationships have begun to blossom, and we are ready to dip our toes in the water of the deep dive of reading! My school uses the DRA leveled reading assessment to benchmark students. We do no formal oral reading assessment until January. Fall is all basic prepwork of concepts of print, using picture clues, and listening for repeated phrases in pattern books. We slowly start to have students open their eyes to the first letter of the words they are reading so they can begin to rely on the letters in front of them rather than the memory of the repeated phrases or a misinterpreted picture clue.

That's why when I made these Emergent Readers for Halloween I had my students in mind! They are written to be on DRA Levels 1, 2, and 3 - which is perfect for Kindergarten or First Grade in the fall! Plus, with a Halloween theme, who can blame them for wanting to keep reading and get more and more excited for their very spooky day! They are differentiated so that students will have a book right on their level! Ease into reading for the little guys! Just practice tracking print or step it up to picture clues and decoding words here and there. There are four books- three of which come with or without tracking dots depending on the level and skill of your readers. The work is done for you! Just print (and put your copier on staple! It will put one staple on each book! All you'll need to do is cut the pages in half and the books are assembled for you!) and you're all set!

Who I Am on Halloween - DRA Level 1

Sight Words: I, am, a

Follow the picture clues to finish the sentence and practice tracking print! Don't forget to look at the words as you read- many pattern books change pattern on the last page!

I See Candy! - DRA Level 2

Sight Words: I, see, a

Follow the picture clues to read the color words for each candy. Pictures are coloring book so children can color in the candy once they figure out the word. Then it can serve as a picture clue for them in future reads and will help facilitate independent reading. Each pattern ends with Yum! which can be decodable for those readers ready for it.

Who Says Boo? - DRA Level 2.5

Sight Words: A, does, not

More sophisticated patterned sentences, words that require you to look at the first letter (jack-o-lantern, not pumpkin; vampire not Dracula). The pattern changes at the end with a decodable sight word and picture clue to help. Because it focuses on the words does and does not, it's a great transition book to my Thanksgiving Interactive Sight Word Book!

Halloween Decorations - DRA Level 3

Sight Words: said, the, I have, do, you

Sophisticated patterns that change with each page. Quotation marks and commas within the sentences. This book is incredibly similar to the DRA Level 3. Because of that, to keep fidelity with the assessment, I use this for students who are already assessed at a Level 3 or 4 so they can use these in Independent reading. This would be perfect for a beginning First Grader!

Click here to download these books today!

Keep you head in the clouds!

-Dianne

Up and At Em! A {Groundhog's Day} Pack!

I still feel like we are just coming back from Winter Break, and yet, Groundhog's Day is only 2 weeks away! Groundhog's Day is one of my favorite holidays to celebrate in the classroom. It is super child-friendly and adds a sense of "magic" to the air simply by the fact that the act of a shadow can predict our weather patterns. Just in time for the occasion, I've decided to make a Groundhog's Day Pack to help channel in on the fun of the day!

This pack has everything you need to celebrate the big day! Starting of course, with party hats! There are two choices depending on what happens with the groundhog's big debut in Punxsutawney! 

Along with the hats is a foldable reader with one sentence explanations of how the holiday works and what happens if the groundhog does or does not see his shadow. While these are a lot of fun, my favorite part of the pack is the ultra simple craft!

What better time to introduce (or reintroduce) the shape, hearts! Just in time for hearts to flood our classroom for Valentine's Day, this sweet groundhog craft is made out of three hearts!

There's also an option for a blank face if you'd like your kiddos to draw their own groundhog face!

There are also printables for tallying and graphing predictions for if the groundhog will see his shadow, making predictions as you read, and compound words (like groundhog!)

I hope you can find TONS of use for this pack in your own classroom! Get it here in my TPT store!

Have a Happy Groundhog's Day (I personally am rooting for no shadow and Spring to come early!)

Keep your head in the clouds!

xo

Winter Reading {Freebie}

It was COLD last week in Jersey! Too cold to play outside, too cold to have the snow melt away, and too cold to even THINK! My principal was kind enough to have an impromptu Hawaiian Day! Staff and students were invited to come in with their Hawaiian shirts on, were greeted with upbeat hawaiian melodies playing on speakers in the hallways and our principal even handmade Pineapple Smoothies in the teacher's room during lunch! (Is he not the best at cultivating a happy school culture for his students and staff?!)

In honor of keeping the warmth moving strong, I figured the only right way to contribute to the winter blues was to upload a simple, no prep, FREEBIE for your budding independent readers!

My kiddos have been working hard on their VERY first sight word: CAN

Since we are already masters at our uppercase letters, now we can read sentences that start with, "I can" if we use picture clues to help! Check out our picture clues below for some of the pages of our I Can Winter Freebie Independent Reader

Download your free Winter Reader here!

Enjoy this little piece of sunshine amidst the bitter cold!

Keep your head in the clouds!

xo