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!

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

Thankful for Sight Word Readers

I love November! It is definitively fall. It brings about the excitement of the holiday season without pushing it too early or too soon. It brings about a time of gratitude and thanksgiving! What more is there to love?



To kick off the season of gratitude, I always like to teach my students about the first Thanksgiving. As always, I've made my favorite foldable coloring books to teach the topic. Explicitly teaching the topic and labeling new vocabulary words is a critical component to help enhance my students' reading skills. Besides the fact that research shows the higher vocabulary a child has, the greater their reading skills- knowing the name of words will help them read predictable texts with picture cues! Check out the cover of my foldable reader below. You can click the picture to download the book, or just click here!

In Kindergarten, November is also a time when we start to dive a little deeper into our literacy skills! Our November writing units consist of list books that we turn into pattern books! It is the beginning of tracking reading in predictable texts. Since November has a lot of Thanksgiving vocabulary, I decided to create an Emergent Reader with sight words my students would already know and picture cues for the unknown words! (See where that critical background knowledge and vocabulary come in handy!) Here's a sampling below. You can download it here.

It comes with options with and without dots depending on your preference!

In an effort to up the ante and differentiate learning, I made a create your own predictable reader for the kiddos! This interactive reader allows students to cut and paste if they like or do not like certain traditional Thanksgiving foods.

 It comes with options with and without dots depending on your preference!

The beauty of this book is that it takes out the predictability of the patterns and forces the students to truly track print. However, because it is their own opinion, the picture cues will help them navigate the unpredictable text. Not to mention, it's a great introduction to the sight words: do, not, like! Download it here!

November for us means conference season! If this is something you could use to help get through the busy time of parent-teacher conferences amidst cooking and prepping for the holiday, click here to download it today!

If you like this, you may LOVE my Thanksgiving Literacy Bundle. It includes this product plus my Horn of Plenty of Vowels Pack! Click here to download!