Literacy Stations

Today was a very exciting day for the Kindergartners because today was the first day of Literacy Stations! Literacy Stations is about 30 minutes each day 3 days a week. That equals out to 2 stations per day your child will be going to. During this time your child will be going to a specific station to work on specific targeted tasks. Literacy Stations is an opportunity for your child's needs to be met at their own level. Children can use this time to challenge their own learning. A brief description of the stations is below. Be sure to ask your child what stations they went to today.
1.Writing Station-Children will be practicing a handwriting, personal narratives, letters, post cards, lists,etc. This can be an extension to what we are working on in Writer's Workshop or also allows children to practice their handwriting skills.
2. Word Work Station-Children will be working on different word work skills such as word families, rhyming, sounds, sight words, etc.
3. Bookmaking Station- At this station children will be making a book to add to their book box. These books highlight sight words we are practicing. When children are done making the book they may read out of their book box until time is up.
4. Library Station-At the library station children practice different skills such as working with fiction/mom-fiction books, finding specific words, reading specific themed books. They will also be using different fun tools to help them read such as fun glasses, pointers, etc. Today we read in partners and individually and searched for punctuation.

5. Listening Station- At this station children will be listening to a story on CD and then doing a response to it. For example, this week children are listening to a story and then drawing and labeling the characters from the story.

6. Read and Write the Room-At this station children will be going around the room with specific tasks that will be asking them to either read or write words they see in the room. For example, their task may be to go around and make a list of all the 3-letter and 4-letter words. Or they may be asked to use pointers to find specific sight words and read them. Today children used clipboards and walked around the room and recorded words they found.

There are a few photos in the class photo link.  i noticed that if you scroll all the way to the bottom you will find the photo journal for Literacy stations and also from the The Mitten Retelling in case you missed it.  Also please note I don't have a photo up of every child from stations this week. Some children were up and around and working. Be sure to ask you child about stations today!

Mitten Retelling

This past week we have been reading one of my favorite stories by the author Jan Brett, The Mitten.  We have also read a few other versions of the tale.  As a class we had many discussions comparing the different stories and also practiced our retelling skills.  On Thursday we used puppets and yarn on the floor made into the mitten to retell it as a whole class.  Then on Friday the kids made their own characters and mittens out of paper and practiced retelling the story in pairs. See our class photos for some pictures! They had a lot of fun!   They should of came home on Friday so that they could retell it at home. Jan Brett is one of my favorite authors and illustrators and she has a wonderful website that features coloring pages, games, activities,printable flashcards and other fun things.  www.janbrett.com