Design process, trial, make improvements, uncover a new design to arrive at a great solution!  This week "Think Pads" were introduced and my oh my are these Kinders diving in at any chance to use their Think Pads.  Some are using them to make designs for the force and motion experiments as you see in the picture.

Book Shopping:
The amount of time students spend reading in school is associated with gains in reading achievement (Taylor, Frye, and Maruyama 1990), and this holds true for beginning readers, struggling readers, and students reading in a second language. Independent reading also fosters positive attitudes toward reading, especially in the primary grades (Yoon 2002). Researchers have validated the efficacy of scaffolded and supported independent reading for developing fluency and comprehension in reading (Reis et al. 2008; Reutzel, Fawson, and Smith 2008). Scaffolded silent reading includes instruction in selecting "good fit" books and teachers conferences with four to five students per day.

Our returned book tub fills up every 2-3 days.  Kinders are very skilled at Book Shopping and self selecting books based on the "I PICK" strategy.  We have a "Read to Self" time everyday and the teachers conduct conferences during that "Read to Self" time.  During the conferences we identify reading skills and strategies that children are using successfully and set goals for reading that they continue to work towards meeting the next time we have a conference.

Push or pull? How does that train move?

Our new math unit will have students seeking out flat and solid shapes in their world.  They will learn to use describing words "attributes" to describe the shapes, not just place a name to the shape.  They will move from the simple shapes to more complex shapes.  This unit will spiral back to decomposing of 3 and 4 using the sides of the shapes.  Shapes will continued to be included in other units this year. 

Here's a great idea for a stocking stuffer for your Kinders!  Shoe tying is a developmental skill that must be taught and practiced. Unfortunately it can also be a slow process that can make it difficult to get out the door at home and at school. Until your Kinder is an expert at tying shoes these are a great way to help them be independent at getting themselves ready! Click the picture to go directly to their website to check them out. 

Kinders watch and learn by example.  In this lesson, Ms. Copen introduced "blending" letter sounds using the letters c, o, a, g, d.  Following the I DO lesson, Kinders were sent off to complete their own worksheet in which they had to use their newly learned skill of blending 2 letter sounds, YOU DO.  We will continue to work more with blending two letter sounds, then what will be next? Three letter sounds.  This skill is called decoding.

Entertainment, dancing, and awards!

From the Fountas and Pinnell Classroom:
Build a strong early reading foundation with books that engage and excite.
Shared Reading is an enjoyable experience for your classroom community and an important opportunity for children to “step up together” into more challenging texts while also beginning to notice and acquire the processes they need to read texts independently.

In this photo we have children sharing the reading with the teacher.  Skills being taught are pointing to the words, making it match voice to print, identifying sight words, and decoding words that can be tapped out to match the letter sounds.

After the whole group lesson, small versions of the same text are put in the Read to Someone baskets for children to practice their reading skills with a peer.