Reading and Writing.

It is not all fun and games here in room three. We get down to some serious work. Students work on a daily writing task. Sometimes that might be a journal entry or working on their printing. 

The S.K's Printing differs from the J.K's we are looking up words that start with the letter sound we are practicing as well as challenging some of them to come up with a sentnce. 

A lot of the J.K's are working on developing their fine motor, so we always start of the year with colouring and tracing activities. 

Sometimes it is just too much and a nap is in order. 

We have started our reading groups as well. Students sit in one of 6 areas that rotate: Library books, non-fiction, fiction, high interest, Ipads (where students use EPIC to listen to stories), and the couch area with thematic books that change every month (Clifford, Curious George, Arthur etc...).

We also practice some of these books together and students can present them to the class. Our goal is to get EVERYONE up on our reader wall and have them present a book (or multiple books) to the class. N started us off! Way to go S.K's!

Wait a minute...but I don't know how to read!

We discuss how students can gain a lot by picture reading, looking for letters and sight words that they know. S.K's can even get a post it note and jot down any TRICKY words they discover in their books. 

EPIC is an online program that students can use to listen to stories or read themselves. You can use EPIC online or get the app. It is a subscription based program that you can pay for during off hours. However it is free during school hours. Which makes it handy for P.A days or sick days at home. You can access it here: www.getepic.com  our class code is nji5926

Students confer with each other or use the class dictionaries to help them find words that begin with the letter sound. Some of them sound out their own words that aren't in the books. 

While the students are "reading" in their groups, this allows me to work one on one or in smaller clusters for our guided reading groups. Each group is different: some are still working on letter sounds and play while others are reading simple pattern books, gradually progressing onto more challenging texts. 

We also have our JOURNAL writing. The students are given a story starter to copy down then they complete the rest. Some are asked to produce more or less based on where they are. 

Many of our J.K's have their ideas scribed by the educators. They are then encouraged to TRACE or COPY some of the words. Some of our friends in J.K are ready to sound out some simple familar words.