Leap Power!

This was a "new" power this year.  It's certainly not a new strategy, but making it a power means kids are more likely to use it if they need to.  The goal is that the other powers combined will help the kids decode an unfamiliar word, but if all else fails, they should skip the word and come back to it with the full context of the sentence.

So as Spiderman's last package, he brings the kids each a leap frog toy!

Don't forget, you can find a scanned copy of all the Spiderman letters I use in this unit by clicking HERE!

Persistence Power!

Okay, today's lesson is a little gross.  But I promise your kids will remember it!

See, Spiderman brings gum as the treat to explain persistence power.  You don't give up when you're trying to tackle a tricky word, just like you don't give up when you're trying to blow a bubble.

Here comes the questionable part of the lesson.  I open a piece of gum, and tell the kids I'm going to blow a bubble.  I chew the gum once, and blow as hard as I can to make a bubble happen!  Of course, I have not chewed the gum enough for it to become soft and pliable.  Instead of blowing a bubble, the gum just shoots right out of my mouth onto the floor. Ew.

The kids laugh, I pretend to be heartbroken, and I throw the gum away.

I tell them this must be what Spiderman wanted us to learn.  I have to keep chewing! I can't just give up! I must be persistent!

I open a second piece of gum.  I chew it five times.  (Again, not long enough.) It's got a few more teeth imprints on it, but again the wad of gum gets spat on the floor.

"You should chew it for a really long time," the kids all say.  

I decide to chew it TEN times. I grab another piece, unwrap it, we count together, and when I blow... a chunk of gum still spits out.  I'm devastated.  I'm about to give up.  I'll never blow a bubble, I tell them. "Don't give up! Be persistent! Keep chewing it! Until it's soft!"

"Alright," I say.  On the fourth piece, I chew. I chew. I chew. And I chew.  When it gets really soft, I begin to blow slowly.  And you know what happens?  I get a tiny bubble.  It pops almost immediately, but that's okay.  Because each time, I've shown progress.

And as kids continue to read, each time, they'll show progress.  So... if you're not afraid of getting some spit and grossness on your carpet for a minute, I highly recommend this delivery. ;)

Don't forget, you can find a scanned copy of all the Spiderman letters I use in this unit by clicking HERE!

P.S. Look what I learned to do with a little PERSISTENCE POWER today!

The kids were super impressed.

First & Last Letter Power!

For First and Last Letter Power, Spiderman brings us his letter in addition to a bag full of Alpha-Bits cereal! 

I give each student a handful of the cereal and they turn to their partners.  On First Letter Power day, they have to hold up one of the pieces of cereal, say the letter and sound, and then think of a word that begins with the given sound.  For Last Letter Power day, they do almost the same thing, except they think of a word that ends with the given sound.  

We practice checking the first and last letter with tricky pictures on the Smartboard.  In the images below, you can see us practicing First Letter Power!  

Top left: This picture shows something that could be a puppy or a dog.  In order to know which word is in the sentence, we have to rely on our sight words and the first letter.  I can see a DOG would start with a D, but this word starts with the letter P.  That means it must say "I can see a puppy."

Bottom left:  This picture shows something that could be pizza or a slice.  In order to know which word is in the sentence, we again have to rely on our sight words, first letter, and now pointer power.  I can see pizza would have four words and the last word would start with the letter P.  This sentence has 5 words and the last word starts with the letter s.  So we know this sentence says "I can see a slice."

Don't forget, you can find a scanned copy of all the Spiderman letters I use in this unit by clicking HERE!

Kindergarten Superheroes

Students were given a blank superhero logo on Friday and asked to come up with their own Superhero identity with a personalized logo.  Here's what they came up with! I love, love, love their alter egos.  

From top left: Bug Boy, Superman, Laser Lady, Super Camden, Cancer Hero(!), Animal Boy, Super Girl, Waterboy, Super A, Green Man, Lava Girl, Dayson the Daring and K The Great. These are going to be on display in our hallway all year. AWESOME!

We started a few new routines this week.  For starters, when students came in on Tuesday, the puzzles were gone for morning work.  Those were just for while we were getting settled.  We've transitioned to our handwriting notebooks, copying letters and drawing things that begin with the given letter sound.  

We've also begun legitimate Reading and Writing Workshop.  Students got their writing folders (I'll do a post on what I included in those later) and have started writing some true stories.  We have some work to do on what's true/what's not, since I've gotten some stories about turning into owls, zombies attacking, wolves protecting a boy whose mom disappeared from getting taken by some bad guys....   the good news is that this is a creative group!

In reading, we've been looking at nonfiction books and 'reading' what we can in the pictures, trying to figure out what the pictures can teach us.  Students have been self-selecting their books based on what they're curious about (!) and we've worked up to 10 minutes of independent reading and 10 minutes of partner reading.  

We also started number talks in math and had our first round of math stations today.  Tonight, I printed and laminated the students' pictures for our rotation board. Hooray! 

I forgot to post about these things last week, so I'm including them here:

Last Friday we continued going over rules with No, David! I always love to see how these turn out.  So stinkin' cute. 

We read all kinds of counting books in math before continuing manipulative exploration.  We counted up to 10 and back down from 10.  We used up to 10 dots to make a picture after reading Donald Crews's 10 Black Dots.

It's amazing that we're wrapping up our second full week already. 

Oh... and we've been having some wonderful read-alouds.  I've introduced this group to Otis. ❤

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And now I'm freaking out because in doing a quick Google search of the Otis titles, discovered that Otis and the Kittens is available September 20! (This is the newest book that Loren alluded to in his letter to our class last year!) YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are not enough exclamation points to convey my excitement for this one! 

P.S. I'll suggest these titles, among other class favorites, in the book order coming home.  

5-minute-later update: Don't worry, all. I've gone ahead and pre-ordered it on Amazon so I'll have release-day delivery. ;)