reading with Jack and Evan

On our way to lunch on Tuesday afternoon Jack mentioned that maybe he and Evan could have a reading group during academic choice. Friends could join them in a cozy spot and listen to them read books from their personal libraries.

Academic choice is our favorite time in the day. Children build, write, draw, create, label, negotiate, plan, and play during this time. Jack has been excited about a new book in his library, but to use his choice time to have a reading group? What a powerful idea. 

What does his idea tell us about Jack and his growth as a reader? What does his idea tell us about his pride in his development and his love for his peers? For Jack and Evan this idea would be an incredible opportunity to develop their confidence. We often have reading and writing celebrations, but this felt authentic. 

On Wednesday as children made their choices, I let them know that at any time they could quietly join Jack and Evan for a little reading group. A few friends joined them, but it can be hard to walk away from your block structure or painting. 

As we neared the end of choice Jack approached me.

"Ms. Cassidy, we're not getting a lot of people. I think we need a sign. Signs get people."

So, Jack and Evan made a sign. Suddenly, a few more friends came to read. 

I knew I had a roll of tickets in the closet. Now that there was a crowd around their sign, it seemed helpful to have tickets. Jack and Evan began to give out reading tickets, filling their pockets with blue paper stubs. Of course, as choice ended, the excitement over the reading tickets continued. 

 

Can I use my ticket tomorrow? Can I have two tickets? Can I keep my reading ticket in my cubby and use it more than once? Bring tickets to lunch and give them out to teachers! These are REAL tickets!

 

 

Jack and Evan had a reading group during their choice on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Their joy grew as Ms. Bethany came to listen. On Friday, Ms. Shelley, Ms. Rochford and Mr. McQuade redeemed their reading tickets! 

With every guest and visitor, Jack and Evan warmly and eagerly welcomed them to their reading group. While reading workshop is a time to teach and empower young readers, this experience was truly the most empowered I have seen both Jack and Evan. As choice ended on Friday, children asked if they could also have a reading group during choice. Many asked if I had more tickets.

We want students to take initiative of their learning, but we have to be flexible in our days to support their initiatives. We have to build a classroom environment and community that encourages children to share and try out their plans and ideas. Test them out, change them, and inspire their peers to do the same. We need to listen more and remember the extraordinary in the ordinary. For many, perhaps Jack's initial idea would have been an ordinary moment, but look how it developed- look how their idea grew and continues to grow. 

Of course, we must also always have materials to make signs and tickets! 

who's been here?

This month's Nature connected to our ongoing exploration of animals in winter. The young naturalists have been busy reading about different kinds of habitats and drawing animal shelters. Their learning has progressed into conversations about how to look for signs of animals in winter. During Nature, the children learned about different kinds of tracks and how to identify tracks in the snow. Janice helped us to sort tracks based on size and toe count. We learned about the four different ways animals move and how we can use what we already know about animal habitats to determine who made the tracks in the snow. Following the puppet show and track sort, we used large stamps to make our own tracking cards.

Four Different Ways Animals Move;

Straight Walking (felines, canines, deer)
Hopping (rabbits, squirrels)
Waddling (beavers, skunks)
Bounding (weasels)

 

We extended our experience into our Outdoor Classroom. I invited the children to predict the kinds of tracks we might find. Working in their nature journals and using laminated tracking guides to write labels, the children recorded their predictions. We took our guides and walked the surrounding fields. There were many straight walking tracks! From dogs and humans to a possible bobcat track.

 

 

 

 

 

This past week we read a book with a picture of a tracking map inside the front cover. I asked the question; Could we make a tracking map for Westford school? Children eagerly embraced a new academic choice; Our Westford Tracking Map.

Using a small copy of the Westford School Trail Map, the children wrote and drew a larger version. With some support, we determined where the parking lots and playgrounds were located. The children drew and labeled some of our favorite spaces, like the "Tunnel of Trees" behind the back field and the "Ice Rink" in Misty Meadows.

 

 

We used pictures of the tracks we found to develop a map key, recording where the three different tracks were found. Using numbers, pictures, and words Bodhi added the necessary detail and information to our map key.

Our Tracking Map will continue to develop and grow as we expand our hikes to include trails deeper in our woods. On the Friday before break we found small hopping tracks near the "stone wall after the big hill". Once we identified a small collection of tracks, the children practiced moving in different ways and monitoring their tracks- from hopping like a rabbit to waddling like a raccoon. It was their idea to move like different animals and their initiative encouraged them to think about movement, direction, pace, stride, and pattern. These are all essential when looking at and identifying animal tracks!

 

 

how-to writing

The Kindergarteners have worked hard on their final narratives. Using the check list they developed, they wrote their final drafts and shared their narratives with first and second graders from Ms. Richardson's class. Following the publication of their work, they have been eagerly reading their writing during transitional times. We have more books written by the Kindergarteners on our large shelf than any other author or illustrator.

The children are starting a new kind of writing; informational writing. We are specifically learning about and working on writing How-To Books. How-To Books give directions on how to do something. There has been a shared excitement around our new unit. I find writing How-To Books to be the most developmentally appropriate writing we do. Five and six year olds love to give directions, to be the expert and tell their audience how to do something!

We began our work by studying a large collection of How-To Books with partners. What do you notice about this kind of writing? What is important? We worked together to make a chart of the children's findings.

On Friday they came up with an idea, planned across pages, and numbered the steps in their How-To Books. We will continue working on our books in the coming weeks!

Publishing- Sharing our narratives with Ms. Richardson's Class.

 

 

 

 

 

Preparing for a different kind of writing. Studying the features of How-To Books!

 

 

 

How-To Books tell you how to do something using numbered steps. Each step has detailed pictures and words!

our 100th day

On Tuesday we celebrated the 100th Day of School. Everyday in Kindergarten provides authentic counting opportunities; from counting how many friends voted for a dance party to counting down during transitions.

The 100th Day of School is truly a celebration of different ways to count to 100, exploring what 100 looks like, and thinking about the growth of our community in 100 days.

We began our work on Monday afternoon by thinking about things we love, because even on the 100th Day of School we can learn something new about a peer or find something new to connect over. Children came up with three ideas and used pictures and words to represent their ideas on sticky notes. We invited Sam and Ms. Shelley to participate, too!

Once all of our notes had a place on the canvas we counted by 1's. We only had 63! This provided a math problem; how many more did we need to make 100?

We counted on from 63 using cubes to represent how many more sticky notes we needed. Once we got to 100 we counted our cubes. We needed 37 more! We counted in different ways. Counting by 1's wasn't enough and counting by 5's was much too high. But, what about by 2's? Crosby offered the idea that every Kindergartener could write two more sticky notes and I could write the last one, making 37. It worked!

While the experience provided a meaningful counting experience as well as a rich literacy experience, the most powerful part was observing as children applied strategies for writing words independently or with the help from a friend. I love the way our community works together.

Maeve and Clayton both love pizza. 
Maeve supports Clayton to write the word pizza. 

 Ana loves lizards. She uses the title from a book in Dylan's library to write the word lizards.

 

 

 

What do YOU love?









Children counted by 1's and by 10's to create a necklace with 100 beads on Tuesday morning. They could choose from a collection of beads sorted by color. They had to count 10 of each chosen color, ensuring they had 100 beads at the end. The Kindergarteners were responsible for checking their counting and moving responsibly around the classroom- each table offered a different selection of beads!