Homework and Word Study with Words Their Way

NOTE TO SELF: Don't put things in the newsletter until they are ACTUALLY finished. Anyway, here is our little post below. I thought that it would be helpful for you to see some examples of what kindergarten practice should look like. It's not meant to take a super long time each day. Just quick practice!

Here at Orchard View, we use a word study approach to spelling. Instead of sending home a weekly random list of words to memorize, words that we study each week will follow a specific pattern. The idea is that if you can spell mat, you can also spell cat, pat, sat, etc... as students get older, they will learn more complicated spelling patterns.

Our homework is designed to help you to be aware of our spelling expectations in kindergarten while helping your child to benefit from important practice. The "tic tac toe" style board is to give you some freedom of choice, so that practicing these words doesn't become too monotonous. If your child isn't onto this type of homework yet, he/she is just firming up letter sounds and the ability to match beginning sounds. Everyone will be here soon!

Monday
The homework states "cut apart the picture cards if needed." It will always be needed for you or your child to cut these apart. We do not cut them out here at school. I know the way it's worded makes it sound like you only have to cut them out if you want to. :) Can't sort them if you don't cut them!
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
This was designed to be like a tic tac toe board, but you really don't have to choose 3 in a row. Just choose 3 that you and your child feel like doing. Here are some examples:
Rainbow Writing:

 3 Times Each

Picture Story

At this level, I am totally fine with a simple story. Have your child write more if he/she would like. Notice that I don't expect words to be spelled correctly unless we have had homework with that pattern (-ill words will be here soon enough).

ABC Order

This is for if you'd like to challenge your child a bit. They will need help with this, as putting things in ABC order is not a kindergarten standard or something we practice.

Fancy Writing

Can be bubble letters, curly letters, or whatever you can think of! As long as I can read them. :)

I hope that seeing some examples helps anyone who may have been unsure about the expectations. We get such a WIDE range of work from students, I wanted you to see that it can be simple and quick! :)

Fun with Magnets

It was great seeing everyone who came to Math and Science Night last week. This is the time of year where I know things start to get crazy and we all have a ton going on--so if you couldn't make it to math and science night, here is some of the fun we've had with magnets.

We sorted objects into magnetic vs. non-magnetic. We learned that metal is magnetic, but were surprised to find out that not all metals are attracted to a magnet! 

We made mobiles as another way to show items that are magnetic and not magnetic.

Magnet sorts have also been added to our science station.

Everyone loves this discovery jar! It's really quite soothing to play with!

Of course, by now you've seen the duck pond project. The kiddos had fun moving around their ducks on their little ponds! The circles are paintings we made with paper plates and magnets. 

Thanks for stopping by to read our class blog! 

Hello all! We are thoroughly enjoying fall in our classroom. Last week, we had tons of fun with apples! Here are some of the fun apple activities we did last week!

Apple Juice vs. Apple Cider Taste Test

Apple Taste-Testing

Apple Science

In science, we made predictions about whether the apple would sink or float.

Then, we tested it out!

Exploring Our Apples 

Everyone got an apple to explore!

We also made easy applesauce!

Of course, had to do a little apple print art. We made trees and used apple prints as the leaves.

Now, I can't wait to have some serious fun with pumpkins!

Welcome to our blog!

Hello! Welcome to our classroom blog! As I stated in the newsletter, we have started our guided reading groups this week! I wanted to make a little blog post to help you see what guided reading looks like in our classroom. We use a book called The Next Steps in Guided Reading, by Jan Richardson.

Please ignore the "KTeacherTiff" watermark on the photos. I recycled these photos from an old post on my teaching blog.

There are two separate lesson plan formats I'm going to show you today.The first format is called the "Pre-A lesson," and it is for students who know fewer than 40 letters (includes upper and lowercase). The emergent reading lesson plan is for students who are able to identify at least 40 letters.

The Pre-A Lesson

Part One: Working with Letters and Names (3-4 minutes)

• When the students come to my table, the very first thing they do is get their ABC charts and a baggie that holds all of the letter they know. They match the letters to the chart until time runs out (it goes quick!)

• They may also sort the letters by color, match capital and lowercase letters, name a word that begins with letters in their baggies, or find a target letter on their chart (i.e. "find the letter that you hear at the beginning of car." At the very beginning of the year, we also do name puzzles until the students can write and identify the letters in their names.



• We also spend a minute working on letter formation. They just write their letters down in the empty space on the chart.

Part Two: Working with Sounds (2-3 minutes)

• At the pre-A level, we work on the phonological awareness skills of syllables, rhymes, and beginning sounds. We usually do a quick picture sort as a group.

Part Three: Working With Books (5 minutes)

• The focus is here is oral language, print concepts, and book handling skills. We CHORAL read a simple level A book together. As we read, the students are encouraged to describe what is happening in the pictures. After reading, I ask the students to look for one word, the first word in a sentence, the last word in a sentence, the first letter of a word, a space, etc.



Part Four: Interactive Writing (5 minutes)

• We share the pen, writing a sentence that follows the pattern of the story. I have the students write the dominant consonant sounds that they can hear. We then cut up the sentence and put it back together. One student  gets to take the cut-up sentence home.

Students who are able to identify 40 letters get a different plan. Here is the emergent readers lesson plan format. 

Part One-Sight word review

We begin the lesson by doing a quick review of three previously taught sight words. Each time the students write a word correctly, I mark it down on a recording sheet. After the student has written the word independently several times, I am confident that it is a known word. You get good at figuring out who knows the word and who is averting their eyes to try to look at someone else's board. :)

Part Two- Book introduction and reading

Next, I introduce the story and any new vocabulary the students will need to know. We may quickly preview the story and make predictions, but we don't spend a ton of time before we get down to the nitty gritty business of reading. This is where it looks like your usual guided reading lesson. The students quietly read the story while I monitor and support if needed. I usually take a running record on a student at this time.

Before, during, and after reading, I encourage students to use our strategies to figure out unknown words. After reading, we discuss the strategies the students used and talk about any tricky parts we encountered. If there is enough meat to the story to discuss it, we will talk about the events and our connections to the story.

Part Three-Teach one new sight word

I ALWAYS have the students build a new sight word with magnetic letters. We may also play "mix and fix" where the students mix up the letters and put it back together, saying the letters in order each time. We also write the word on a white board and sometimes play "what's missing?" where I simply write the word on a white board missing one or two letters and the students have to identify the missing letter(s).

Part Four- word study

Finally, we do some quick word work. It may be a sort, sound boxes, or making words with magnetic letters.

And that's the end of the emergent guided reading lesson...BUT WAIT! This is a two-day plan! On the second day, the students practice sight words, reread the story, and practice the new sight word much like day 1. But in place of word study, we do guided writing in their guided writing journals. This is usually a sentence that I dictate to the students.

I hope this gave you a better picture of what your child is doing in guided reading!