We had a fun week in kindergarten last week. We have been learning a Jolly Phonics almost every day and I am so proud of how well they are learning the letters/sounds and blending them together to read unknown words. It has been so exciting to see! So far in Jolly Phonics we have learned the letters and sounds for the letter s, a, t, i, p, n. c/k, and e. With learning the letters they should have completed the homework for each letter in their Jolly Phonics sound book. Each day, I want my kindergarten friends to flashcard through their soundbook with you where they are naming the letter and sound (with the motion) for each letter. The more they practice, the more automatic they will become for them when reading and writing. This will help them to become strong, fluent readers.
To help my kindergarten friends with blending sounds and reading, we worked on the sight words I and can on Friday. We did a can sight word page and we did a mini-book together called I Can Move! The mini book gave my friends a lot of practice in recognizing the sight word I and can in text and also the opportunity to learn some skills that good readers do when reading. We learned how to frog hop to each word when they are reading a sentence which helps them to read every word on the page and not get lost while they are reading. We also talked about how letters make up words and words make up sentences. We counted how many letters were in various words and how many words were in the sentences on the page. We also talked about how when good readers come to an unknown word they use picture clues. Before reading each page, we looked at the picture on the page and talked about what we saw. Then we tried reading the sentences together by frog hopping to each words as we read. When we came to an unknown word, we stopped and talked about what letter the word began with and looked at the picture to see if it could help us to figure it out. They were so excited when they figured out what the word was by looking at the picture and seeing if that word would make sense. It didn't take long for my kinder friends to figure out all the unknown words on the pages. They did a fabulous job reading the mini-book and learning some skills that good readers do. When we were done reading the book together, I paired up the class with choosing names from my "fairness jar." As I called names, the pairs brought their books and they sat knee-to-knee- eye-to eye. They talked about who would like to read the book first and who would like to go second. I LOVED walking around the classroom and hearing them read the books to one another. They did a great job reading and taking turns! Yay, K-1 and K-3! For homework this weekend, I asked them to read their mini-book to two people at home and have their mom or dad sign the front of the book when they were finished. I asked them to bring it back to me on Monday signed. They were so excited that they would get to read it two people at home and show off what good readers they are starting to become!
In handwriting, we use the Handwriting Without Tears program. We are starting the program with numbers so that we are able to do math in our math workbooks. We started learning how to correctly write the numbers 1 and 2. The class LOVED using the chalkboards to learn how to correctly write both numbers and show me what they learned by then writing in their workbooks. Way to go, K-1 and K-3!
