More Websites

Here are two more websites that I just ran onto today.

www.weeklyreader.com
Lesson plans, subscriptions to weekly readers, and much more!

http://www.gm.com/experience/education/
Website with lesson plans relating to energy, vehicles, and going green!

Literature Circles

I am starting Literature Circles in the next couple of weeks with my first grade students. Until now, I haven't had a large enough group of them that could read a chapter book with success. Now 10 of my 15 students are reading a chapter book well. Five of my students will be reading a Junie B. Jones book. That is a 2.8 reading level (or 2nd grade eighth month). Five others will be reading a 3.3 (3rd grade 3rd month) reading level book (one of the Magic Tree House Series). The other five students will be reading several picture books during this time in the 1.8 to 2.2 reading range. I am really excited about their progress this year.

A Literature Circle is a group of 4 to 6 students who read a section of a book. As they read each of them have a job to do. The jobs that I will give the students include summarizer, vocabulary finder, passage picker, connector, artful artist, and Question Writer. Basically, each student reads the same passage and does a different job. Then the group meets and I will lead them in a discussion about the book-being careful to make each person feel as though their job was important! Sounds like a lot of fun. I wish I wouldn't have had to wait so long to start this, but I didn't feel that the kids were ready. If I follow my class to second grade, I will do Literature Circles for the entire year. They will be exposed to many types of literature!

Contest and Website

I frequently get emails with educational information including websites and contests. Here are two that I recieved today that some of you might be interested in.

www.chicagobotanic.org/calendar/rainbarrel
This is the art contest.

http://newsletters.nationalgeographic.com/PS!G64S9tR5oP8FBgIAAAAGCgFICgg0MzQxOTg4MQoKMTYwODgwNDM4MgkAHqiDCgkzNzY0NTM3ODQF
This is an earth day link that has some activities. Looks like it is directed toward preschool and early elementary. Fun videos, games, activities and more.

Comment Posting

I just realized that none of you could comment if you were members. I just changed that setting. Now anyone should be able to comment. Sorry about that. See previous post.

Teaching Reading

This post and many posts to follow are at the request of a parent. I am going to put information about teaching reading to young children including scope and sequence (the order things are taught). There are five major parts to reading. These should all be included in every lesson.
*Phonemic Awareness
*Fluency
*Vocabulary
*Comprehension
*Phonics
I will tell you more about them at a later date. Comment and let me know specifics about what you want to know about reading. I will try to post you answers.

Arts and Crafts Ideas

Check out these great arts and crafts ideas.

www.crayola.com
www.kinderart.com

Origami--I have found that almost all students love origami. You can fold many different things from a piece of paper. I usually show the students what the final outcome will look like then we begin to make it step by step. This is fun for young kids in a one-on-one setting; however, the youngest age I have taught it whole class is fourth grade.

Great Books for Kids

I was thinking earler, while answering an email from a parent, about book titles and authors that I would recommend to parents. There is no way that I have the time to type a full list, but here are a few.



Authors
Shel Silverstein
Doreen Cronin (Diary of a _____) Worm, Spider, Fly --My students love these books
Dr. Suess





Books
Clifford Books
Junie B. Jones (Kindergarten-2nd grade)
Lon Po Po (A Little Red Riding Hood Story from China)
Magic School Bus Books (Teach Science Lessons in fun ways)
Eric Carle
Mo Willems (Pigeon Books)

Post books you are your children enjoy for others to see as well.

Teaching Letters to Preschoolers

There are several great and fun stategies to aid in teaching letters to young children 2-5 who enjoy doing hands on things. I have found that making a child hold a pencil to early in life (3 or for some kids four) can lead to many problems with handwriting later in life. One thing to remember when teaching a kid to write is to use a short writing tool. Imagine yourself using a 2 foot long pencil. That is what small child feels like with a full length pencil in hand. Instead try using a crayon. They will enjoy the colorful part and it will be easier to manage.

Secondly, if the child isn't displaying good handwriting posture (thumb and two fingers) abandon writing utensils altogether until the child is old enough to hold the tool properly. Instead practice letters in a different but fun and still very effective way.

Here are some ideas to try.
*Use play dough rolled into long strips and arrange the pieces into letters.
*Put shaving cream on a surface and let the child make letters with it.
*Use blocks and plenty of floor space to write the letters with blocks.
*Find blocks with letters printed on them. Let the child find a block a you say the letter. Show them how to form their name.

Here is a website with endless links for preschool age children. http://www.internet4classrooms.com/prek.htm