The past few weeks the children have been making lots of books to put in their book boxes that they can read on their own. The letter books that have been made so far are for t,f,b,m,and n. When we practice letters and sounds in Kindergarten, we also incorporate handwriting skills as well as phonics. There is a wide variety of ability levels within a Kindergarten classroom. Putting the pieces together so that everyone is learning is a tricky puzzle, but it is all coming together now as I know the kids' academic levels from baseline assessments completed in September.
Other song or nursery rhyme books that have been made for their book boxes are The Five Little Pumpkins, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and next week they will work on Little Miss Muffet. Not only are the children practicing reading and writing rhymes with these books, but they are also learning how to track the words with a 1-1 match. They will begin identifying Kindergarten Sight Words within these poems starting next week. I also use these poems/songs to practice beginning reading comprehension and fluency. The children get to act these poems out-an activity that is a hit with my group of performers this year.
This week we began our formal Reading and Writing Workshops. Be sure to ask your child what a workshop looks like, sounds like, and feels like in our classroom.
