Stamp-A-Word

This Stamp-A-Word center was just the thing to encourage my future writers to interact with print.  Provided at the center are:

• sentence strips with the words 'I see a ________' printed on them
• lower-case letter stamps
• stamp pad (with many dire verbal warnings from me that the ink won't come off little fingers!!)
• Halloween words and pictures that the children can use as a model.  These were placed in pocket charts so that the students could take them out and have them closer to where they were stamping.  It's really hard for four and five-year olds to look up at something stapled on the wall... they need a closer proximity to maximize their success.
• pencil crayons to make illustrations with

Because I wanted the children to take their time and value the work that they did I established some criteria for this center:

• Only 2 students at a time.
• Each student must make 3 sentence strips with 3 different Halloween words.
• Once the stamping was done we would staple a cover on the front and turn the 3 sentences strips into a mini-book.
• Once the student has a mini-book they can read it to a friend or the whole class (everyone wanted to read it to the whole class).
• Every successful author received a Halloween ring (I love the dollar store).

'Tis The Season

This is quite possibly my favourite time of the school year.  I am always amazed at the progress that my young students have made at this point.  Many of the children have more than doubled their knowledge regarding letter identification and number concepts since the last progress report!  

Student-Led Conferences are the perfect way to showcase the outstanding growth to parents.  Each child is scheduled to visit our classroom with their parents for a 30 minute block of time.  In that 30 minutes, they will visit 5 stations designed to highlight the knowledge and skills that we have been building over the past seven months.  Following are the five stations that the Busy Bees will guide their families through:

READING STATION:  I supply a number of familiar books for the children to choose from.  I want the reading task to be easy for the children allowing them to fluently read the text to their parents.  The directions for each station include suggested questions that parents may ask their children to deepen the conference conversation.

SHOPPING SPREE STATION:  The children play this math game to demonstrate their knowledge of numeral identification as well as their skill at counting objects (in this case pennies) using one-to-one correspondence.  I supply enough pennies so that mom and dad can join in the game.

SCIENCE SORTING STATION:  This task actually includes three major areas for the children to tackle.  First off, they demonstrate their fine-motor control by cutting out the seasonal pictures (both straight and curved lines!!).  Secondly, they have to decide which picture goes where.  Finally, they have to do all of this in a very short 5 minute span testing their time management skills.

SPIN-A-WORD STATION:  This station is simply a literacy game that we play throughout the year.  It is an easy, fun, and interactive way to get children to read a list of high-frequency words that we have been learning in class.  I encourage advanced players to think of a sentence that has their word in it.  I've learned from experience to supply a couple of chairs for parents to sit on... most adults seem reluctant to sit "criss-cross-applesauce" on the carpet.  Go figure!

ABC BINGO STATION:  And finally, a station to showcase letter/sound knowledge.  The parental questions supplied lead the children to use more information around the classroom including our alphabet letter posters and our Word Wall featuring high-frequency words and classmate's names.  And like any good Bingo parlour, upon completion the children can see me to collect their prize for a job well done (usually a bottle of bubbles or container of playdough... no cash pay-outs here).

QUICK TIPS:  I picked up the plastic direction holders when the Eaton's department store went out of business many years ago.  You can find similar display items at office supply stores but they can be very costly.  

I attach clusters of balloons to each station as a way of ensuring that families visit the correct areas in our classroom (not sneak off to the block center or dig around in the sand table).  The balloons also make our classroom look festive for the evening. 

Finally, prior to the event, I send home a couple of reminders about the format of the Student-Led Conference.  I always mention that "because the children need the undivided attention of their parents, siblings are not invited to attend the activities".

Get The Message

Morning Message activities are a staple in many Kindergarten literacy programs.  Each morning my students participate in the shared reading of the message on our interactive SMARTboard.  Before we begin, I have a few students predict what the text may say by checking out clues they see.  Clues may include the picture or known high-frequency words in the text.  We then read the message together paying particular attention to matching our voices to the words being pointed at.

Four key components to the Morning Message I provide for my students are:

• "Popcorn Words" (words that keep popping up in reading and writing... otherwise known as high-frequency words) at the top of the message.  These words are up there for my students to refer to as they circle words they know. 
• A picture.  After all, most children in Kindergarten are non-readers for much of the school year.  Visual support in the form of an illustration is completely appropriate.
• A familiar structure with controlled vocabulary.  Every one of my messages, from the first day of school to the last day of school, features the date, a greeting to either the Busy Bees or girls and boys, and identification of what day it is.  The only sentence that really changes is the third one which is usually connected to something we are doing in class that day, the state of the weather, or some other exciting news (such as a countdown to a field trip or an announcement of someone's birthday).
• A mystery sound box.  As we read the message the children predict what the missing word may be in the context of what would make sense.  Each empty box is a phonemic sound.  I limit these missing words to just one per message.

Once we've read the message a couple of times students are invited to come up and circle words and punctuation they know.  Here is what our Morning Message looked like after our 30 minute shared reading session:

The product looks messy but the process helps my students to look more deeply at text and become stronger independent readers as they inch their way to Grade One.  

Please check back for interesting details regarding the way I connect "Popcorn Words" to an interactive bingo game and some silly hats.