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!

Gobble Gobble, Turkey Math!

Is November as hectic in your building as it is in mine? In Jersey, we kick off the start of the month with the NJ Teachers Convention- which means two days off of school. This is followed by Veterans Day which then leads into a set of four half days for Parent-Teacher Conferences and closes out the month with Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Tons of days off coupled with tons of extra responsibilities! When I feel like I'm getting a bit overwhelmed at the thought, I try to find the fun I can infuse into the classroom.

One of my students favorite November activities over the years has been this Gobble Gobble Turkey Count Math activity!

I love the hands on nature of the activity and the kiddos love the sweet little turkeys! I adore Math because you can show answers and methods in more than one way. This is particularly useful in Kindergarten as we are constantly working on number sense.

The feathers show numbers in numeral, tally mark, number word, fingers, and ten frames. With greater practice, the kiddos develop stronger subatizing skills.

Colors are vibrant, learning is happening, and it's ENGAGING! Snag your copy of this fun Thanksgiving Math Center here!

I like to use them first in Math Centers with a paraprofessional. Then I transition them to Independent Math Centers and finally I place them in Morning Tubs. 

How will you use these darling little turkeys in your classroom?

Keep you head in the clouds!

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!