Find the Secret in Making Words!

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/65231894572177279/

When reading chapter 5 of Classrooms That Work, several techniques were given to teach spelling and phonics. The Making Words activity was an activity that I thought would work well in many classrooms.

Three points that I really like about Making Words are:

1.      Instruction can be differentiated.

·         Little words and big words can be made.

·         Struggling students can maker shorter words.

·         High-achieving students can make longer words.

2.      Scaffolding is used.

·         Guided learning is used

·         Next, students discover new words on their own.

3.      The words made can correlate with a classroom theme.

·         Pets, animals, colors

This activity is an interactive process. When students are making words, they may work in small class or as a class to find all the words. At the end, the teacher gives the “secret word” using all the letters together.

This example shows how Making Words can add to a class theme. I really like the ideas in this blog.   http://www.pinterest.com/pin/374784000211524846/

Common Core ELA Standards require Kindergarten students to “use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened” W.K.3. To connect Making Words to this standard, teachers can use letters to make words related to a class event, and have the students use these words to describe the event and how they feel. This can be completed individually or as a group project.

When teaching phonics, which activities do you prefer?

How will you use activities to meet Common Core Standards in your classroom?

Cunningham, Patricia M. and Richard L. Allington. Classrooms That Work: They Can All Read and Write. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 2011. 28-47. Print

http://www.readtennessee.org/teachers/common_core_standards/kindergarten/writing/wk3.aspx

Letting go of "Letter of the Week"

This week, the article Letting Go of “Letter of the Week” stood out to me because it made me think about reading outside the classroom differently. In class last week, we discussed whether reading includes symbols, or only letters and words. The “telephone pictionary” game illustrated the use of both words and pictures in literacy, and I think this correlates with the example Donna Bells uses in her kindergarten class. When she asked who could read, there was no reply. However, when she asked the students what a McDonald’s bag was, they all knew the answer – even if they did not speak English.

            When I think about how this applies to my future classroom, I think of how I can apply this idea to students have how given up on reading. Once they realize how much they can already read, they will be motivated to learn more. As Bell says, “having established they could read, we were off and running on our way to unlocking great secrets and joys as readers.”

 

 As an educator, how do you feel about using commercialized materials in the classroom?

 

Cunningham, Patricia M. and Richard L. Allington. Classrooms That Work: They Can All Read and Write. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 2011. 28-47. Print

Bell and Jarvis.  (2002).  Letting Go of “Letter of the Week.”  Primary Voices K-6.

  

September 16th Blog Post

In Chapter three of Classrooms That Work, the focus is building on the literacy foundation. To build a foundation, it is important to make the basics of learning fun. When teaching the alphabet in my future classroom, I plan to teach it in unconventional ways, rather than singing the rote alphabet song solely for memorization. There are several ways I plan to integrate learning letters.

1. Finding letters in nature and objects. 

2.Young children love movement according to Cunningham and Allington. Combining the alphabet with music and movement gets children moving while they act out each letter. Something I like about this version of the alphabet is that "S sits silently" and this could be used as an ending or in classroom management after the students begin to know the song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tepwi3-lAAM.

3. Make the alphabet eatable! Giving students a healthy snack to teach them about words beginning with each letter is a great way to relate the alphabet to everyday words. 

Building the foundation of literacy by combining the alphabet and reading into everyday life and making it exciting stresses in importance of literacy in all areas.
As future teachers, what do you think of these ideas? How will you build foundations of literacy in your classroom?

Cunningham, Patricia M. and Richard L. Allington. Classrooms That Work: They Can All Read and Write. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 2011. 28-47. Print

            This week’s assignment in Classrooms That Work focused on what sets exceptional teachers apart from typical teachers, and creating enthusiastic readers. The article What I've Learned about Effective Reading Instruction also stressing the importance of quality teachers. Based on the readings, I believe that an essential motivator for skilled readers is a teacher reading aloud. When I observed teacher read-alouds in my former observations, they excited students about reading.

            Teachers reading to the class encourages students to read other books by the same author or about the same subject. Classrooms That Work points out the necessity of reading both fact and fiction to students. Without realizing, my first pick to read aloud to a class would be something such as The Cat in the Hat, because that is a personal favorite. However, some students may be more interested in an information book about cats. When setting up my classroom, I will need to have both types of books readily available for students to have a wide variety of books.

            After reading the article by Mr. Allington and Classrooms That Work, I am interested in finding out if teacher read-alouds motivated others to read other books by the same author or in the same series? Also, which books were your childhood preference: fact or fiction, and is that your first choice today?