How-To Writing: How To Make An Owl Candy Holder!

Our current writing unit is How-To writing, in which students choose a task or project and write a step-by-step book to teach others how to meet the objective.  

I love this unit because it involves us making a bunch of stuff as examples of How-To writing.  The kids love it because they get to add colored pages to their books (red pages for warnings and green pages for tips).  A really good example of a warning from a child's writing this week, "How To Make Pancakes" was 'Be careful! Don't burn yourself on the stove!' I suggested including a tip that said 'When you see the bubbles, you know it's time to flip the pancake over.'

I had a parent donate a large amount of toilet paper rolls and I was incredibly excited because I knew right away how I wanted to use them!  The very next day I wrote a hurried How-To book and had the kids follow along to make their own candy holders!

Going through each step one by one helped students realize what they needed in their own writing.

Without the "Things You Will Need" page, we wouldn't have known what to get ready.  I accidentally left scissors out initially, and we realized it was important to add those!

We also saw that it was more trouble than it was worth to add the feet, so we just crossed through that step.  We talked about using words like "first," "next," "then" and "finally."  We talked about putting one step per page.  We talked about drawing clear pictures with arrows that helped the reader understand the directions.

When we finished, students went back through their own writing to make sure it was clear and easy for the reader to understand.

Reading and Writing: Choose a Workspace

We've been telling oral stories in writing since the sixth day of school.  It's taken a bit of time, but students are starting to understand the flow of a story and what needs to be included.  This is really important to practice before giving pencil and paper and asking for a written story.  Kids can get overwhelmed by the idea of writing a story if they're unsure what "story" means.  When I introduced the writing folders and writing paper today, so many students (who couldn't tell me a true story on the first day of school) drew detailed pictures about where they'd gone or what they'd done and attempted to write!

 Students are telling their Turn&Talk partners a true story about something that happened to them.

Partners are listening for answers to all of the Who? What? When? Where? questions and prompting for more information if necessary.

This is the first year I've allowed this, but I gave students the freedom to choose their writing spot anywhere in the room.  The exact wording was actually "you will find your own writing workspace."  We discussed that a workspace is only a good one if it will help us get work done with little to no distractions.

I was really impressed with the quality choices students made for workspaces.

Just look at how spread out they are! And they chose those spots all by themselves!

Reading spots were assigned, mostly because sitting back to back is new to kids and they needed enough space for both partners.  We've built up to 10 minutes of quiet, independent reading and 10 minutes of partner shared reading.

Yes, reading right now constitutes looking at the pictures and telling the story or sharing what they've learned, but that is reading. They are gaining meaning from what's been put in the book.

Writing Like Scientists

This week, we started our new writing unit -- Looking Closely: Observing, Labeling and Listing Like Scientists. The kids love it. We have been working on looking closely at things in real life, observing things that happen in videos, and learning/writing about what we've read in books.

Is it bothering you that I used "you" in 2 and "my" instead of "your" in 4? It's bothering me.

We all make mistakes. Especially when we're not paying attention. :(

On Monday, I showed students a video of Cheetahs playing in the snow from the Cheetah Cam at Richmond Metro Zoo. You can check it out HERE. Children observed the cheetahs closely and drew exactly what they observed. Most students labeled the picture and wrote something to teach about their subject.

I like it when we all write about the same topic because then I can bind our work into a class book for the library!

On Tuesday, I brought in my rock collection from when I was a little girl. When I was in first grade, my teacher had some rocks in the classroom that I was obsessed with. Because I was such a good student (or so she said), she gave me the coolest rock I thought she had ... a perfectly oval, incredibly smooth gray rock. I loved it. And it led me to collect rocks every time I saw them... actually good ones from museum shops, ones my mom and dad brought back from their travels overseas (like one from the Dead Sea and a path in Azerbaijan) and ridiculously unimportant ones I picked up on the side of the road. (Which I justified because "they were shiny.") Anyway, I brought these rocks in and passed out one to each student. The common response was "Mrs. Richardson, I like your rocks!!!!" 

