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Monday, May 14, 2012

Literacy Centers: Daily Five, Guided Reading, and Building Blocks

I am excited over literacy centers!  We do a lot of literacy activities with my small groups--no guided reading yet, as these are four year-olds.  Nevertheless, I am planning for next year when I'll be teaching kindergarten.  I recently ordered these resources to help me get ready:



Reading, Writing, and Phonics for Kindergarten
 
Interactive Charts
Predictable Charts














I'm already implementing shared reading and writing, which have been very successful.  I'm very interested in trying the Daily Five while conducting guided reading groups.  Here are two great websites for kindergarten literacy centers and guided reading in kindergarten:

http://www.thevirtualvine.com/workstations.html 
http://www.lindaslearninglinks.com/gdrdgkdg.html

I think the Building Blocks model ties everything together:

Building Blocks Literacy Model
  • Desire to Learn to Read & Write
    Create an environment where all students see themselves becoming independent readers and writers through a variety of developmentally appropriate activities.
  • Language Concepts
    Foster the ability to read and write words through the use of morning messages, journal entries, sentence building activities, and environmental print.
  • Print ConceptsTeach print concepts by modeling how to write and participating in shared reading and shared writing experiences.
  • Phonemic Awareness
    Develop phonemic awareness, including the concept of rhyme, through activities with poetry, rhyming books, tongue twisters, and playing with language.
  • Interesting Words
    Extend the list of real-life words that students find personally relevant, such as favorite restaurant names, favorite cartoon characters, and family members.
  • Letters & Sounds
    Encourage letter and sound recognition through activities with alphabet books, beginning and ending sounds, and shared writing of predictable charts.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Letter Salad and Great News

I am so excited!  I will be teaching kindergarten next year!  YES!  To celebrate, I am sharing my Letter Salad literacy activity!  My students love finding letters in the letter salad!  It's super cute and easy to implement.  You can download the entire activity, which includes materials list, directions, and leveled student recording sheets here.  It's FREE!


My next project: mastering the Promethean Board!  The school district I currently work in uses SmartBoard.  Any tips and tricks are welcome!

Have fun!