Students got one rock each and a magnifying glass. We discussed how to draw what we saw and label interesting things we noticed. 

My example. If you're concerned about the spelling, please see my post on phonetic spelling.

We drew, labeled and then listed some description words. After, we tried to use one of those words in a complete sentence.

I meet with students who have difficulty sounding out words on their own at the reading table. For them, it's more of a shared writing exercise with me sounding out the words and them matching the sounds to their letter charts.  They tell me the description words or we brainstorm some together (i.e., Is your rock hard? Is it pretty? Is it big? What color is it?)

Writing Workshop isn't the only time for writing class books, though. We've done some as reading response activities in place of our Readers' Response journals. The example below was after we read Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Mo Willems's Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs.

I just LOVE kindergarten writing. Young children are so creative and their capacity for writing changes so drastically in a year!

A Word on Phonetic Spelling

Many parents (and David, as well) are surprised to see student writing and examples of teacher writing that are spelled incorrectly. In homework, I often see children spelling words exactly how they're spelled instead of how they sound.  (Parents, I know this is you telling them the answer! ;) )

Yes, I know we expect children to know how to spell correctly when they get older. But in Kindergarten, it's not about correct spelling. It's about (a) telling a story (b) getting that story in writing (in pictures, pictures and labels, or pictures labels and sentences) and (c) writing a letter for each sound heard.

For example, "sun" or "dad" will look the same spelled correctly or phonetically. If I stretch out the word /s/-/u/-/n/, it will be spelled S-U-N. Same with dad. When I get to a word like "rainbow," I only hear the following sounds when I stretch it out: /r/-/a/-/n/-/b/-/ō/. Hence, when a child spells the word rainbow, it will look like "ranbo" on his paper.

Because we teach sight words and put them on the word wall, sight words should be spelled correctly. Students should also hear digraphs sh, ch, th, and wh because we go over those daily. We work regularly on "chewing words like gum" and stretching them out across our fingers so we get one letter per vocal sound. 

Below, you'll see an example of a phonetically spelled story one of my students did last year. This is excellent!!

If you ever see a request for phonetic spelling, please assist your child in stretching out the sounds he hears... but don't give away the spelling. Telling him how it's spelled doesn't assist in the letter-sound application we're really working on. 

We've hit the ground running

It's pretty much a fact that teachers get nervous on the first day of school, just like kids. Or maybe it's a combination of anxiousness and excitement. This year was really different for me, though.  I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that the first day of school was in July.  I'm used to school starting on a cool day at the beginning of September! I told David the night before school started, "I feel like I'm about to go lead summer camp."  As a result, it was only calm excitement this year! And a lot of accidentally writing "September" on date lines instead of "August." 

My biggest hurdle at the beginning of this year was not knowing any of the parents. Everyone at Spotswood knew I was big on parent communication and was strongly (still am strongly) invested in their child's life. I built myself up with a positive reputation in the community, and parents were excited to see their child assigned to my classroom. (Or so they told me...!) This year was different. Postcards went out letting parents know their child's teacher was Mrs. Richardson, and I know any of the parents familiar with Shirley Hills probably thought, Mrs. who?? 

I tried to let parents know at Meet'n'Greet a little about myself and my teaching beliefs, but you really only have 3 minutes with everyone before you start your spiel over again! It's not much time.

I guess I'm still getting used to the Georgia curriculum, too. I know we're a Common Core state, but despite Virginia lending a helping hand in coming up with the Common Core standards, the state opted to use their own..so things that I'm used to teaching in kindergarten (money, time, skip counting by 5s, etc.) aren't part of the kindergarten curriculum any longer!

Most first weeks of school go something like this: Repeat and model the rules/procedures. Repeat and model the rules/procedures. Repeat and model the rules/procedures. Pause to wonder if you're going crazy because no one's following directions. Repeat and model the rules/procedures.

Not this year! This year I started the year with sixteen (yes, sixteen!) well-mannered, hard-working, carefully listening students. Plus, I had Mrs. Dean in the classroom with me! Another teacher!! Having a small class and a para reinforcing what the kids are learning is amazing. (I'm not delusional; I know the class size will grow... but for now I'm enjoying it.) 

We went over the rules and procedures for the first couple of days (and I do have to give reminders here and there), but we've been able to move into the swing of things pretty quickly. I'm pretty impressed by the "yes, ma'am" and "ma'am?" responses I've gotten from children. After seven days of school, I haven't come home and immediately crashed like years past. (And I haven't sleep-walked into the living room and shouted at David to "just sit down and stop talking!" like I did in my first year of school. Side note... I never said that out loud in the classroom either. But I can't lie, that's typically what's going through my mind!)

So... with all this extra time not asking for cooperation, what have we been doing??

Working with our names!

With blocks....

Magnetic Letters...

And scissors and glue!

Earning our pencils, scissors and glue with proper use!

Yes, we introduce materials one at a time. I model, the students share what they noticed (the good and the bad) and then we practice the good things we saw. I felt bad because I broke a pencil, bit it and tossed it across the room as a 'bad example.' When I went to hand out the sharpened pencils, I accidentally handed that pencil to a student. (I had sharpened it, but completely forgot about the biting. That's not something I normally do!) The poor kid said "No, I don't want that pencil, that's the broken one." I replied, "It's okay, I sharpened it!" He was like .... "It's not okay! You bit it!" :( :( :( True story. Terrible. I instantly gave him a new one and apologized profusely. Luckily, I don't think we'll have an issue with pencil biters this year.

Just a dot, not a lot!

Just a line, that'll be fine!

Exploring math manipulatives, counting & writing numerals!

Clearly we have to get some play time in with those manipulatives before we start sorting, adding, patterning, etc. with them. 

Writing Workshop

We have been writing since day one! Even students who cannot form letters are able to draw pictures and orally tell their stories. Writing workshop will progress to multiple-page stories, but right now children are doing what they can. That means it will vary from scribbles, basic sketches and detailed pictures with labeling to full sentences! (Parents, this writing doesn't come home! You will see it when you come in for conferences and at the end of the year.) Right now we're just getting used to having a specific writing time and thinking the way writers think.

Reading Workshop

We are all readers! From environmental text to pictures to words, all children have some reading capability. Our workshop currently consists of a mini-lesson and free exploration of engaging books in shared tubs on tables. Students attempt to use strategies taught in the mini-lesson as best as they can! (i.e., a lesson on searching for patterns in phrasing on pages may equate to patterns in characters found on each page.) We will transition to personal book boxes with leveled text as we progress through the workshop.  I've never done reading workshop before. I've always set up my reading groups with Debbie Diller's Literacy Stations and it's worked wonderfully, but I am excited about the passion I've already seen these children show for reading.  I expected the kiddos would maintain interest in the books for roughly 5 minutes at the beginning of the year (as they've shown in years past), but these students read books quietly for a full 30 minutes on the second day of school! When I asked a student what his favorite part of school was so far, he said "uhhh... I like writing... and reading a lot." (This is literally unheard of. I usually get "Recess. Or maybe lunch.")  I am going to figure out a way to incorporate both reading workshop and literacy stations in my day, because I think a combination will be best for student progress and active engagement. 

Mrs. Dean agreed, a good mix of fiction and non-fiction books

kept the children involved.

Speaking of recess being a former favorite..... recess in this state is umpleasant to say the least. I am a fan of playing with the kids at recess. I walk around the perimeter of the playground to keep an eye on everyone, and if a kid challenges me to a race or a round of tag, of course I'm going to accept! I was surprised to see a 15 minute recess on the kindergarten schedule, but with hot, humid gnat-infested weather like this:

I can't imagine a longer one. My favorite recess story so far is when a group of children ran up to me and said "MRS. RICHARDSON, COME HERE! WE FOUND A ROBOT!"

For the record, it was just a cement block under the gravel. In fairness, it had an indentation that could have been a robot eye. Or plug. Or something. The five-year-old enthusiasm and creativity astounds me.

I'm pretty excited to see all the growth these students show over the course of the year. I can already tell it's going to be an amazing one!